Office Golf - Television Tropes & Idioms

Even oval offices can make good golf courses.

One sure sign of being an out-of-touch upper echelon manager or mafioso is that you bring your golf clubs to work, so you can practice your putting rather than actually pay attention to anyone who's talking to you.

For this very leisurely game, a small, flat field is set up in the office, sometimes with an actual hole but most of the time using a cup or a mug.

If the executive in question has a bit of a temper, the golf club might turn out to be a Chekhov's Gun. At the very least, deftly practicing your swing while a nervous underling sits by your desk is a good way to get him good and intimidated.

Compare Office Sports, which are apt to be played by bored cubicle monkeys rather than bored executives.

Examples:

Advertising

Used in an insurance commercial. At the end of the commercial a lowly employee infiltrates the boss's office, putts a ball neatly into a cup, and then it bounces out and smashes the boss's expensive plasma TV.

Anime & Manga

In GaoGaiGar, Koutarou Taiga either engages in this or is implied to engage in this, as he routinely carries around a golf club.
The Prime Minister of Earth in Captain Harlock is often seen practicing his putt in the office or at home to emphasize how useless he is. He also presides over a legislature that breaks for horse races, dog races, and anything else you can bet a fiver on.
In Wicked City, when Taki reports to his boss' office, the boss is trying out his new MacGregor putter. Taki spots the brand and mentions the name, and the boss praises it before moving on to other topics.

Comic Books

In at least one Batman comic, Bruce does this while Lucius Fox is talking, as part of the whole Rich Idiot with No Day Job persona.

Film

The cardinal in Dogma does this; because he also blesses his golf clubs, it becomes important to the plot.
In The Movie of Richie Rich, Ellsworth plays miniature golf in the middle of a class about "what to do when your company is failing".
Ellsworth: <putt> Bribe someone.
Professor: Sit down, Ellsworth.
Parker Selfridge, the Corrupt Corporate Executive in Avatar, is seen doing this when Grace goes to talk to him early in the film (in fact, it's his first scene). For bonus points, he is on an alien moon, so he either used insanely expensive cargo space for his golf set, or manufactured one on the planet. Amusingly, his action figure's sole accessory is a golf club.
The head Mobster in The Mask keeps a golf bag on hand. To show his dissatisfaction with ex-right-hand-man Dorian Tyrell, he drives a ball off of the guy's face.
The head of the mining colony in Outland, Sheppard, has a computerized golf range in his office; he tees off against a video screen which shows where his virtual ball ends up.
The film version of M*A*S*H has a scene of Hawkeye and Trapper (the "pros from 'Dover'") playing this, uninvited, in a colonel's office.
At the beginning of Armageddon, the Bruce Willis character is playing golf on his oil rig. He purposely aims his shots at a boat of protesters, and this seems to be the only reason he's playing.
In Batman Begins, at one point Bruce Wayne is seen office golfing with a secretary.
Early in Down Periscope, Dodge gets chewed out by his captain for playing golf off the top of their sub. He actually does rather well, hitting a long shot onto shore and getting very close to the hole.

Live-Action TV

Commissioner Burrell in The Wire.
Used in an episode of The Replacements with a bear rug.
Appears in a flashback in Highlander: The Series. The Villain of the Week got his first death from the mobster in question.
Henry Blake in M*A*S*H. Amusingly, at one point, his ball hits a landmine.
Doctor Who: The Colonel in "The Sea Devils". The Doctor one-ups him by doing it blindfolded.
Mayor Wilkins from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The Mayor: I swear, I'd sell my soul for a decent short game. Of course, it's a little late for that.
The ancient barrister Uncle Tom in Rumpole of the Bailey, who has completely lost touch with reality and hasn't had a case within the memory of anyone in chambers, nevertheless continues to potter around the office practising his putt with a mug.
One of the marks of the week in Hustle is a real-estate developer who does this.
Ben does it in the first episode of Crownies, showing that he doesn't take his job very seriously.
The Monty Python's Flying Circus episode "Party Political Broadcast" has a doctor who practices his golf swing while his patient is bleeding to death in his office.
Stargate SG-1. "Window of Opportunity". O'Neill and Teal'c get caught in a loop where time keeps repeating. No one else realizes what's been going on, so they take the opportunity to do a number of things they couldn't otherwise get away with, like drive golf balls through the stargate.
Col. O'Neill: Oh yeah! That'll play...How far is Alaris, anyway?
Teal'c: Several billion miles, O'Neill.
Col. O'Neill: That's gotta be a record.
- And on another time loop (in the same episode), General Hammond interrupts.
Gen. Hammond: Colonel, what the hell are you doing?
Col. O'Neill: In the middle of my backswing?

Video Games

In Bioshock, Andrew Ryan is briefly seen doing this while Rapture comes down around his ears when you reach his office, shortly before he "invites" you in.
The career reward for the business career track in The Sims 2 is a small golf hole.
Woozie does this at the Triad's Las Venturas casino in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. His men make sure the blind crime boss always gets a hole in one.
Jack Kelso's boss in L.A. Noire.
David Sarif has a golf cart in his office in Deus Ex Human Revolution.