Pyatigorsk 3. Playing eighteen holes with someone is a good way to take his or her measure. The game has a way of magnifying character flaws—whininess, explosiveness, dishonesty, lack of charity, self-delusion—that may be less detectable in off-course situations. You can know a guy for twenty years and not realize he’s an asshole until you’ve played a round of golf with him. The much-derided male custom of cultivating business relationships on golf courses actually has demonstrable value. Would you really want to invest your life’s savings with somebody who had just toed his ball into a better lie when he thought you weren’t looking?