n. Golf played at a lower level to avoid defeating a business client.
2000
To win or not to win — is that ever the question? Nancy Oliver, founder of the Executive Women's Golf Association, said the issue of whether to let a client win a golf game is a touchy subject. Some people call the practice 'client golf.'
1993 (earliest)
HOW NOT TO PLAY CLIENT GOLF: Tom Eehlmann, general sales manager of KDNL-TV, scored a hole-in-one playing against a client, Bruce Kupper, at Norwood Hills C.C. on Saturday.
He also gained a reputation for sometimes carrying competitiveness too far. Paul T. Stecko, now the president of Tenneco's packaging division but then an International Paper executive under Mr. Mead, recalls the time he brought two of his very best customers to join them in doubles tennis. Mr. Mead, incapable of holding back and playing what salesmen call client tennis, blasted an overhead shot at point-blank range into a customer's chest.