The Cost of an Honest Days Work: A Character Lesson From J.P Hayes

This is the second in a series of Management Moments by Doug Dickerson, a weekly column designed to bring inspiration to those in the workplace and beyond.

Photo: artfulgolfer.com, "The spirit of the game"

(Charleston, SC) - Golf is one of my favorite pastimes. I only wish I were good at it. Nonetheless, nothing beats a nice round of golf, even if I spend a lot of time in the woods looking for the ball.

You’ve heard the expression – an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. We understand the concept of giving our employer an honest day’s work in exchange for the wage. But what happens when an honest day’s work costs us our pay for a whole year?

Not long ago professional golfer J.P. Hayes came face to face with the frightening reality of losing a year’s eligibility on the PGA tour- all because he was honest.

During the second round of a recent qualifying school, Hayes mistakenly played a nonconforming ball on a single hole. A day after the “violation”, Hayes was reported; not by his caddy or a tournament official. Hayes reported himself.

The violation occurred rather innocently. On the 12th hole, Hayes’ caddy reached into the golf bag and pulled out a ball and gave it to him after he missed the green with his tee shot. Hayes chipped onto the green and marked the ball.

It was then that Hayes realized the ball was not the same model with which he started the round. That was in violation of the one-ball rule, which stipulates that a player must play the same model ball throughout a round. That was a two-stroke penalty.

Hayes recovered enough to put himself in position to finish in the top 20 and advance to the third and final round of Q school. The top 25 finishers in that round, plus ties, earn exempt status for the entire 2009 PGA season.

Then Hayes realized his next mistake. Not only did he play the wrong ball, he might have played a ball that wasn’t approved for play at all. As Hayes would recall, “It was a Titleist prototype, and somehow it had gotten into my bag.

It had been weeks since Titleist gave me the prototype balls and I tested them. I have no idea how or why it was still in there…I called an official in Houston that night and said, “I think I may have a problem. He said they’d call Titleist the next day. I pretty much knew at that point I was going to be disqualified.”

Robert A. Cook said, “There is no substitute for character. You can buy brains, but you cannot buy character.” The easy out for Hayes, without anyone being any wiser, would be to simply let it slide. After all, earning that exemption was the result of countless hours of hard work. Why throw it all away when all he had to do was, well, nothing. Keep quiet. Keep playing.

Yet Hayes teaches us the value and importance of character even when no one else is watching. The reputation and character of your organization is only as strong as the character and honesty of the people in it.

Excellence in character, doing an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay, is reflective of not how well we perform when everyone is watching. It’s defined in the values and principles we have when no one is looking.

J.P. Hayes valued his integrity and character, even when no one was looking, more than earning his exemption for the PGA Tour. It cost him. But at least he didn’t have to sell his soul in the process.

Doug Dickerson is the former editor of the Berkeley Independent newspaper in South Carolina and is currently the director of university relations at Charleston Southern University. Doug’s writing has been recognized by the South Carolina Press Association, having won awards for enterprise reporting, series of articles, and for humor column writing. Doug’s passion for communicating leadership principles and personal development is crystallized through his Management Moment column and leadership columns he writes. Read more of Doug’s columns on his blog at dougsmanagementmoment.blogspot.com