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Want to golf-up your next Zoom meeting? Here are the do’s and don’ts

March 23, 2020

With untold numbers of workers quarantined at home, the teleconferencing app Zoom is enjoying a moment. (It’s currently the most downloaded app in the App Store, and its stock price is up 200 percent in the last year.) Among Zoom’s more popular features is the ability for users to customize their own backgrounds. For golf-lovers, that means not only options galore but also determining how best to personalize your background to make the right kind of statement to your colleagues about your passion for the game.

A Tiger backdrop? Jack? Augusta? Pebble? Ouimet and Lowry at Brookline? The SB2K boys? To guide you along, here are 10 Zoom backgrounds golf-loving work-from-homers should — and shouldn’t — consider.

1. The oiled hair! The bronze complexion! The ciggy! You’ll never be as cool as Arnold but this background will make you the coolest person on your call.

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2. Too soon? Too soon. With a Masters-less April fast approaching, triumphant Tiger is a reminder of what we’ll be missing. Don’t be a Debbie Downer.

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3. Remember Cigar Guy? How could you forget him! C.G. became an internet sensation in 2010 when he popped up in a photo of Tiger Woods misfiring a chip at the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor. The mustachioed legend will bring joy, laughter and nostalgia to your meeting. Well played.

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4. Ah, yes…a classic. Ben Hogan drilling a 1-iron into Merion’s 18th green to clinch his victory at the 1950 U.S. Open. Your impeccable taste and appreciation for history will earn you knowing nods of respect from your co-workers.


5. Yes, everyone’s impressed that you parred the 3rd hole en route to your fourth-place finish in the D-flight of your club championship last summer. But no need to broadcast it. Also, your peacocking will probably backfire: Your colleagues are way more likely to seize on that 9 you made on No. 1.

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6. Expressing your politics in a work setting is never a good idea. But that’s beauty of this snap: it’s blessedly neutral! Your boss will definitely see you in a new light, as an enlightened unifier of American beliefs and ideals.

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7. We all have guilty pleasures. Zoom calls with your co-workers aren’t the place to reveal them. Abort immediately.


8. Giving your colleagues a glimpse of your home is a dangerous game. (Oh my god, Lester, is that your wedding photo? Where did all your hair go?) But if you have a golf cave that you’re proud of, don’t be afraid to flaunt it. Great icebreaker on a Monday-morning sales call.

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9. While your other golf-nut colleagues populate their backgrounds with predictable shots of Pebble, Augusta and Cypress, your selection — drone snap of Sweetens! — speaks to your insidery golf knowledge and unrivaled wokeness.


10. Congrats, you win Zoom.

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