By Lisa Ward

Professional golfers tend to perform better when they play with partners whose political leanings are similar to theirs.

So suggests a new study, the results of which could have implications for workplaces off the links, as well, according to the researchers.

The authors looked at player performance during the first two rounds of PGA tournaments, where a computer algorithm randomly assigns golfing partners. After the second round, lower-performing players are cut and higher-performing players continue to the next round of the tournament.

The study found that pro golfers tended to perform better when they played with another golfer whose political party affiliation was the same as theirs. Specifically, the researchers found that professional golfers had 0.2 fewer strokes a round when playing in politically homogeneous groups compared with politically heterogeneous groups.

"That may sound like a modest difference, but it corresponds to a five-rank improvement [in player standings] before the tournament cut," says Tim Sels, a postdoctoral scholar at University of California Berkeley's Haas School of Business, adding that it also represents an additional $13,000 to $23,400 in earnings for one tournament. "Over the course of the season [about 40 tournaments] that becomes a significant amount of money, even for a pro golfer," he adds.

How it worked

In their analysis the authors studied 858 players in 8,718 groups from 1997 to 2022. The authors determined players' political affiliation by looking at voting registration, social-media posts and traditional media articles and interviews. They also interviewed former players and coaches who said that golfers are often aware of other golfers' political affiliations.

The study found that during periods of heightened political polarization, such as during a presidential election year, politics affected player performance even more, with golfers outperforming by 0.55 strokes when playing in a politically homogeneous group versus a politically mixed one.

In years when there was little polarization or more national unity, like in the aftermath of 9/11, the effect of playing in a diverse political group disappears almost completely.

The authors then drilled down even deeper and looked at shot-level data. They found that playing with partners who have different political beliefs reduced golfers' accuracy when they were putting and teeing off -- in other words, when the golfers were in the closest physical proximity.

"We think having different political affiliations can affect players' concentration," says Balázs Kovács, a professor at Yale's School of Management and the paper's other co-author, adding that this lack of focus could make it more difficult to get into the flow of the game.

Other workplaces

The researchers believe their findings could apply to other workplace settings where people are engaged in tasks that require a lot of concentration. Although academic research shows that political diversity can be helpful when it comes to group collaboration and problem solving, another published paper by the researchers found that startup companies with politically diverse founding teams are more likely to shut down than startups with more politically homogeneous teams.

"Our research shows that political differences among peers can affect individual performance, even in settings where politics seems unrelated to the task," said Sels.

Write to reports@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 10, 2026 14:00 ET (18:00 GMT)

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