Recreational golf tends to be a very gentle game. You wake up early on a Sunday morning, mosey over to the local course with a buddy or two and spend the next few hours knocking a small white dimpled ball around a lush green landscape. You end up competing more with yourself than your golfing partners.

On the business side, golf is a blood sport. The companies that produce the clubs and balls stored in your car’s trunk spend a lot of time at each others’ throats–mostly over claims of patent and trademark infringement.