Ease up, Wolfgang - that was unnecessary.

Back on topic, a good player (at anything) may lose to a worse player simply bcos they aren't putting in the same level of determination that the worse player is. In fact, they're likely to give the other person chances in order not to win overwhelmingly. Unless you're rabidly competitive, losing in that way isn't likely to worry you unduly - you both still know who's best, even though it's nice to occasionally still get the better of someone who should be able to beat you.

Alternatively, if the boss is a good golfer and I'm not, but I still really want a game of golf, then I'd be quite happy to play against him knowing I'll lose. The objective is a game of golf, not winning.

But if it's an "established method of advancement" to deliberately throw a game just to suck up to someone, the people advancing themselves are working in the wrong place...

Graham.