I finally quit golf. After 20 years of frustration trying to teach myself the game, I hung up the clubs.

Growing up in rural Ontario as the son of a carpenter, golf and country clubs were not part of my childhood. However, upon graduating with a business degree and starting my first job in sales with a Fortune 500 company, I knew the time had come to add golf to my hobbies.

Here’s the problem. I was too cheap to hire a trainer. Reasoning that I could watch other players and a few videos to teach myself the game, I decided to self-implement.

After 20 years of frustration, I finally gave up golf. Today, I only play golf as the fourth man in charity scramble tournaments.

Here’s the bummer. I love to be on the golf course. The smell of fresh-cut grass and the sun shining through the trees onto a well-manicured fairway relaxes me. Hanging out with other players and the conversation that unfolds over 18 holes is so much fun.

However, since my game is so bad, it almost always offsets the benefits of the relaxing environment. What could have been a pleasure has become a source of frustration.

Yesterday as I sat at dinner talking with a friend who is an avid golfer, I wondered what my life would be like had I hired a coach. Had I done so, golf could be an enjoyable part of my life. Instead, I went cheap and ultimately gave up.

These days, I am contemplating re-engaging with the game of golf. However, I know that I have many bad habits to unlearn. Unlearning is 10X as hard as learning. Thus my investment with my coach will probably be 10X what I would spend had I done it right the first time.

Sadly, I see this happen all the time in business. Founders discover amazing systems like EOS, Exit Planning, Revenue Growth Engine, or Strategic Innovation Engine. They read the books and take consultants up on a free consultation. At this point, some wise entrepreneurs (who are likely also good golfers) realize the importance of a coach and engage some help to implement the system. Others reason, “We can do this ourselves and save the money.”

Sure, you can self-implement these systems in the same way that I learned to play golf. Will you get results? Of course. But these results will be a fraction of what you could have enjoyed had you invested in doing it right from the start.

The High Cost of Self-Implementation

As the old saying goes, “You can have speed, quality, or cost but you can only get two of them at the same time.” You must make a compromise in one of the areas. A company that chooses to self-implement lowers its initial cost. However, it must compromise in speed or quality.

Slower Rollout

Business is all about momentum. Without an all-in approach to rolling out a new system, the business struggles to create the inertia required to sustain positive change. The business encounters unforeseen roadblocks. These create speed bumps, slowing the momentum and moving the desired results of the change further into the future.

Similar to a golf coach, investing to bring in an experienced person can help a company anticipate and avoid the speed bumps. This helps create momentum while accelerating the desired results.

Lower Effectiveness

Business systems create force in critical areas of a business like operational effectiveness, revenue growth, or innovation. The right adjustments in any of these areas can lead to massive benefits in the growth, profitability, and valuation of the business. These are areas where a business needs to get it right. They need discernment.

An outside perspective can bring discernment. The great theologian, Charles Spurgeon, defined discernment as “not the difference between right and wrong but the difference between almost right and right.” I can certainly testify that the difference between almost right and right with my golf swing is the difference between a shot in the middle of the fairway or a lost ball.

Higher Expense

Ironically when a business chooses to compromise speed or quality in favor of price the result is often a higher price. Recently I heard someone say, “But once, cry once.” You may invest more up front, but the quality and speed you get drive value far in excess of the additional investment.

I’ve seen this at work in our home. We own a Dyson vacuum cleaner. This incredibly innovative product works well and has lasted for over 15 years. Several years ago we needed a hand-held vacuum. Not wanting to cough up the money for a Dyson, we purchased a less expensive brand. Now, 2 years later the cheap vacuum (which never really worked well in the first place) is broken. Now we need to buy another one. If we purchased a new “cheap” vacuum every two years for the next 15 years, we’d spend 10X the cost of the Dyson.

All of this reminds me of my favorite quote: “There is nothing more expensive than cheap paint” When you buy a cheap brand of paint you feel good at the cash register. (You can buy a gallon of paint at Walmart for $13.) However, when the paint dries and you realize that it didn’t fully cover the wall,  you have to go back to the store, buy more paint. Then you have to waste more time on the second coat. The cost of the paint plus the extra time makes it 3X more expensive than buying $52 Behr Marquee..

Don't buy cheap paint when it comes to the critical parts of your business.

This week I’ll be at the EOS Conference in San Diego. Later this month I’ll be at the Exit Planning Summit in Marco Beach. Many attendees considering implementing these systems will sit in the sessions wondering, “Can’t we do this on our own and save some money?” My advice: treat it like golf. Bring in a coach. You’ll get faster results with higher quality and ultimately a lower cost.

Originally published on Darrell Amy's LinkedIn.