CHAPEL HILL, NC – Reclining in a La-Z-Boy in his Granville dorm room, junior business school student Barry Wannamaker began cramming for his golf exam in his Business 450 class, Strategic Negotiation. Taking a sip of his Shock Top Lemon Shandy, he stared intently at the TV, flipping through and finding The Golf Channel.

“It’s a little different than what I am used to in a final,” said Wannamaker, followed by a little belch. “It’s unusual that you get such practical skills from a course. I’ll be out there, actually testing my ability to drunkenly play golf with my friends and call it a business meeting. Classes like [Business 450] are what make the business school special.”

Wannamaker began by watching an episode of In Play with Jimmy Roberts – “just skimmed it, really, I’ll get notes for it later,” – followed by a two hour marathon of Playing Lessons, after which he got up to try a couple of practice swings with one of his empty bottles.

“It’s nice that I don’t even have to buy new clothes for the final,” he said. “My boat attire will work on land. Perhaps golf is the sailing of the land… Foooooore!” He smiled, shook his head, and chuckled. “I’m just kidding. We’re in a room, and there aren’t any actual golf balls or anything. Finals mean high stress and high humor for me.”

After a few more practice swings, Wannamaker made his way to the golf course for 4:00 pm office hours with his professor, George Sanders.

“Fellas, and ladies, we are just going to play a quick nine to get y’all ready for the exam. Remember that this is just a practice nine, so the banter that you have out here is not necessarily the banter you’ll have during your exam. I just want to make that clear,” Sanders told the class. “Make sure to focus on fundamentals. You know the material: when to drink beer, when you should be smoking a cigar, and how to turn conversation away from business analytics to just saying things like, ‘that kid has got gumption and spunk.'”

When asked how much studying he had done for the upcoming final to date, Wannamaker said only caddying for bar golf last week.

“I am not too worried about the exam though,” Wannamaker added. “I did great on my frisbee golf final for my environmental studies class.”