If you take your time, follow a good golf tournament format, execute everything wisely, have a few good helpers, and watch out for your costs, you should pull off an undertaking like this just fine.
Time waits for no one
Plan your golf tournament well in advance, plan and stick to a time line and deadline and you will save a lot of time, which will give you time to institute money-saving techniques.
Pairing things together prior to your event will also save you time and eliminate many of your last-minute changes that can make your golf tournament look disorganized. If your planning committee members aren't well versed in the subject of golf, they should avoid trying to plan it on their own - without the support of someone with golf event experience.
Forget about cheapening your tournament by hanging and passing out golf tournament flyers. Avoid depending on public support by attracting attendees and donors through newspaper advertising alone. A better way to go about it is to form a committee of 12 to 15 people, making each one responsible for signing up two full teams and two hole sponsors. When you assign clear goals for everyone to meet, you will ensure a successful event.
Smart essentials to start with
Book your tournament at a top notch golf course. You can have a well-organized, well-attended, and well-marketed tournament, but if the venue is what I would call "dreck" or not in good condition or of good design, your tournament will "head South" and all of your hard work will have been for naught.
You'll save money and time if you utilize the golf course to it's fullest capacity. It's common for golf course staff to help you with sponsor signs, photography, prizes and so on.
Cater-Hater Tip: Don't waste your time with most third-party companies who often mark up their services and take longer.
It's about the money, honey
Realistically, you also need a budget with achievable sponsorship goals. Sure, you want to raise money, but if you don't know how much you will need to turn a profit, then how will you know how much money you need to raise?
Cut your overall tournament event costs by asking local businesses to donate sponsorship "prize packages" of goods and services.
As more and more golf courses step up their game to offer great tournaments and as organizations' budgets decrease, it becomes increasingly important to offer more for the players' dollars - and not just tangible items, but an overall experience that is well worth the investment to them.
Plan your marketing strategy well
You can organize your event perfectly, but if no one shows up, you've messed up on marketing.
Create a website for both organizers and attendees for a seamless tournament experience. Ask the golf course that you've chosen if their website hosts an area that will cover your event; online registration, hole-in-one insurance, sponsor signs and banners, golf tournament gifts, trophies, gift cards, tournament photos, and shirts, hats, clubs and accessories. This way, organizers and attendees can order products well in advance of your event, and get them delivered to the course the week prior.
For example, "Bella Vista All in the Family Golf Tournament tee times" was searched online 119 times within a matter of a day or two. See what I mean?
Cater-Hater Tip: This works great. When as much of your planning as possible is positioned to go through a dedicated golf tournament website, all billing will go through the golf course and be included on the master bill.
Put together the best team possible
Think about it like this, when you want to excel and make money doing it you wouldn't ask someone who hates ice cream and kids to drive your ice cream truck, and the same goes here. Choose people who have a vested interest in the tournament and a sincere passion for the hosting organization. Put together a diverse committee with the ability to reach your key circles of influence. For example, you will most likely need sponsorship, registration, tournament gifts, tournament prizes, rules, decorations, food and beverage, scoring/scoreboard, signage, live and silent auction, caddies/fore caddies, marketing, photography, volunteer, transportation, lodging, and media committees.
Plan to win with a winning plan
Effective communication between the tournament chairman and golf pro or golf course tournament coordinator is the key during your planning process. Use a checklist system from your opening discussions that cover the details of your date, time, estimated number of players, your tournament format, and naturally, billing.
Cater-Hater Tip: Remember, it's always important to know how the golf course will want to receive their golf tournament payment.
Your checklist should also cover any hole contests that you might have such as longest drive, closest to the pin, etc. This is where you also want to visit the subject of gift certificates and other prizes.
How to handle tournament merchandise
To insure that you'll have no problems, with the golf course tournament coordinator at the helm on this one, ask your golf course liaison to assist you with ordering and getting the best prices on logo golf tournament gift packs, and your logo golf balls and other promotional tournament merchandise.
While you may find what looks like a great connection to inexpensive goods, remember the seasoned golf pro or golf course tournament coordinator has access to several vendors who offer tournament programs with the latest tournament prize ideas and merchandise that are ridiculously well-priced.
Too many cooks will spoil your soup
As an event planner and caterer, I have one set rule that I rarely ever deviate from - I only allow one designated person to deal with the client, and that person is usually me.
Dealing with one designated person at the golf course and one planning representative will be your best way to go. There should only be one person to deal with both sides. The tournament planning committee should handle the details of the pairings, registration, prizes and food, and the golf course liaison will of course take care of things on their end, and the main contact person should be the one to orchestrate things on both sides.
There's noting like great golf tournament formats. No, you're not planning the Masters Golf Tournament, but I'm sure that your golf tournament (which is more like one of the junior golf tournaments) means just as much to you. Have fun while you're planning it. Turn it into a golf tournament party.
Make it a fun experience for everybody. Don't just aim to create satisfied golfers, aim to create raging golf tournament fans. Then wait for them to ask you when you'll organize another golf outing again.
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Written by Carlo of Carlo At Your Service Productions
