Picking the correct golf format is key to any successful golf tournament – pick one that’s too slow and you’ll jam up the game, pick one that’s too fast and you’ll force players to play beyond their limits. So what can you do to accommodate players of all skill levels? Well, these fun golf variations are there to ensure all your players have a good time, whether it’s their first time on the course or they’ve been doing it since birth.
Continue reading 4 Golf Formats That’ll Make Any Tournament Eventful
Fun vs. Competitive Golf Tournaments
Now that you have created your plan, set up a timeline, picked your volunteers, and set up a budget, what do you do next? This is the perfect time to decide what type of tournament this is going to be. Do you want a competitive game with only the best of the best, or do you prefer to have everyone get a shot and make this tournament for fun only? The planning processes for both are different, so you don’t want to advance further in the proceedings before making your decision.
Competitive Golf Tournament
If interested in a competitive tournament, you will need to capture the attention of golfers with lower handicaps, and the types of games you play will be one of the methods in which you do so. Here is a list of games that will keep the interest of a higher caliber player.
- Best Ball – Tournament players are generally divided into foursomes; players will each take a turn and the lowest score is the one they use.
- Medal Play – The simplest game is the best for competitive play. Every player’s strokes are counted and the lowest one wins.
- Handicapped – If the tournament is a Pro-Am, the numbers will be a little skewed as the professionals will obviously play better than the amateurs. When handicapped, the golfer’s score is averaged out and then 20 percent is subtracted from that score, evening the playing fields and allowing everyone to have fun.
Playing Just for Fun
If you’ve determined the tournament is going to be just for fun, you have opened the playing field up to all caliber golfers and will want to de-emphasize winning. Here are a couple of games to play that will serve the purpose of only having fun.
- Scramble – Often used during tournaments, a scramble is similar to best ball, but in this all four teammates will hit the ball from the tee, and then set their balls in the spot that is nearest to the hole for the next shot. This continues until the ball lands in the hole. The lowest score is the one the team will use for that hole.
- Best Ball – Best ball uses the lowest score of the four golfers and is good for both competitive and fun tournaments.
- De-emphasizing Winning – While not a game, this method is used to determine how prizes are awarded. You can offer prizes for most strokes per hole, shortest drive, even who wears the craziest the golf ensemble.
Best Outings
For more information on ways to differentiate between a competitive tournament and one that’s just for fun, check out our amazing tournament planning guide! Or, use our “Submit your Golf Outing Request” Tool to start planning now!
Top 5 Ways to Save Money on Your Outing Course
Now that you have narrowed down your choices, it’s time to talk money. Your tournament’s objective is to earn big bucks for those who have very little, which is difficult to do if the cost of the course eats away at your profits. Earn that higher rate of return by following these five simple steps.
Do Your Homework
Your top course may not be the cheapest, so don’t be afraid to haggle. Research other course prices and ask if your preferred venue will be willing to match what you’ve found. Chances are they will be amenable to working with you.
Flexibility is Key
If the dates for your tournament aren’t already set in stone, work with the course of your choice and pick a day that works best for them. Holding your event when the course is usually not as busy allows for a better opportunity to keep your costs down while providing for maximum profits.
Buy the Course for the Day
Deals can be made when the proprietor is aware that you are willing to rent the course for an entire day. Just like buying in bulk, prices get lower when you buy larger amounts. Even a half day rental is better than just renting for an hour or two. And remember, don’t be shy—ask if they can do better. The answer is always no if you don’t ask.
Barter
Is there something your company offers that the course may be interested in obtaining? Get to know the people in charge when doing your research and see if you can strike a bargain; maybe the course owner is a big fan of the celebrity you have procured for the meet and greet and would be willing to offer a lower price in exchange for an autograph. It never hurts to ask!
Use Us
Best Outings has years of experience in putting together successful golf tournaments and our Outing Request Tool is a time saving device that will help shorten your search for golf courses that are willing to work with charity events. Why work harder when you can work smarter? Best Outings has everything you need to help you garner the highest returns from your charity tournament.
Best Outings
We measure our success by yours. You don’t have to do it alone, use the resources we provide and prepare for a tournament that will be the talk of the town!
Why Everyone Loves a Hole-in-One Prize
If you’re planning to give out prizes at your tournament, which you should, then you’re going to need some pretty awesome challenges for players to compete in. While popular challenges include the “longest drive” and “closest to the pins”, nothing beats a good old-fashioned hole-in-one competition – and we’ll show you why.
Continue reading Why Everyone Loves a Hole-in-One Prize
Videography and Photo Tips for your Golf Tournament
In this day and age, it seems that everything is documented through photographs and videos. This can be viewed as a good or a bad thing, but it is certainly a good thing in the context of a significant event like the one that your golf tournament promises to be. This is why you should definitely be taking pictures as well as video footage throughout the day. It adds another dimension to the day’s proceedings and goes a long way in making your tournament feel more official.
How to Utilize Photography and Videography
If you want a product that looks great, you should consider hiring a professional photographer and/or videographer. There are many firms that provide these services in any local area, so you will have plenty of options when considering who you should hire. It is a great idea to have multiple people conducting this service. This way, you can have people taking video footage of the actual golf rounds, while you can have photographers taking pictures of people as they hang out around the clubhouse and elsewhere at the tournament. There will be plenty of photo and video service packages at any company that you might contract for this work, so you will be presented with many different ways to utilize their services.
Benefits
There are a lot of benefits to hiring someone to take footage of the day’s proceedings. Having this footage of the tournament is an easy way to create another stream of revenue. You can have a videographer taking footage of golf throughout the day, and then create highlight reels for each golfer and sell it to them. You can also have an area for photographs and sell the prints to attendants of the tournament. It serves as a fun way for you and the tournament’s attendees to remember the times spent at the course. Also, the product is something that can be used as promotional material if you were to hold any golf tournaments in the future. Having this dimension to your golf tournament will go a long way in attracting golfers to your tournament.
Between the financial benefits and the fun that it brings to the day’s events, having your own photo and video team will bring up the quality of your tournament immensely. Do some research about local photography services to learn more about how you can make your golf tournament the best that it can be.
Top 5 Ways to Have a Recurring Golf Tournament
Let’s face it, doing good for others makes you feel good about yourself and can be addicting, which is why you want to not just make this charity golf event a successful one, you want to make it a recurring event that happens year after year. Nothing feels better than that moment, after the players have gone home and the clubs are put away, when you present that check to the people who need it most, and if you follow our five simple steps, you will continue to be able to do so for years to come.
Planning
After the flush of success from your first tournament, you may want to sit back and wallow in your achievements for a bit, but don’t do it! Now is the time to start planning for next year’s tournament while everything is still fresh in your mind! You already know the purpose of your event and can work off this tournament’s timeline, so the planning should be easier, even though the list of things to do is extremely long.
Building Your Committee
A charity golf tournament’s success depends on the people who work hard behind the scenes—are you happy with this year’s committee? Sign them up for next year now, but give them a little break; they’ve worked hard and have earned some relaxation time! This is also a good time to start signing up sponsors for next year while the memory of the fun they have had is still fresh in their minds!
Marketing
Now that you know how it’s done, you can tweak things. Put a little extra effort in one area while eliminating another that just didn’t do what you expected it to do! Start planning the theme, thinking about sponsors, and don’t forget to mention next year’s tournament when you send out thank you emails to all that helped and participated. It’s never too soon to start trying to spark interest!
Review
Take a minute to look over the steps for this year’s charity tournament. What areas would you like to improve upon for next year, what areas might need eliminating from the overall plan and what should you leave alone? That celebrity meet and greet garnered high returns, don’t even think of tinkering with that! If you’re happy with the course you played, reserve it for next year and perhaps snag a hefty discount! Learning is growth and you want the coming years to be profitable ones for your recurring event.
Best Outings
Don’t be afraid to use the most important tool in your charity golf tournament tool box—Best Outings! We’ve been doing this for years and our tips and guides can help you create a charity event that will be the talk of the town for years to come!
Five Qualities to Look for in Your Tournament Golf Course
The perfect golf course can make your charity golf tournament the event people talk about for months to come, or it can end your chances of having a tournament that could become an annual event; it’s that important! If you want your players to sign up year after year, you need to provide a course that attracts high caliber players. Keep reading for tips on what to look for when you are starting the search for the perfect course for your charity golf tournament.
Well Maintained Course
Scraggly and overgrown trees, bald spots on the greens, even sand traps that are not kept up can lead to a game that is frustrating and aggravating. If the course your tournament is held on is not well maintained, your participant list for next year is guaranteed to be short.
Customer Service
Your players are spending good money on this tournament and they expect to be treated as such. Can you blame them? Crabby course staff and beverage carts that appear to be nonexistent will lead to dehydrated and disappointed players. Do a dry run before signing on the dotted line to ensure that the course you choose knows how to treat their customers.
Challenging Course
Players enjoy a challenge—you can’t brag about how well you did on a putt-putt course. Make sure the one you choose offers challenging holes and speedy greens! But don’t make it too challenging, either; there’s not much fun ending the day with a score that nears three digits! Procuring a course that lies somewhere in the middle is your best bet when it comes to ensuring your participants will be eager to sign up again next year.
Quality Food
Offering bland and rubbery chicken, limp and watery vegetables, and watered down drinks will only chase away repeat participants. Make sure the food offered for the tournament is tasty and well prepared. Your players have expended a lot of energy over the course of the day, they need fuel and will remember how delicious it was when next year’s charity event rolls around again!
Reasonable Costs
The object of the tournament is to raise money for your favorite charity, so don’t price yourself out of the game. Deals can be made if you rent the course for the entire day, and don’t be afraid to haggle. The more you save on the course, the more money you can raise for those who need it most!
Best Outings
Planning a charity golf tournament doesn’t have to be a daunting experience. We’ve been planning tournaments for years—check out our handy tournament planning guide and prepare for a successful and fun tournament.
The Importance of Organized Ticketing for your Golf Tournament
You’ve done all the initial planning and now it’s time to start thinking about ticketing. Registration fees should cover the bulk of your expenses, without being too costly, allowing you to use the money you garnered from the extras (raffles, celebrity meet and greets, and contests) as your profits. If not handled well, however, ticketing could cause problems of its own. We’ve compiled a list of dos and don’ts to help your tournament become a smoothly run money maker that people will want to attend year after year.
Don’t Print Your Own Tickets
Yes, you could draw up a design and print your own tickets, but why should you? Not only will it look, dare we say it, a little tacky, the cost of ink and paper, not to mention the time involved, could be prohibitive. Today, copy centers offer great deals on bulk, imaginative, and creative design options that will give your tickets a luxury design well worth the cost, and all you have to do is pick them up! Chances are if you offer a few tickets to the owner of your local copy store (or office supply store) he or she will give you a greater discount on the tickets purchased.
Distributing the Tickets
Online registration works best, and for those who register online a printed sheet with a bar code will work fine, but you will want to have printed tickets on hand as well. Sell them at grocery stores, shopping malls, or just carry a few with you wherever you go; you never know when you might run into someone who is looking for a chance to join a tournament, especially when you are on the course yourself!
Collecting the Tickets
Plan on having at least six people available for managing check-in on the day of the tournament. Set up a table (or booth) near the beginning of the course and have it clearly marked. Use banners, signs, or balloons to direct people to the ticket table; you want people to know exactly where to go upon arrival. If you have the room for it and need a few extra participants, set up a place to sell tickets, at an increased price, near the ticket stand. Every little bit extra counts in the long run. Remember, your idea is to show a profit—your charity depends on it!
Best Outings
You can’t learn these things just anywhere. Best Outings has the experience that will help you create a profitable and fun charity golf tournament that will be a smash hit year after year. Check us out and prepare to win!
Planning for the Right Amount of Golfers
There are many obstacles that can arise throughout the planning of a golf tournament, but the number of players participating is one obstacle you may not have anticipated. Obviously, having too few players can eat into the profits, but were you aware that having too many participants can be a problem as well? When planning for a successful charity golf event, it is important to plan for every contingency, and we’ve compiled a list that will help you plan for the right amount of players and ensure a successful tournament for this year and many years to come.
Limit the Participants
You’re probably thinking we are crazy right now, but it’s important that you don’t get too big; too many participants can lead to a host of problems, including but not limited to: long waits that suck the fun out of playing, out of control crowds leading to chaos, and even extra wear and tear on the course that could lead to extra expenses, taking money from the very people you are trying to help.
Limiting the number of participants also helps in planning your budget. Once you’ve determined how much you want to spend on the event, divide that number by the number of players and you’ve got an idea on what to charge for your registration fees, which, by the way, should not be too high; you want people to come back next year and high fees could be prohibitive to that.
But Don’t Plan for Too Few
The object of this event is to bring in more money than goes out, and no matter how many participants you have, there are some numbers that are finite: the cost of the course, the cost of the prizes, and of course, the cost of advertising. If you factor in too few participants, you could end up losing money, which does not help those you planned to give the proceeds to, and no one wants to deal with that disappointment. Be like Goldilocks and find the number of participants that is “just right,” ensuring a successful and profitable charity golf tournament for this year and many years to come. The only limit is your imagination.
Best Outings
Finally, don’t forget to utilize the tips and guidelines we’ve compiled in our years of experience at planning successful golf tournaments. Our website has everything you need to know about planning, budgeting, and implementing a wildly successful tournament while still having fun and enjoying the day!
Tips for Purchasing Hole in One Insurance
Hole in One Insurance is a type of prize indemnity insurance that protects golf tournament organizers from paying massive cash prizes to a golfer that hits a hole in one during the tournament. It has become extremely popular among golf tournaments. It is a very good idea for you to acquire a hole in one insurance policy. This allows you to greatly increase the appeal of your tournament without needing the cash on hand to cover the prize promised to a golfer in the event that they hit a hole in one. Here are some tips about how you should go about getting the right Hole in One Insurance for your golf tournament.
Picking your Provider
The Hole in One Insurance industry is one that has experienced great growth in recent years. With so many new firms entering the fray, there have been reports of firms issuing Hole in One Insurance without proper licensing and in some cases, they do not pay up in the event of a hole in one in your tournament. This is why it is so important to do your research before you make any commitments with a prospective insurance company.
The Better Business Bureau is a tremendous resource for those looking to pick an insurance provider. Here, you can check the firm’s record and ensure that there are no complaints against them. You can also check the A.M. Co. rating of the insurance company that the policy is written with, which will give you tremendous insight into the legitimacy and integrity of the company you might work with.
Picking the Right Coverage
You can find a wide range of insurance policies across virtually all of the companies that provide these policies. Obviously, depending on the demographic of the tournament and the cost of registration, the appropriate amount of prize money will change. It is also vitally important to read through the contract thoroughly and make sure that you understand all the terms. There are many cases when a Hole in One Insurance firm promises a certain prize for a hole in one on the 10th hole. If someone hits a hole in one on any hole but the 10th, there will be no money paid out.
Understanding the contract and the insurance provider that you choose will ensure that everything goes smoothly and you stand to benefit greatly from acquiring this insurance. Hole in One Insurance is something that will up the appeal of your tournament by adding to the excitement. Look into options for this insurance in your area.