* Golf Course Owner (yeah Nick again), calls and it's 30-45 days ahead of event. It's time for a meeting on all the details of the day. Nick helps you through rough patches and provides advice. Once this meeting is scheduled, we are ready for the "Downswing".
* Have a Golf Professional / Golf Course Owner (Hint: Nick) put together a proposal based on your ideas and your budget. Sign the proposal to lock in the date and now you are ready for the "backswing" portion.
- Times for Itinerary
- Beverage Options
- Prize Table Configuration
- Microphone / Podium Options
- Scoring
- Volunteer / Extra Carts
- Itinerary Details
The BACKSWING
The SETUP
The FOLLOW-THROUGH
* THANK GOODNESS YOU MADE A GREAT DECISION WHEN CHOOSING YOUR VENUE, AND I REALLY APPRECIATE HELPING YOU IN THE PROCESS
- How many golfers are committed?
- How many meals will you need (include the volunteers)?
- How many extra carts you might need?
- Send me a list of the foursomes
* Your golfers have a great day on the course and eat a great meal. They Thank You for the great event as they walk out the door.
* A 45 minute meeting at clubhouse accomplishes all these final goals:
* You Did It!
- Finalize Meals / Timing
- Golf Format
- Auction Area and Format
- Hole Events
- Range Ball Situation
- On Course Games
- Invoicing
* Contact a Golf Course to measure willingness to help (Hint: 920-532-4300, ask for Nick)
* Work the phones, beat the bushes, hit the streets. You know your event will be fun, and you are passionate about your cause. You need to convince your potential participants to get involved. (If you think you can simply make a flyer, put it around town and people will sign up, you will be very disappointed)
* Formulate some general ideas on: What Day? What Time? How Much? Who Will Play? How Will I Let Everyone Know About Event? What Will Make Our Event Day Special?
*You will make some money on the golfer's entry fee, but you need to find additional ways to make money or provide prizes for the cause: Sell Hole Sponsorships, Solicit Prize Donations, Get Raffle Prizes and Find Auction Items.
Royal St. Patrick's Golf Links
920-532-4300 in Wrightstown, Wisconin
Great Tip: When Approaching a Business Requesting a Donation, Offer to Buy Something in Return for Them Donating Something. Anyone Can Ask a Golf Course to Donate a 4-Some of Golf, and Many Times I Will Decline. I Have Never Denied Someone Who Said "If I Buy a Twosome, Will You Donate a Twosome?". Yes, This Takes Some Seed Money To Get Started, But You Will Start To Hear A Lot More "YES" and a Lot Less "NO".
HOW TO FILL THE TOURNAMENT?
The DOWNSWING
* Golf Course summarizes entire meeting into a function sheet and sends you a copy.
* Golf Course goes to work, when you and your helpers arrive outing day, everything is set up and perfect. You relax and greet your golfers at Registration
* Get a reason to have a golf outing, or have no reason at all, you just want to have some fun
Outing Coordinator Checklist
* 7 days prior to event, Nick calls, you tell him:
* Create a sales piece that tells everyone about your event. Include: Date, Time, Course Location (RSPGL), Cost, Benefit, What Day Includes, What Makes Your Event Different, How To Sign Up, Contact Info, and Deadline
- Registration Area Set-Up
- Night Before Outing Room Check In
- Seating Arrangements in Clubhouse
- Sponsor Signage Placement
- Gift Certificates / Prizes
- Hole-In-One Cars
- Specialty Needs
* Find 8 other people to share in the duties. Maybe these are the sports coaches at the school, department heads at a workplace, you get the point..
- YOU - You are the top of the pyramid, you make all the final decisions
- Honorary Chair - Local radio guy, sports figure, actor, get someone relevant involved who supports your cause
- Logistics Chair - This person is working close with golf course, lead sponsor, media to execute the day
- Volunteer Chair - This person gets the volunteers to help with check-in, sell raffle tickets, witness hole in ones, etc
- Prize Chair - This persons goes out into community and gets those baskets, gift certificates, etc that will be your prizes
- Sponsorship Chair - Approaches businesses to sell hole, cart, driving range, meal, beverage sponsorships
- PR Chair - This person will be good with brochure, social media, website signups, getting media to cover event, etc
- Treasurer- Someone to handle all the money both before and on the day of the event
NOW that you have all these people...make each committee member responsible for bringing in 4 foursomes. If everyone does that, you have 128 players. Great outings always have a nice pyramid running in the background!