Guide For A Great Outing
In order to provide you with a quote, golf courses will need some information about your group. Although you will generally be able to modify the information slightly, the format, maximum number of players and services included are things that can affect course availability. By answering the questions in this first section you will have the information the course(s) need to provide you a quote.
How many players?
Consider the people who will attend and the number of likely participants. If your target audience is blue-collar workers, a weekend event will likely be better attended. Corporate or private operators who can adjust their schedules may find it easier to attend during weekdays. How many people do expect to attend?
Date or Day of the week.
The more options on dates, the more courses you will get competing for your event. Try to give the courses a range of days, like a Friday in June, rather than locking in on one date. If it is not feasible due to the target audience only being in town for that day, make the courses aware of it.
Location
Geographic considerations should take into account where the players are coming from and the time of day that your outing begins. Courses near expressways may widen your options. Weekend events offer easier travel and may also widen your search. What general area do you consider appropriate?
Services
What services do you want the golf course to provide? If you are only interested in playing golf, many courses may be available. If you are interested in using the driving range and having an awards banquet afterward, only certain courses will fit your needs. Most 'full service' courses will be able to do many of your services for you and with all of the other things you have to do, consider having the course do as much as possible. You will be glad you did on the day of the event!
Find a Golf Course
Finding a golf course is a little like finding a church and a minister for a wedding; it is the anchor of the event and must be decided first. Until Golf Outing Pro™, your only option was to call around and try to get through to the right person or rely on the advice of a friend or family member. Now you can select your top courses in a region and have us find, negotiate with, and book the course! To start your course search now, click here.
Review your Proposals
Unless you have compelling reason to go to a particular course, try to keep your options open. It will give you an edge in negotiations and usually provide you with the best bang for your buck. Do not always assume the lowest price is the best deal. Courses vary greatly in playability and the staff they employee. Don't be afraid to ask how many people will be assigned to work with you on your outing day. If you have not played the course, try to talk to others who have, get the opinions of golfers who you trust. Generally courses that do many outings will have the best support services and experience to make your event go smoothly.
Sign a contract and send a deposit
Most courses require a contract and deposit to actually hold the date and time for your group. The amount of deposit will vary from course to course, make sure you are aware of the payment due dates. Do not start to promote your event until this part is done!
Promoting Your Event
The best-planned event in the world is not a great event if no one attends, getting the word out cannot be overlooked. The following tools should help.
Printed material. Flyers, brochures and registration forms
The most time consuming part of promoting your event can be in laying out your promotional piece and getting it printed. Golf Outing Pro™ can help by providing templates that will make your event stand out in a professional manner and be very easy to order. You can pick the layout you prefer, fill in the information about your outing and submit your credit card information. Your flyers and/or brochures will be mailed directly to you.
Soliciting sponsors and donors
If you are running a fundraiser or a ‘just for fun’ outing for a social group, there may be sponsorship opportunities. A common form for golf outings is 'Hole Sponsors'. Business or individuals may want their name associated with your event to promote business or goodwill with the people in your event. Once a sponsor is identified, your responsibility is to provide a notification to the golfers. In the case of hole sponsors, it is usually in the form of a sign near the tee on an individual hole. Unless you specify otherwise in your agreement with the sponsor, it is not an 'exclusive' arrangement, you may put multiple sponsors on a hole. Always check with the course to determine what types of signs are preferred and who will place them on the course. Outing sponsors is the single best way to fund an outing or provide additional services while keeping the price of the outing down. This is a win/win/win, the event has more participants if it is affordable, the sponsor gets more exposure and it is thought of as a great event, which makes your job easier in the future. This is an area where everyone interested in the success of the outing can help. Use your personal and business contacts and those of all interested parties to solicit sponsorships or prize donations. Other recognition options for your sponsors include: Banners posted as golfers arrive, mention in printed materials or even naming the event after them. Most of these are low cost to the outing and provide a heightened sense of excitement to the event. Golf Outing Pro™ includes a tool for organizing your sponsors and e-mailing the sponsor sign text directly to a sign maker of your choosing, causing fewer errors.
Listing online
Listing your event online offers a low cost option and gives you worldwide exposure. You can sign up to list your event on Golf Outing Pro™ and use your dedicated website to help promote and sign up players. In addition, Golf Outing Pro™ will post your event with local partners, to promote your event to thousands of local players. Once you have your website you can then send an invitation to everyone in your e-mail list who may be interested. They will be able to register online for your event, this usually will provide you with their correct name(s) and addresses also. One area that is difficult when relying on phone calls or printed materials in gathering golfers is the details that online forms will get. Having e-mail addresses greatly eases the communication to your golfers. Golf Outing Pro™ has built in free e-mail blasts that will allow you to send confirmation of time and pairings to your participants with directions to the course a few days before your event. We have also included a free thank you service the day after your event for all players that have a valid e-mail address in the player profile.
E-mail and snail mail
In addition to low cost, the ability to hit respond to an e-mail will provide you with the fastest way to communicate with your participants and volunteers. However, recognize that some folks don't use the technology and prefer a paper registration form. Don't overlook your address book or Rolodex, just plan ahead and send out forms a little earlier. It is a nice touch to include a self-addressed envelope, stamps are expensive and therefore, optional. Use your discretion.
Follow up
THIS IS IMPORTANT! Do not assume your flyers, brochures and e-mails will be acted upon the first time. Look at your own mailbox, inbox and voice mail. Everyone is inundated in the information age; you must follow up with non-respondents. Some people think this is 'bugging' your potential players or sponsors, but many times the recipient appreciates the reminder. Phone calls are the number one way to approach the follow up. Make calls with genuine concern that they may have just forgotten to respond and explain that you didn't want them to miss out on the great event you are planning! Faxes, follow up e-mails and remaining brochures are also options and may be better use of your time. Phone calls are time consuming, but the personal contact is usually more successful in a commitment either way.
Organize your players
As you send out your invitations be ready for a response. Have a mechanism in place that gathers names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail for the players. To view the form that is used by our member courses click here.
Get all the information possible!
Not only does this make it easier to communicate, but will be an asset when getting players information about your next event. Using our online posting is a low cost option that most players will fill in without your involvement.
Use a system that is flexible
One sure thing in putting a player list together is that there will be changes. Our online pairings sheet makes moving players around or editing them easy. Although a spreadsheet or text document will work, rearranging and printing the lists is sometimes tedious. Golf Outing Pro™ has built in tools that print out pairing lists, alphabetical lists, contest sheets and even players that are not confirmed. We also offer the ability to rank your players and arrange your teams accordingly. Our 'ranking report' easily lets you see how many of each rank you currently have registered. REMEMBER TO PAIR PLAYERS, AS THEY WILL RIDE TOGETHER. 2 PLAYERS PER CART.
Planning the day
Like all good events, planning is the key. There are many things you can get finished early to prevent any last minute stress. This not only makes your event better, it is also more fun for you!
On course contests
Some people like a lot of contests on the course and others find them a distraction to the game. We believe a happy medium is in order. Contests such as ‘closest to the pin’ and ‘longest drive’ are easy to run, do not interfere with play and allow a little fun competition within the individual groups. If you are planning any contests that require a spotter to run the contest, or set up on the course, check with the course operator. Have the course help decide which holes work best for each contest. Consider offering separate contests based on gender or skill level. Remember to provide a prize for each contest. If the prize is especially valuable, provide a spotter, someone not associated with the event to monitor the contest.
Hole in one contest
A hole in one contest can add an air of excitement to any event, especially if someone wins it! There are specialized insurance programs that make this an easy process. We have links to some companies here. The information you need is: Number of players, Yardage from the tee to the pin placement and value of the prize. You will be quoted a price for the insurance and must pay BEFORE the day of play. Most insurance carriers will provide additional prizes for the other par 3 holes on the course at no additional charge. They will also provide signage that can be sent to the course or to you. If you intend to have a car as the prize, you have one more step to take. You will need to contact the course to determine where they will allow the vehicle to be placed; they may also be able to tell you a car dealer who can deliver in their area. If they cannot, you must make contact with a car dealer who can accommodate the transportation for the vehicle on your outing day. Important! Read the insurance certificate and follow the guidelines to the ‘T’. If someone does hit a hole in one, the insurance company will do an investigation before paying, so run the contest in conjunction with all of their rules, including the correct number of spotters at the hole. Usually there is an allowance made for ladies to hit from a little closer- READ!
Prizes and awards
Determine early if you intend to provide prizes for just the contest winners and the tournament winners, or if you intend to give a door prize to each participant. Personal choice plays an important role here. One consideration is to give a small award that can be displayed by the players on a desk or wall that will make them think of your event when it comes up again. Donations are often a way to provide many more gifts and offer a way for those who want to support your event to do so. Some businesses have promotional items that are an alternative to a cash sponsorship. Make sure the gifts are appropriate, not all 'donated' gifts are going to set the right tone.
Spotters and Volunteers
A word about volunteers; confirm their availability several times prior to your event. Some people with good intentions 6 months prior may have different availability on the day of the event. Also make sure that each volunteer has a valid job, don't invite so many volunteers that you have a full time job keeping them busy, make a list of the jobs that need to be done and assign a name. Giving them that information ahead of time saves you time on outing day. If you just say 'Show up and I'll give you a job', you've just made another job for you or someone very involved in the days' details. It is not generally necessary to have a person watch a 'Closest to the Pin' or 'Long drive contest' unless an extremely valuable prize is being given away.
Fundraiser activities
When running a fundraiser golf outing there are many ways to raise additional funds on the course or at an awards banquet. Silent auctions after golf, 50/50 raffles, a raffle for a rather expensive donated prize, etc. Too many of these going on may seem like harassment to players who are there to play, pick one or two and work the crowd well.
Sponsor signs
Sponsor Signs come in many different configurations. Golf Outing Pro™ can make the signs for you, click here to see our Sample Pricing page. Contact a local sign maker early or ask the course for a company whom they have used in prior outings. Signage and banners can make your outing look very professional if they are done correctly. Sponsors will appreciate the recognition.
Emcee for awards ceremony
This is the fun part, unless you are terrified of speaking in front of people. It really isn't necessary to get into long speeches but thanking all of the people who helped put the event on will help ensure their participation in the future. Award the tournament winners and contest winners before any door prizes. It is somewhat awkward if your guests are all leaving as you are awarding the winners of the event. If this is a fundraiser, a good emcee could urge the participants to buy 'one more' raffle ticket, 50-50 or bid on an auction item just before the drawing. A Golf Event is a long day for the organizers and for the players as well. It is usually not a good time for an hour-long presentation or long-winded speeches. Use the TAP theory. ‘Thank you’, Awards, Prizes, then good-bye.
Communicating with players and course
It is wise to set aside one hour in your weekly calendar in the weeks leading up to the outing to communicate with the course and/or the players. Taking for granted that everyone knows and remembers what is going on can have undesirable affects.
Two weeks before event, contact course
About two weeks before your event, contact the host course and talk about your current outing status, confirm starting times, give them an updated number of players, confirm contests, menus and when they would prefer to have things arrive like sponsor signs, and prizes. They may require a Hole in one vehicle to arrive the day before so it can be positioned on the course before play, etc.
Week before event, contact players
With the outing less than a week away you need to communicate to your players. As mentioned earlier, there are several options available including a blast e-mail feature on Golf Outing Pro™ that automatically will send your players their starting time and hole assignment, who they are playing with and directions to the course if the course is one of our member course and they've provided you a pairings sheet. Other means of communication are phone calls, mail or e-mail, if you've done a good job along the way of dispensing the information, you may be able to skip this step. Review your player list for changes and prepare to send the information to the course.
Printing player lists
The format of the lists that are most helpful for checking in players is an Alphabetical list. The next is the pairings list that shows the 4 players that are playing together. Courses that use Golf Outing Pro will be able to print these lists and make them available to you on the day of play. The course has options to print other useful items like stickers for bag tags and cart assignments. One advantage of the Golf Outing Pro system is that you control all spelling; you do not rely on someone at the course getting the names spelled correctly.
Prize and sign delivery to the course
Contact the course to find out when they want the signs and prizes brought to the course. It is usually not a good idea to show up with sponsor signs and prizes that need to be placed somewhere on the course as the golfers are arriving. If the prizes are brought to the course on the day of play, keep them locked away in a vehicle until the golfers are out playing, then bring them to the awards ceremony area. Most courses would prefer to have the sponsor signs at the course the day before so their staff can assist in their placement near the appropriate tees.
Final Payments
Although there may be last minute charges to your event, the bulk of it should be set by now and stopping at the course the day before the event to finalize payment takes some of the stress off the event day. Each course handles this differently and your contract will ultimately dictate the sequence of payments. Anything you can do the day or days leading up to the event makes the actual outing day easier.
Day of Event
It's Here! The day you've planned for within a couple of hours the hard work will be rewarded. If you've followed the guidelines in our planning guide the day of the event should be fun and rewarding. Here's a valuable tip: If something didn't get done, it's too late anyway, don't worry about it, don't mention it and most likely, no one will notice but you. There's always next year.
Registration and direction
Although courses have different set up's it is important that you greet the golfers as they arrive. They want someone telling them what to do and where they should be. Last minute replacements, no shows and surprise shows are all common. Don't panic it happens at nearly every golf outing everywhere. When the outing begins it will all work out. Be accommodating and flexible; remember the participants at a typical outing are in the same frame of mind that they would be if they were 'on a holiday'. We motioned earlier that the players should be paired according to how they will ride together. Changing bags on carts is a confusing issue at registration and is unnecessary.
Manage by walking around
If you are responsible for this event you should be available to 'roam'. We do not recommend tying you to a specific job. If you can, be available to the volunteers, the golf course personnel and the golfers to handle last minute items of importance.
Have Fun!
Be relaxed and at least give the outward appearance that you are in control and enjoying yourself. Usually this is true, the day of the event is FUN. It is all the work leading to it that is trying.
Follow up next day
It is easy to think about taking a day off after your event, but wait one more day! Do these quick things now and save yourself a lot of time next time around!
Thank you to the players and volunteers
Thank-you’s are an important aspect of the outing and will reinforce your standing as a gracious host and great outing organizer. Golf Outing Pro™ has a ‘blast e-mail’ through our service. This is another good reason for collecting those e-mail addresses. Of course if you like licking stamps and envelopes, there are other options.
Arrange a date for next years event
If you have a good experience at a particular course it may be to your advantage to ask about a date for next year. This enables you to incorporate that date into your thank-you's and may allow you to get a good deal from the course. Of course if you want to get new proposals again, we are always here for you!
Notes, Notes, Notes.
Make notes on everything that went right and everything that went wrong on the event. Ask others that participated in your event if they noticed anything that you didn't. Remember to review your notes when you start to set up next year’s event.
