Today in Tournament Administration with PGA Professional Warren Pitman, we were discussing Best Practices in Tournament Operations. We’re responsible for running 12 tournaments at the Golf Academy this semester, so we’re always talking about ways we can improve.
Warren handed out the following article published by the PGA of America several years back. It’s a little dated, but the information is still applicable:
Best Practices in Tournament Operations
PGA of America
For the golfer, tournaments are fun and exciting – an essential part of the golf experience. “Tournaments are a big part of the life of our members,” says Mike McClellan, Director of Golf at The Meadows Country Club in Florida. “When our sign-up sheets go up, people are out there at 5:30 a.m. lining up to enter the field.”
For the facility, tournaments are an essential part of the business of golf. A major tournament means crowds of spectators, media coverage, and increased prestige. What’s more, tournament bookings represent a significant source of revenue.
According to a PGA Operations Study conducted in 1999-2000, the media number of events put on by surveyed facilities was 40 to 50 tournaments per year. Some facilities mounted 150 to 350 a year – and a few achieved 800 a year on multiple courses. Revenues varied from under $100,000 to more than $1 million.
Achieving that kind of performance calls for a wide range of skills that embrace both the game and the business side of golf. Typical tournament tasks include planning and scheduling, communications, good teamwork, creative ideas for themes and formats, media coverage, prizes, entertainment, and food – to name just a few.
This report discusses how facilities with outstanding tournament programs tackle such tasks. Many of the principles and techniques that are cited here were gathered through interviews with private, public, and resort courses that emerged as top performers in the PGA Operations Study, which surveyed close to 2,500 facilities. The report also includes tips from PGA Professionals who have been certified in Tournament Operations through the PGA’s Specialty Certification program.
In the interviews, five clusters of best practices emerged as the most significant contributors to tournament operations success:
1. Focus on service and value to the customer
2. Organize for success
3. Actively seek tournament business
4. Create a solid tournament team
5. Take advantage of technology
Understand and Meet Customer Needs
“Golf is a pure customer-service business,” says Tom Sargent, Head Professional at Mesa Verde Country Club in California. “Nordstrom might be known for inventing personal shopping, but we were doing it long before them.”
Providing personalized service in a tournament means thoroughly understanding with the customer wants from the event, delivering on those expectations, and following up afterwards, both to ensure that needs were met and to make improvements in the future.
Golf professionals at best practice facilities agree that the first step in being able to provide excellent service is to find out what customers want. Then you can show them that you understand their needs and are willing and able to fulfill them.
Are they simply looking for a fun day out on the course? Or is this going to be a “serious” competitive event? Do they want to make a significant profit for a charity event? Do they want to follow USGA guidelines strictly, or are they expecting you to come up with a creative, non-standard playing format? Do they want a lot of extra amenities, or just the basics?
Many facilities mail out tournament packets that spell out available options, from formats to food menus. Others provide questionnaires that allow customers to detail their needs. But there is usually no substitute for a face-to-face meeting.
Says Harry Frazer, Head Professional at the Phoenician Golf Club in Arizona, “We don’t have specific A, B, and C tournament packages here. We meet with the customer and have them tell us exactly what they want and we make it happen for them. We bend over backwards to make sure they get what they want.”
Lori VanSickle, Director of Golf and PGA Master Professional at the DuPont Country Club in Delaware, follows a similar pattern. “When they come to us, we work with the customer to find out exactly what they want. We have two women who work full time selling outings. Our goal is to be a one-stop shop. The more we can offer and do for the customer, the better. We don’t deny any request within reason. We can get local car dealerships to give away a care if someone gets a hole-in-one. We do food and beverage, signage, everything. We even book hotels and provide airport shuttles for our golfers. The more bells and whistles you can give them, the better.”
Greg Martzolf, Director of Golf at the Sandwich Hollows Golf Club in Massachusetts, says that with a charity event, the goal of the organizers is to make money for the event, “so our job is to help them do that.”
“We help them calculate their entire expenses for the event and divide that by the number of players to get the per-person charge. By covering all expenses with the entry fee, we can help them make their profit from sponsorships, raffles, closest-to-the-pin contests, silent auctions, and other related events.”
“When we provide all these added amenities, not only do the organizers achieve their business goals, but golfers also feel as if they’re getting something of value and want to play in more similar tournaments.”
Martzolf prides himself on being able to do everything for the customer – and all handled by in-house staff. “In addition to helping them find sponsors, we make signs, assist with food and beverage, set up the driving range, and so forth. We also have an in-house embroidery machine and can customize in-stock merchandise with a short time period. If I have enough time, I’ll put each contestant’s name on their cap. They really appreciate that extra service.”
Most customers want the facility to arrange tournament prizes. The most common practice is to offer gift certificates for the golf shop. Says Martzolf, “Not only do they make that purchase in your golf shop, but most of the time they go above and beyond the certificate amount.”
Jim Deaton, Director of Golf at the Bay Hill Golf Club in Florida, says his members prefer traditional trophies, and he searches for something special at major gift shows for the club’s biggest member events. At DuPont, Lori VanSickle is developing a catalog of prizes with St. Andrews so customers can easily see all that they offer. At PGA National, Head Professional Jane Broderick arranges whatever gifts the customer requests. For the Optimist International Junior Golf Championship, PGA National partnered with the sponsors, using joint logos on merchandise and splitting the profits.
An innovative idea at an Oldsmobile Scramble was to award prizes such as oil changes and detailing jobs at the local Oldsmobile dealer for closest-to-the-pin and longest drive. It helped steer contestants back to the sponsor and got the dealer more excited about helping the facility expand the event.
In addition to prizes, some customers are looking for something fun and a little bit different in the tournament format or course layout. “One fun format that’s been very successful,” says Deaton, “is where we put six holes on one of the greens. When players reach the green, they decide which hole to shoot to. We’ve even put holes in bunkers.” At The Meadows, interesting and unusual themes for each tournament create fun and variety for members.
Depending on the group, another facility often sets up the course to play at no more than medium difficulty by moving up the tees, picking accessible hole placements, etc. The facility found that people liked the feeling of playing well when the course was set up to play easier. Tournament sponsors and golfers enjoy the day more and come back to play again.