Collaborating with Golf Courses: Insights for Tournament Organizers

A successful golf event is a partnership between the golf tournament organizer or manager and the golf course staff. These two sides need to come together and be on the same page from the start if the end result is going to be what everyone desires.

The good news here is that golf courses are staffed with professionals who understand the ins and outs of running these kinds of events. They are your best resource in the process and can make your life much easier in the end. Let’s use this post to go over some basics of how you can productively collaborate with the golf course you’ve chosen for your event. 

With a strong relationship established between yourself and the golf course staff, there will only be one other component to put in place - the technology you’ll use to run the tournament. 

Partaake is the answer. Learn more about our software today by exploring our site or reaching out to us directly. We’d love to serve you!

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Contacting the Right Person

Even if you are a golfer, you might not know much about what goes on behind the scenes at your favorite course. You simply make a tee time, stop by the pro shop to pay your greens fees, and head out to the first tee. Other than the person behind the counter taking your money, you might not interact with anyone else on the staff. 

So, if you want to book a tournament, who should you talk to at the course? As a golf tournament organizer, your best bet is to start by checking out the golf course’s website. Look for a link that is labeled something like “Tournaments” or “Events” and you will likely find contact information for the person in charge of bookings at the facility. In the absence of any information about a tournament contact, you can always turn to the General Manager or Head Professional. Both of those individuals will be able to help you and each should have contact information displayed somewhere on the website. 

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‍The Whole Course Might Not Be Yours

It’s common for tournament organizers to just assume that the entire course will be shut down for them on the day of their event. That’s not necessarily the case, however. The way the course handles your event will depend on the number of players that will be involved. 

Steve Shumaker, Director of Golf Membership at Aviara Golf Club in Carlsbad, CA, has seen this play out many times. According to Shumaker, “You may not have the entire course blocked off for your group unless you have 120 - 144 players. Some organizers may not realize that we are going to have play before and after your group if your event is 60-80 players”. 

The important thing here is to get on the same page with the course right from the start. Ask if the expected size of your group is going to allow for the whole course to be closed, or if other players will be on the course along with your tournament. 

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How to Be the Organizer That Golf Courses Love

Professionals in the golf industry will tell you that they encounter the same few problems over and over again with golf tournament organizers. By knowing what will make everyone’s life easier at the course, you can be their favorite person to work with all year long. 

• Great communication. This is easily at the top of the list. In some cases, golf event organizers will go silent for weeks at a time - or longer - and make it very difficult for the course to properly prepare for the tournament. If you are responsive and get back to phone calls or emails quickly with the information that the course needs, they will love you. 
• Prompt play. Those who run a golf course need to keep things moving so they can get as many people as possible onto and off of the course each day. This doesn’t mean you have to rush your people through their tournament round, but you should establish expectations for pace of play so things don’t get brutally slow. 
• Timely payments. A golf course is a business, and they need to collect payments when they are expected for booked events. It doesn’t work for a course to hold a tournament date on its calendar if you haven’t produced the money expected to secure that date. 
• Treat the staff well. It’s a lot of work to run a golf course, and the people on the staff - both in the pro shop and restaurant, as well as out on the course - deserve to be treated properly. Dealing with the golf course staff as you would deal with anyone else in a professional setting goes a long way. 

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Planning Ahead Is Your Best Bet

You always want to put time on your side for a golf event. For one thing, you’ll have trouble finding an open date if you wait too long to book the tournament. Even if you do find a date at the last minute, you’ll be making things harder on yourself and the course. 

As soon as you know you’ll be running a golf tournament, start the planning process. When you have months of lead time to get things organized, you can easily get on the same page with golf course management and the stage will be set for a great outing. 

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Partner With the Course for a Great Event

Golf courses love hosting tournaments of all kinds. Not only do these events drive revenue, but they also offer exposure for the course - some of the players will have such a good time that they will come back later on their own for another round. 

So, the courses want your business, and they want to work together with you to make the tournament a big success. Using some of the tips above - like communicating effectively and planning well in advance - will ensure that your experience with the course and its staff is one that benefits all involved. 

In addition to having a good relationship with your chosen course, you also want to keep everything about the tournament properly organized right from the start. There are many moving parts, so you need a “mission control” system that keeps everything exactly where you need it. That’s what Partaake was designed to be. Use our software to run every part of your golf event and sleep well at night. Don’t wait another moment to get started!