Organizing a Golf Tournament

At a meeting last night, I proposed organizing a graduate school golf tournament to raise money for our MBA program. Long story short, I was appointed to organize it and have no idea where to begin. I've not personally played in many tournaments, but I figured this was the best atmosphere to gain some insight.

Likely entrants would be students, faculty, and alumni, but the event certainly could be open to the public to increase fundraising potential. As we have no way of accurately ranking/handicapping players (and most of those who jumped on board at last night's meeting don't golf), I figure a best ball or even scramble format would be the best.

Any suggestions for where to begin?

Thanks!

As this is a fun-for-all tournament and not a serious one I would start with following:

- decide the game format. If it is a team competition then best-of-2 with flights of 4 could be an option but U need to decide if it is scratch of hcp. I understood U have problems with hcp's so maybe U need to estimate the individual hcp's
- choose the course and make preliminary reservations for the tee times (based on estimate of number of players). once U get the actual number of players U confrm that
- once U have the list of players draw up the start list
- find starters (one or two) and a rules official/competition director
- set up the scoring service with the club you are going to play at
- discuss the practical issues with the personnel at the club, they have plenty of experience
- inform players when, where and how to check in

On the day of competition
- print out local rules, regulations for the competion (with the mobilenumber of rules official and office) and maybe the starting list for all teams
- define scoring area at the club where the teams leave their score cards (normally the caddiemaster's desk)
- make reserve plans for bad weather (club personnel will help U with this; how to inform players of discontinuation and resumption of play etc.)
- assign starters in good time and make sure they have all the papers needed (starting lists etc.)

I think this way U will be able to get started but I recommend that U use the expertise of the club U decide to play at.

And finally: be prepared to the fact that everything that can go wrong will go wrong. So do make reserve plans and assign reserve manpower in advance. Good luck!

Is the word "you" obsolete?

Anyways, I played in a tournament similar to what you're referring to near the end of last summer. Several thousand dollars was raised for the school of business. If the end goal is to raise money for the school then there are quite a few things that you can do to reach that goal. My suggestions: A scramble tournament draws people of all skill levels, and allows them to play together without too much work from you in this area. A shotgun start makes sure nobody is sitting around for too long. Get the word out to local businesses. It's a tax write-off for them, and you can charge a flat rate for a team of 4. My tournament had a 'young alumni' rate for students and young alum so we could still contribute to the school even though we don't have deep pockets. Get sponsors for prizes and market it as advertisement for them. Sell mulligans, licorice ropes (for putts) etc. We made a huge chunk of change alone on this stuff. The hardest part will be finding a good venue that will fit all of your needs. Once you've got that nailed down, the rest is fun. If you would like some more details on how my school did it, PM me and I'll get you some more information in much greater detail. Good luck!

Should I be looking to rank/pair people or am I better off allowing players to form their own teams? I have a few courses that have affiliations with the university. Aside from previous engagements, I see no reason why they wouldn't be willing to host. In what ways are local businesses best compensated for donations? Typical examples are event T-shirts, banners, etc... These don't seem applicable for a golf atmosphere. Any other ideas?

Local businesses are compensated with advertising and a nice tax write-off. Have them sponser holes/carts/prizes, etc.

Just let people form their own teams and send them off shotgun. Have different ways people can donate money on the course that will help their team... on a long par 5 let people pay $5-10 each to tee off from the ladies tees, sell mulligans, etc. One event I play in has a former UK basketball player extend your drive with a shot of his own for a $5 donation to the charity. It may not be pure golf but its a fun event for those involved and it raises a good amount of money.

I can't help but chuckle at how you got roped into it here. That's what happens when you speak your mind at meetings. Hopefully this works out for the best.

I agree 100%. Your goal is to make money so if you find people who are willing to spend it, and give them a way to do so, they will. At the tournament I was involved in they had one of the players from the university golf team at a tee, and you could buy his drive for 5 bucks. He sat there with a dozen Pinnacle gold balls and hit them until he had a really long one in the center of the fairway.

Here's a really good set of articles on setting up a tournament.
http://www.myavidgolfer.com/articles...9&issue;_id=170