Corporate Golf Events

Golf outings are a blast! It's hard to think of a better way to court clients, reward employees, or raise funds for a worthy cause. But planning a golf outing is a lot of work, so being organized is crucial to hosting a great event. We're glad to help!

 

Where you hold the outing is the key to success. You have to set your budget first. A country club that most people have heard of, but few have played, will get a great response but can be costly.

 

Pick a budget that makes sense and then check a variety of courses for tee time availability, location, club amenities, and experience handling outings. Some other things to consider include cart availability, caddies, course difficulty, locker room amenities (showers are nice) and practice tee availability. If you have out of town guests think about proximity to airports, non-golf activities (like tennis or swimming), and nearby shopping and museums.

 

Giving your outing a unique identity will help with promotion, visibility, and will make the event unforgettable for the players. The logo should be used for all communications about the event, all signage, and on many of the prizes and favors.  The logo can be made up of your company's logo or something completely unique with a golf theme.

 

Use the tools you already use to promote your business or organization. If you have a website add a page that promotes your outing! You can even allow registration and payment online.

 

If you have a newsletter you can begin promoting the event at least three months prior to tee time. Have an on-hold message? Include information about the outing. Your first contact can be a simple Save the Date message. Party411 can create all your promotional materials and signage for the event. Simply contact the Party Girl for a promotional package designed specifically for your event.

 

If you are inviting clients as your guests use a personalized invitation. A golf theme invitation of course makes the most sense for your outing.  (We have plenty to choose from, but particularity love this corporate invitation.)

 

Getting a lot of people on your committee is another great way to promote your event. Not only will it help you split the work but also it will increase the buzz about the event.

 

Here's another place where having a recognizable logo will be helpful. Local merchants get hundreds of requests and sticking out from the crowd will help. Have lots of volunteers make calls. The more people involved the greater chance for success. Don't forget to ask merchants to sponsor a hole. That way they know that every single golfer will see their logo and know they made a generous contribution.

 

The registration table is the craziest place on the course the day of an event. Being organized will really help. Having a giant board printed with all the team members, starting times (or starting hole if it's a shotgun event) will really help. If you need a scoreboard for your event contact the Party Girl for details. This is also a good place for a life size cutout of the boss, or maybe a key employee.

 

Using a banner for your table sign, a welcome sign, or to promote sponsors is always effective. It's always a good idea to have a gift for every golfer. I've seen simple gifts (a sleeve of balls and a few tees) to very nice packages that give you an opportunity to keep your logo or message in front of the golfer long after the last ball is struck. Imprinted golf towels, imprinted golf tees, golf bag tags, golf caddy, or golf balls are an excellent way to let everyone know they'll be getting great value for their investment. We can get you any personalized golf accessories and gifts!

 

Four to five hours of exercise in the sun can leave people awfully hungry. You should start the golfers off with something in the clubhouse. Something simple like bagels, doughnuts and coffee is not expensive and is greatly appreciated on the first tee. At the turn give them a sandwich and a beverage. Continue branding your event by giving every golfer a water bottle with a personalized logo to commemorate the outing. Not too fancy here because you don't want people to settle in before they finish their round. After the round feed them a meal.

 

I’m all in favor of having a beer cart making the rounds. A great convenience for your guests and it will discourage them from bringing their own alcohol on the course. Even if you don’t serve alcohol a cart with water and soft drinks would be appreciated.

 

The all time favorite is steak but your budget will dictate what you can do. I belong to two organizations that have members cook the food and manage the pavilion. It saves a ton of money but make sure you have enough members to make it work smoothly. If you don't have a member who's done it before hire a caterer! Feeding a hundred hungry golfers is no way to learn the catering business. Be aware some courses won't let you bring in your own food or your own caterer. Just something else to consider when choosing a course.

 

Lots of prizes is a good thing. You probably will have some golfers that are not too skilled so give them a chance to win also. A door prize drawing is a good idea. If you are having a fundraiser take a couple of great prizes and sell raffle tickets. Great prizes mean you can charge a premium for the tickets instead of a dollar a ticket. Make sure your emcee is funny without being long-winded. Lots of golfers will need to get home or back to work and they don't want to sit around all night. Make sure the awards move quickly. I recommend having the drawing during the cocktail period before dinner.

 

If you know the date for next year's event make sure you let it be known at this year's event. I've even seen some groups accept reservations on the spot. A great way to get on someone's calendar.