Organizing a Golf Day

What we learnt in organizing our first Golf Day for our Networking Group.

My Co-Founder and I had been talking about putting a golf day together since we started our networking group, and this year we pulled the ‘trigger’ and hosted our First Annual Golf Day.

I do not think either of us realized the amount of work that it would take, and the saying, “I will build it they will come” was not going to work.

Our enthusiasm, belief in our group, people we knew and what we were looking to achieve drove us forward. We were excited to assist our community in making new connections and raising funds for a Non-for-Profit of our choosing.

Steps we took:

• Choose a course
• Decide on format
• Choose a day of the week
• Choose a non for profit
• Do a budget
• Get Players
• Get Sponsors
• Get silent auction items donated
• Get a caterer going with the theme (we decided not to use the course as had a 'theme')
• Get wine tasting at the 19th hole
• Did not get a committee to assist
• Get goodies for giveaway bags
• Get prizes for winners of competitions
• Make the day fun
• Competitions Explained  – side note pink ball competition a lot of fun

We did a good job with the Budget, as we knew what the golf would cost + all the additional costs and then worked backwards on how much we would like to charge. (Cost – charge = donation). We had also decided that we would like to keep the day affordable, which does reduce the amount you can raise. On the flip side, we had a company to sponsor the printing of the signs, thus all funds raised were going straight to the donations.

We used our resources in  getting hole sponsorship's, prizes for winners, goodies for the give away bag and most important a sponsorship for a Beer Keg  which was enjoyed by all participants.
In hindsight we would have done two things differently.  We would not have the event on a Friday, and we would ask our members to be part of a committee early in the process.

We had decided to have it  on a Friday, thinking we would get some out of Towners to play and spend the weekend in Chicago which did not materialize. We learnt that if people are going to take off early on a Friday, they generally would like to go home to their family and start their weekend. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are generally good days. (Don’t have it at the end of the month)
As we did not get a committee to assist from the start, all the above tasks fell to us to do which at times became daunting. Overall I believe we did very well, and we received very positive feedback with most participants informing us they will be back next year.

 A committee is a definite must. With a team you will be able to delegate responsibility for each committee member to get players, hole sponsorship's, items for goodie bags, prizes and silent auction items which would have taken lot of stress away. As one of our members stated while we were contacting our lists , “You guys are relentless!”

We both enjoy helping our community grow, and by being able to raise funds made the ups and downs of organizing the Golf Day extremely rewarding. Being our first Golf Day I can confidently say we both enjoyed the experience, and had a great time putting it together.

“This crowd has gone deadly silent, a Cinderella story outa nowhere. Former greenskeeper and now about to become the masters champion”-Spackler

A very big thank you to all our sponsors and attendees. Without your support and encouragement the day would have not been such a success. Thank you.

We are already looking forward to next year.