Charity Golf Tournament Tool Kit TIMELINE STEPS 7 + Months out Organize a Chairperson and Committee. Ideally, your committee is in a focused region. Use the contacts of your chairperson and the members that you slowly add to your committee to continue growing your committee. You should have 5-10 volunteers on the committee. Choose your committee members wisely - make sure they have clout with the local community. Make sure they have authority or some degree of "power." RETAILERS have the most power when it comes to soliciting! 6+ months out Find a Golf Course. Finding a private course is ideal - but many require a member to "sponsor" the event. (Member sponsorship does not entail that person paying for/donating to the tournament) Use your committee members to get ideas on popular/desirable courses in their area. Expect golf fees to run around $100-120pp, lunch to run between $8-15pp, and dinner to be about $25-50pp depending on menu. Set a dollar amount goal and budget Determine sponsorship levels (See Two Ten event registration for benchmarks). 6 months out Begin Marketing You can begin designing a theme for the save the date and marketing while assembling your committee and finding a course. 6 months before the event, a Save the Date card should be sent. Now is the time to decide if you'll have a silent auction and/or raffle the solicitation for this should be added to the invitation. Use your committee to determine your invite list. 3 months out Send out your Invitations! Find out if there are any regional trade shows before your event - ask if you can add a flyer to their welcome packet. Write an email for your committee members to send to their entire list of vendors, business contacts, etc. Send press release about the tournament to relevant publications (Footwear News, Footwear Plus, etc.).
Start Solicitations Develop a list of prospects for the tournament based on: geography - companies based in the area or companies with some sort of local presence and history - companies who have supported events in the area. Write a letter for your solicitors to edit to their personal preferences. Include specific details of how Two Ten has helped the region. For some solicitations, you may include company specific information. Make sure to solicit for the gift bag, raffle, and any other additional activities you will have at the tournament. 2-3 months out Awards Decide how you want to recognize your winners Glass and wood plaques, golf trophies, tournament cup, etc. Decide how many teams you want recognized - remember 4 people per team. Longest Drive (ladies and mens are separate) and Closest to the Pin are great awards 2 Months Out Work out Day-of-Details Decide with your committee what types of events you'll have (50/50 cash raffle, prize raffles, auction items, etc.) Don't be shy - ask the club to donate clubs, bags, etc. as prizes for the raffle/auction (if they donate, recognize them in program and at dinner.) Figure out the best place to send the raffle prizes, gift bag items, etc. Contact a sign vendor(s) to get pricing and decide how you want signs to look, read, etc. Program Decide whether or not you'll have the program done professionally or in house. If done professionally, you should start now, but plan to finish close to the tournament, as last minute sponsorships and gifts are very common. Raffle Tickets Order tickets if needed. 1 month out Talk to your sponsors Find out if they will be golfing. Let them know they can buy more golfers (if space is available). Remind them to send their in-kind gifts (raffles, gift bag,
etc). Ensure that you have the correct name for each company including an LLC, CO, Inc., etc. at the end of the company name. Talk to your committee If your attendance is down, offer lower priced golf for players. Decide when and where you will be stuffing your gift bags. Talk to the club (Events Coordinator, Sales, GM, etc.) Decide when and where each table will be set up for registration, auctions, raffles, etc. Volunteers Make sure you have at least 5 volunteers to run the registration table. You will want to have volunteers on the course for any hole events AND to take photos. 1 week before Finalize the program Professionally done or done in house, the week before the tournament is when to finish it. Include a thank you to your committee, volunteers, sponsors, in-kind gifts. Use this to promote your prize and cash raffles, auction, mulligans, etc. Plan Dinner Program Work with your chairperson/committee to determine who will speak and when, who will present awards, etc. Set some time aside for someone to speak about Two Ten. Golfers Determine the number of golfers you will have (72 golfers will take approx 5 hours to finish in scramble format.) Call/email the sponsors who still haven t given you their golfer names. Email foursomes to the club. If a group registers together, assume they want to play together. Make sure your sign maker has the final list of sponsors Triple check official names of the companies don t be afraid to call and ask.
Small You may want to make small, tabletop signs (using a print out and a plastic or cardboard backing) for your raffles, schedule, etc. Make a sign that tells people where they go to check in, make payments, etc. Cash You will need change ($5, $10, $20 bills) for selling raffle tickets. Reporting Make a few clean copies of the following for your chairperson and key committee members: - Sponsors with amount and contact - Paying golfers name and amount - Total funds collected for golfers, sponsorships and cash donations Prepare registration forms Prepare an easy to read registration form that includes the following information: - Name - Company - Payment Status - Hole Assignment (what hole they re starting at) - Attending dinner? (Have your volunteers ask them if they ll be attending the dinner and awards ceremony.) 1 Day Before Go to the Club Meet with your chairperson and the Club s staff. Go over your schedule for the day make sure everyone is on the same page. Discuss with the golf pro changes with foursomes Learn the location of: - the registration tables - driving range/putting green - bag drop - breakfast/lunch - locker rooms - restrooms - Pro Shop Tournament Day! Arrival Time
Plan to arrive at the Club a full 2 hours before Registration as participants are sure to arrive early. During the Tournament Throughout the tournament, the club will give you updates on what time they think the group will finish. - The kitchen should be able to adjust the food time for the speed of play (country clubs are very good at this) Count the money for the 50/50 Cash Raffle while the golfers are out. This will allow you to easily estimate the prize winner s purse. - Use the total to entice the golfers to buy more. - Have your on-course volunteers able to sell raffle tickets. Set up your awards and raffles in the area where the dinner will take place. If applicable, be sure food is available as soon as golfers finish. During Dinner/Awards Take photos Photos can be emailed to winners after and then again when you re looking for participation the next year. Make sure the sponsors, committee, volunteers and participants are thanked at the dinner. Packing List for a Golf Tournament Money pouches - Change: Depending on the price structure of your goods, I recommend about $50 in 5s, $100 in 10s, and $100 in 20s. Pens, markers, extra paper - Bring blank paper and black markers with sign holders. With this you can easily create any miscellaneous signs you will need. Calculators Credit Card Slips/Transaction forms (depending on how you are able to take payment) All registration forms, copies of checks, etc. If benefiting Two Ten, please contact us to receive information to distribute at the tournament.