PLANNING A GOLF OUTING
A Preliminary Guide
Ó 1999 Davy Hoffman
1. Appoint an event chairperson, usually a golfer (entertainer, sports celebrity, business executive), who has a broad sphere of influence in the communities you wish to draw upon.
2. Appoint lieutenants in key geographic and business areas to network outward both personally and in the distribution of promotional materials to key golf and other community locations.
3. Build or utilize a database of prospective participants (prospective meaning golfers sympathetic to the cause or to the individuals associated with it) and distribute a direct mail piece or newsletter promotion. You may wish to find a sponsor for the mailing or utilize regularly distributed mailings of target organizations and include them as sponsors.
4. Develop an itinerary for the event including the type of game or format to be used and commit to a date with entry deadline incentives. Begin deciding whether you will serve box lunches or a full meal awards banquet and begin projecting how many volunteers you will require.
5. Build or use a database of media reporters and journalists, sports and otherwise, and either hold a press conference or distribute a news release. Having an influential celebrity or media type on your advisory committee is a real plus. Some groups enlist sponsor support to include an advertising budget and all sponsor logos appear in promotional ads in proportion to their level of financial commitment. It is also common to have a title sponsor for charitable events, viz., The Cadillac Arthritis Foundation Scramble. The title sponsor then incorporates the event promotion in their run-of-schedule print and broadcast advertising leading up to the event. Involving a broadcast station to document or do live updates is another means of generating publicity.
6. You now have two objectives, one being the enlistment of participants and the other being the enlistment of corporate sponsors for the event itself, for allied contests, for a warm-up clinic, for tee signage, for logo identity on caps and/or shirts, etc.
For Additional Information and to begin developing your next golf outing, please contact: