Add A Celebrity And Make A Good Golf Tournament Great! As we have often mentioned in our NHIOA blogs, there are literally thousands and thousands of charity and corporate golf events each year in the US. In virtually every area of the country, golfers and sponsors must make a decision as to which events they are willing to support that afford the most enjoyment, recognition, or pure sense of purpose with the charity itself. These are determining factors when schedules are made and go a long way to making sure that both golfers and sponsors want to include your event in their plans. Make A Good Golf Tournament By Adding a Celebrity A great addition to any event is the inclusion of a celebrity, which may be a famous PGA tour player, one of the great trick shot artists, a prominent local golf professional, (yours truly), or one of the country’s long drive champions. If you desire to get away from the “golf” theme, many events take advantage of the presence of local athletes (active or retired), actors, singers or anyone in your area that has a great reputation and following. The idea is that golfers enjoy being around the celebs, and truth be known, the celebs more than enjoy being around the golfers. It’s a WIN-WIN! Hire a Famous PGA Tour Player Now the first option of a well-recognized and famous tour player is certainly a great promotion for any event. Having said that, don’t count on getting a Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson or Bubba Watson unless you are willing and prepared to add a bunch of zeros behind the first number on the check amount. Even a “middle of the pack” current PGA tour player commands $50,000 plus for a one-day event and their schedule is quite limited. The typical tour pro outing consists of the appearance, a short pre-round clinic and maybe playing a few shots with each group. A second (and probably most popular option) is adding someone like me (King of Aces) and/or one of the long drive champions to participate on a selected hole during the official round of play. I would be positioned at one of the par three holes and hit a shot with each group as they come through. If my ball is closer, play mine. If you beat the King, you win King of Aces golf balls, and if you make the ace, you win $10,000. The golfer really can’t lose! With the long drive artists (several available throughout the US), they are positioned on a selected par five hole, and actually just hit a drive for each group of players. With these guys, it’s fun, fast and entertaining. Hard to believe how far they can hit it. Bottom line, it’s pretty much unexpected for the golfer and once again adds to the excitement of the event. Can’t speak for all of the long drive guys, but most of us typically charge an appearance fee that’s quite reasonable, along with simple airfare and hotel accommodations. With most events, the sponsor arranges for photographs with the celeb and groups at the selected area. Or Perhaps a Local Golf Pro Another option is to utilize local talent, such as mentioned earlier. A well-known local pro, athlete, actor, singer, politician, etc. might simply mirror the actions from above, and most often will do so for either no money or a minimal fee. Local athletes are great resources for events, and depending on the charity, should be available. Again, photo ops add to the lure of the event. With any of these choices, there is an opportunity to create an additional sponsor package to pay for the appearance. Most of the sponsor packages are structured to afford exposure to the sponsor, along with some “extra” time and photos with the celeb. In this format, the event is able to “present” the extra activity for the contestants, insure more enjoyment, and again hopefully make the decision regarding next year’s event a “no brainer.” Have a Trick Shot Artist Make an Appearance The last of the ideas is for one of the great trick shot artists to perform a show at your tournament. The only drawback to this is that their “act” does not take place during the official round of play. For their show, time must be allocated either prior to the round or after the round before dinner/lunch/awards presentations. While this requires a little extra time, it’s well worth it, will leave your players scratching their heads and talking about it for weeks to come. Some of the more prominent trick shot artists are Chuck “The Hit Man” Hiter, Peter Johncke, and Divot the Clown (Kevin Compare). You should be able to locate the tour pro’s, the long drive guys and trick shot artists through a simple internet search. I can be reached through National Hole In One Association. Without question, you will want to include NHIOA insured hole in one prizes for one or more target holes during the official round of play. Additional excitement comes with adding a post event ShootOut and putting contest. All of these create enthusiasm, fun and provide additional sponsor sales opportunities. The post event ShootOut and putting contests insure that all golfers will spend time at the awards/lunch/dinner ceremony. This will definitely leave the golfers feeling like they got more than their monies worth. You want them to leave the parking lot feeling good and thinking that your event will be part of next year’s schedule. In closing, keep it simple and fun for your audience and sponsors. Get your hole in one insurance from National Hole In One Association, add a celebrity, and make a good event GREAT! Hit ‘em Straight, Mancil Davis
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 22:05:47 +0000
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