Binks Forest Golf Club

Archive for the ‘Golf Tournament’ Category

Playing on Saturdays with your favorite foursome is fun, but playing competitive golf basically means playing in tournaments. There are two kinds of tournaments–match and medal. Match play tournaments are one on one competitions where each hole basically counts as a point, and the tournament competition is set up in brackets.

Medal tournaments are total score tournaments that may be anywhere from 18 to even 90 holes (five rounds) in length. Both formats require consistent play and unbroken concentration.

1. Plan out a tournament schedule before the golf season begins. Some tournaments, like your club’s championship, may be easy to enter. Others, however, may require submitting an early application and some planning.

2. Establish a United States Golf Association (USGA) handicap. This is necessary if you want to play in any tournament that uses handicaps.

It is also necessary for some national tournaments–like U.S. Open Qualifying–that will only accept handicaps under a certain number.

3. Make sure that you do not plan to enter tournaments that will jeopardize your amateur standing. The USGA has an extended policy that deals with this issue.

4. Check with your local section of the USGA for the timing of tournaments and what’s required to be eligible. Tournaments run the gamut from qualifiers for national championships to higher handicap local tournaments.

5. Check with the national sites that cover and catalogue amateur tournaments. There are a number of very interesting tournaments not run through the USGA.

6. Establish your practice routine such that your game is peaking at the times of your most important tournaments–just like “the big boys and girls.”

Golf started out as a solitary game with a lonely shepard hitting rocks with his staff. By contrast, today’s golfer typically spends time with friends while on the course. A great way to get people together for a fun golf outing is to plan a golf tournament. Whether it is a tournament with a group of friends or a city-wide charitable event, a good plan will help everyone enjoy the experience.

1. Project the number of golfers who will participate in the tournament and how many volunteers will be needed on the course.

2. Choose a date for the tournament. You may have to be flexible if you can’t find an available golf course on the dates you desire.

3. Find a golf course willing to host the tournament. Book the golf course as far in advance as possible. Keep in mind that some courses may require an up-front fee to reserve tee times for large events.

4. Pick a format for the golf tournament. Many tournaments focusing on fun and fund raising use a two-man or four-man scramble format. Other tournament formats include alternate shot, best ball or a mixture of several different formats.

5. Plan the types of prizes you will provide and the reason for various prizes. Prizes can be given for winning teams, hitting the longest or shortest drives, making the longest putt, making a hole in one, landing closest to the pin on par threes, most golf balls lost and furthest distance traveled to participate.

6. Determine how much the entry fee will be and when the fees should be received. Announce and advertise the golf tournament. Be sure to include the golf course, dates, entry fee, sign up deadlines, prizes and format.

7. Get help. Larger golf tournaments require more detailed planning and perhaps committees to perform various functions. Create a detailed checklist like the one at Greatgamesforgolf.com to simplify the planning process (see Resources below).

8. Raise additional money during the tournament by allowing individuals or teams to purchase mulligans before the round or at certain locations on the golf course. Selling mulligans on prize holes can significantly increase donations if the tournament is a fundraiser.

Golf tournaments are a great way for players of all skill levels to relax and have some fun on the golf course.

When planning a tournament, you can add excitement by using an interesting format, introducing competitions within the tournament and awarding desirable prizes.

A hole-in-one prize, for example, will capture the attention of tournament participants.

Hole-in-One Contest

You can generate interest and excitement for your golf tournament by offering a huge cash prize or a new luxury car for the player who gets a hole-in-one. This is done by purchasing golf hole-in-one insurance. The insurance company sets a premium to cover the cost of the prize.

The cost to the tournament is typically affordable, because it has been estimated that the odds of an amateur golfer hitting a hole-in-one on a par 3 is approximately 1 in 12,500, according to the US Hole in One insurance company. Consider charging more to those players who want to participate in the hole-in-one competition to offset the cost of insurance.

Tournament Format

There is a wide range of formats you can use in your next golf tournament. The scramble is used often because it levels the playing field and allows beginning golfers to compete alongside experienced players.

For a scramble, every golfer in a foursome tees off, and the group then decides on the best ball to hit for the next shot. The three other players place their balls near the selected ball, and everyone hits from there. Play continues in this manner for all 18 holes.

The Step Aside Scramble uses similar rules, but the player who hit the best ball “steps aside” and allows the other three players to hit the next shot. For the Ambrose Scramble, handicaps are used in the scoring.

Another option is the Pink Lady Scramble. For this format, every foursome is given a pink golf ball and players take turns using it for an entire hole. Others in the group use the scramble format. To score the hole, the Pink Lady score is added to the scramble score. If a player loses the pink ball, he may be eliminated from the tournament. Read the rest of this entry »