01.03. The choice to grow your event means that EVERYTHING will be growing.

NOTE FROM EDITOR. THANKS TO A GREAT CUSTOMER, AND FRIEND, WHO WROTE THIS ARTICLE.

We made a change to our tournament in 2024. 

In past years, at 7:30 AM of my golf tournament day I'd be at home picking out the tie I wanted to wear at dinner, and scratching up the notes I made for my talking points. And to be very clear, it was JUST ONE dinner I needed to make notes for! Then I'd grab my clubs and throw everything into my back seat to head to the course where I'd proudly arrive plenty early for our 1:00 Shotgun start.

The only problem? That shotgun was a VERY full shotgun. It held a lot of people playing, and it took a long time to play. We had grown and had been experiencing those oft-mentioned growing pains for a couple years.

For the 2024 edition of our tournament - I put a simple equation to my tournament committee. Which would we prefer - to say "sorry, no" to more clients, or to grow? And by Grow I meant to Expand!

Let's just say I have a very smart committee to rely on - we expanded.

Ultimately, we really only added about 45 total participants - but everything we had to do was effectively doubled. Two shotguns, two registration processes, two sets of results and prize distributions. An early morning start for one group and an afternoon start for the other. A 14 hour day for my staff, and a lot of extra stress on the staff at the course I chose to host at this year. Plus a bigger commitment from our partners who support the day. Food trucks, activation partners, and signage & sponsor recognition requirements. Everyone stepped up.

If this equation seems lopsided - it isn't. That was 45 "no's" I didn't have to give, and the real benefits of this expansion were far reaching.

More options. More space. Better pace. These 3 items made a world of difference as the changes to the day played out and participant feedback started to come in. The change was a winner. And all it took was the valuable information to consider this option at all, plus the hard work to back up the operational realities it presented.

Thanks to Dave and Tim at CGT for the guidance heading into this successful decision. They mentioned "life cycle of a golf tournament" a lot. I guess if you've been doing this for 30 years, as they have, you can recognize those cycles as they present themselves.

For all the major changes this year, I only reference one story when I summarize the experience. That is the about the word "BUT".

I simply didn't hear it this year, and I had heard it a lot in the past. In prior years I'd get a hug or a handshake in the parking lot and a big thanks, "BUT it was pretty slow out there". Or a couple weeks before tournament day I'd get an RSVP thanking me for the invite, BUT the timing doesn't work for their schedule that day.

We made a decision to provide more options and more space. It benefitted everyone.