How to Plan a Golf Tournament
By Steve Silverman
You have been put in charge of your club championship or your company golf tournament. You have to organize a tournament. You have to have it run smoothly and you have to make sure it is fair.
Instructions
Difficulty: Moderate
Put a sign-up sheet in the pro shop of the golf course you play. Make sure you explain when the tournament is, how many holes it is and what kind of tournament it is. You might want to plan a medal tournament (stroke play) or you might want to make it a handicap tournament. Explain that on the sign-up sheet.
Put together foursomes that will play in your tournament. Most golf courses send golfers out in groups of four when they play. You can arrange starting times every 10 minutes. That means six foursomes can get out every hour. You should not send out more than 24 foursomes for any tournament or it can become unwieldy.
Make sure every foursome has an official scorekeeper. He is in charge of writing down every golfer's score on each hole. Individual golfers are free to write down their own score, but the scorekeeper has the final say.
Give the results of the tournament promptly. You should keep a running score at the end of the 18th hole, and when golfers finish their rounds, they should be able to ascertain where they stand fairly quickly.
Hand out prizes and trophies to the winners and runners-up. You should have purchased trophies through the golf course's auspices for the winner and those who also performed well. Prizes also can be appropriate. Usually, they are golf-related prizes such as clubs, a bag or clothes.
Tips & Warnings
Run your tournament with a smile. Players will enjoy it a lot more if they are welcomed to the day of golf.
About The Author
Steve Silverman is an award-winning writer, covering sports since 1980. Silverman authored The Minnesota Vikings: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and Who's Better, Who's Best in Football -- The Top 60 Players of All-Time, among others, and placed in the Pro Football Writers of America awards three times. Silverman holds a Master of Science in journalism from the Medill School of Journalism.
