ESTABLISHING YOUR GOLF TOURNAMENT PLANNING TIMELINE
Golf Tournaments require a lot of planning, and it is important to stay organized in the process. A good way to do this is to stick to a golf tournament planning timeline. Ideally, 9-12 months are required to plan your event. However, many first year events get started with as little as 3 months lead time. Do not stress if your timeline is tight: You will just need to stay on task and accomplish many tasks simultaneously.
We have created some sample timelines for you to use based on how much time you have to plan your event. Use these timelines as a guide for what tasks to accomplish in what order. The Golf Digest Planner will also send you a weekly email with a customized task list based on your event date and size. These tools should help you stay on target and keep tasks manageable.
Here are our sample timelines for 1 year to plan, 6 Months to plan, and 3 months to plan. Select the timeline that works for you.
No matter how much time you have to plan your tournament, there are a few tasks you should try to accomplish as soon as possible. The first is setting a date for your event. Check with your organization to avoid conflicting with previously scheduled events. Also be aware of any major events scheduled in your area to avoid competing for potential players and sponsors. For example, a PGA golf event or NASCAR race the same day would limit the availability of your targeted participants.
The second task is choosing a Location Pick a location that is geographically central to your universe of potential players. This may be your current donor base or target donor area. Once you pick an area, you can do research on golf courses in that area. (Check www.GolfDigestPlanner starting in February, 2008, for a great list of tournament courses). Ask friends and business associates about golf courses where they have had a good tournament experience.
Lastly, you need to set up your committees. It takes 200 – 400 hours to execute the average golf tournament. Recruit a committee to assist in creating your successful event. The Golf Digest Planner has tools proven to assist with committee structures and e-mail systems that ensure effective communication between committee members.
Getting these tasks accomplished as soon as possible and following one of these sample timelines and should help you to maintain a realistic timeline for your event, and keep the stress to a minimum!
