Tournament Highlights: Southwest Oakland Warriors 8U Golf Outing
For this month’s tournament highlight, I interviewed Audrey Chinavare, a tournament organizer I worked closely with on her first charity golf tournament in July of 2015. Audrey did an excellent job pulling together a low budget tournament in a small amount of time and with very little outside help. We hope this interview can inspire new tournament organizers to take the plunge and plan the tournament they always wanted.
“What was the most challenging part of planning your tournament?”
I believe that we were challenged with the fact that I was really the only individual planning the event. I had another mother help coordinate auction items, however, to organize the event I didn’t have a team of people to help me.
As a result I was very stressed out about putting on a successful event which is when I came to Golf Digest planner for help. I utilized their expertise in the field for timing advice as well as utilizing the tools that they had at their disposal. Looking back, if I hadn’t gone to Golf Digest Planner for help, I know that we wouldn’t have had the success we did. In addition, it saved my sanity and even my marriage (haha) as I was a wreck before I came to them!
”What was a unique thing you did for this tournament?”
As this was the first tournament that I planned, I don’t know if we did anything “unique”. I know that I wanted the event to be special for everyone that attended so I tried to make the player gifts “unique” yet practical and cost effective, which is why we decided on coasters. I know that people were asking for additional ones!
“What was the most rewarding part of planning the tournament?”
The most rewarding part of the tournament was that it allowed the players to have a team dinner during our World Series tournament as well as allowing each child to receive a “memento” from that trip which is something that I know my son still cherishes till today. Without the additional funds, this may not have been something that would have been possible.
“If you have any advice for tournament organizers, what would it be?”
You can’t start planning too early. There is a lot to do to make it a successful event. In our case there were not a lot of organizers so it’s critical to communicate to the team that the more help that is provided, the more successful the event will be. The silent auction was where we made a great deal of money so ensure that families start asking for gifts/donations early on. Obviously signed items are very popular and sports tickets that can be donated by families are a big hit!
Most of all the support and website provided by Golf Digest Planner was the backbone of our event. This day in age, people want to pay by credit card so I truly feel that the amount of participation and sponsorship was due to the fact that we had an online venue. Don’t underestimate the power of that tool!
”How did parents respond to the tournament?”
The feedback that I received from the parents/ players is that the event was very well organized and that most of all everyone had a great time! That is always fantastic to hear.
“What was your approach to “planning on a budget?”
I am pretty frugal in my own life and approached the tournament the same way. I knew that some time was going to be involved on my end to shop around to get the best pricing on things. One key factor I felt was finding the right golf course for our team. I wanted to make sure that it was a nice course where we could have a nice meal afterwards for a good price.
My goal was to make event that our players walked away from wanting to come back the following year and bring more people. Golf Digest Planner without a doubt helped me with some great gift ideas for our players that didn’t break our bank which everyone loved. They also helped with sponsor plaques which helped me from having to spend time finding someone to do that allowing me to focus on the important aspects of the tournament.
“How did golf digest planner and tournament shop help make your tournament a success?”
As I said earlier, we really couldn’t have pulled off the event without the wonderful people at Golf Digest Planner. Everyone helped me from start to finish! I didn’t feel alone anymore and the thought of pulling the event off actually became possible once I started meeting with them. They had great ideas that I would have never thought of on my own as well as time saving mechanisms that I was able to gain through the website. The reporting functionality is great and the website is very easy to use! I am very grateful to Jamie and his staff for everything!
“What would you like the reader to know about you?“
I am a full time working mother of 2 children. I have a son Cameron who is 9 and a daughter Annika who is 5. My hus
band Kirk and I have been married for 15 years.
