hidden layer

Be smart and realistic about distances. There may be lots of cool course 90 minutes from your home base (condos/resort/hotel) but will your guys really enjoy the drive out and the drive back? Our experience has been that some travel is necessary and manageable, but keeping it to a minimum leaves more time for fun and reduces stress.

The same goes for dinners. Draw a realistic circle around home base and find places in that range. That great steak at a name restaurant might taste great but a long trip back with tired guys is a downer.

We use a Sergeant-at-Arms. He counts noses. Before the vans roll to the courses or to dinner he makes sure everyone is accounted for. Same for the trip back. Our drivers are tuned to not put it in Drive until he says we are good to go.  Simple but saves the headache of a guy stuck in the men’s room while the crew drives away, un-necessary sprints across parking lots, etc.

We have a director of directions. Prior to the event he has the list of courses and restaurants we need to get to. He pre-prints maps and he also brings a GPS. Our drivers only listen to him. No debates as to where we are going. No panics over potential missed tee times. We have someone prepared and equipped to get us to where we need to be.

Create your own logo and tag um. We had bag tags made in bright yellow with our logo on one side and each player’s name on the other. The bright yellow helps our bags stand out on a crowded bag rack and the players names make it easier to pair bags on carts before the round.

Box Lunches. If you have scheduled 36 holes consider having the course provide boxed lunches. Even careful tee time planning can get messed up by slow play. No one enjoys rushing through lunch under the pressure of that afternoon tee time. We have been successful at several courses to negotiate the lunch into the cost of the two rounds.

Pairing thoughts. On days when you are playing 36 pay attention to your pairings. It is a drag to be in the last foursome of the morning and then have to race because you are in the first foursome of the afternoon.

Scheduling woes. Think hard before scheduling two rounds at different courses in the same day. Sure it can be done—up at the crack of dawn, first tee times of the day at course one, then dash to the van and drive to the second course to get on the tee for the afternoon round. Sure it is tempting to cram in as many cool courses as you can but consider the wear and tear on our players. 36 at one venue can be a great way to spend the day, hopefully with a leisurely lunch in the middle. The mad dash between courses can take away from how good a day it is.

Taking markers into your own hands. At the risk of sounding obvious, have your last foursome pickup proximity markers rather than wait on the course personnel. Whether you want to hand out awards in the bar after the round, or you are hustling the group to the vans, you do not want to be waiting around for a ranger to bring in your results.

 

Travel Tips. Bunching arrivals and departures pays big benefits. Whether you save cab fares or the number of airport runs with you van, it just takes some planning to make this easier to handle.

Contact Info tip. We make up a wallet sized card with all participant’s name and cell numbers and hand them out before the event. You never know when you’ll need to track down someone in the group.

Get More Car. Whether you are 4 guys in a car, 8 guys in a mini-van or 12 guys in a full size van, experience says get more car. That’s a bigger car or multiple vehicles. When it comes to airport runs luggage and clubs take up more room than you plan for. When you spread the cost over the whole group the cost of the upgrade is not a lot, the flexibility will make for a much happier trip.

Car Insurance. Before you go, and before you assume you personal car insurance will cover the rental van take the time to check with your agent. After some jerk runs a stop sign and dents your van is not the time to find out if you are on the hook for several thousand $ in damages

 

House Captains. We go to Kiawah island every year. Large group spread across many (very nice) houses. To facilitate communication we assign a “house captain” to every house. The tournament committee has the cell number of each house captain. If we need to communicate to the group we call the house captains and it is their job to pass the word.