Advice for club's first club championship & member-guest

[Mike Nuzzo]

Some years ago someone posted pictures of the champions name board they had made for the clubs inaugural championships.
That was and is a good idea.
Have fun.

[Dan Herrmann]

Member/Guest - ensure every golfer has a certified handicap.  Sandbaggers ruin it for everybody.

[Gary Slatter]

Do you have a golf professional?

[Bill_McBride]

MemberGuest- Plenty of good food and plenty of gambling is the key to a successful event. The course doesn`t need to be set up any different than for member play. There is no reason to torture players with crazy pins and over the top green speeds. On the gambling side there are a ton of options including hat pools,calcuttas,paramutuals,skins,sunday money,kickers etc. Finally make sure that there is access to beer during the golf and you have a winner. It`s as much a social event as it is a golf event.

I have to respectfully diagree that "plenty of gambling" is a good thing.  Too much money, calcuttas, etc., just add to the probability of handicap issues, sandbagging accusations, none of it conducive "to a successful event."

[John_Conley]

Do you have a golf professional?

Yes!  And he wants to enter!

Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Ixnay on the inimay ourtay opray.

[Tim Martin]

MemberGuest- Plenty of good food and plenty of gambling is the key to a successful event. The course doesn`t need to be set up any different than for member play. There is no reason to torture players with crazy pins and over the top green speeds. On the gambling side there are a ton of options including hat pools,calcuttas,paramutuals,skins,sunday money,kickers etc. Finally make sure that there is access to beer during the golf and you have a winner. It`s as much a social event as it is a golf event.

I have to respectfully diagree that "plenty of gambling" is a good thing.  Too much money, calcuttas, etc., just add to the probability of handicap issues, sandbagging accusations, none of it conducive "to a successful event."

With the exception of the hat pool for each flight and a calcutta setup everything else I mentioned is discretionary. For guys that are not fairing well in the tournament it is a way to still be involved if they so choose. Has anyone ever been to a member guest where there are not a few suspect handicaps? 

[Mark Chaplin]

Member/guest is all about making members proud to show off their club to friends. Ensure the course is in pristine condition, staff briefed and at their best, loggistics planned and well executed and costs kept under control. Members do not want to pay a fortune and prospective members maybe put off if it looks like every visit will cost them hundreds of dollars if they join.

[Dan Herrmann]

For what it's worth, I hate calcuttas.  If you look at the USGA rule book, you'll see that they're frowned upon and in theory you risk your amateur status.  I seriously doubt it would ever happen, but betting on your competition to win is pretty sleazy in my book.     

Let's say you get to the last hole, and you can win $$$ because of your bet on another team or win the match.   What would you do?

[Scott_Park]

Thanks for the comments.

Yes, we have a head pro and two assistants- none of them would be eligible to play.  As for format, it will be 36 holes of stroke play. 

Scott

[Carl Nichols]

Our club championship is pretty simple -- 18 hole qualifier, top 15 plus defending champion are seeded into match play. Lots of self-selection for the qualifier--pretty rare to have more than 30 guys play.


Our Member-Guest is tons of fun, though a significant commitment of time. Weds afternoon is an optional practice round (followed by a stag dinner). For the actual event, six-team groups are flighted by combined handicaps. 5 nine-hole round-robin matches are played, after which the groups get seeded for the sixth nine-hole match (with 1 v 2, 3 v 4, etc. playing). Winner of each flight then plays in a shootout. For Thurs and Fri the field is split so that half the field plays Thursday morning and Friday afternoon, with the other half playing Thurs afternoon and Fri morning. That keeps play moving nicely and let's people spend parts of Thursday and Friday in the office if they need. Saturday is slow, but you know that going in. Lots of people seem to
consider it one of the more enjoyable member-guests in the area.

Carl, do you get any griping from the 4,5,6 seeds in for the 6th match?  Essentially, they've already played crappy golf for two days, do they really want to play nine more holes that don't mean anything?  Also, if a calcutta is running, wouldn't the 4th seed have have a vested interest in tanking if they own any part of the third seed, lapping the 1 & 2 seed?


 

Ben:
No, for two reasons.  First, the 4, 5, and 6 teams know that they have only themselves to blame for being in that position.  Second, we don't do a calcutta for this event -- the betting is between two-man teams, across flights, based on points earned each day and then in total.  (Most teams have $20 bets with other two-man teams -- $5 for the points earned the first day, $5 for the second, $5 for the third, and $5 total.)  So Team 6 miight have 30 bets with teams in a bunch of different flights, and to keep from getting completely waxed in all of those bets, wants very much to earn points against Team 5 in that last match -- which, in theory, it has the best chance to beat in that last match. 

[Scott Stearns]

My club had the eligibility issue while i was on the board.

If your club is a "players club"  with enough scratch-4 handicappers (real ones) to fill the Champ flight--let the juniors and the mini tour guy have at it.

Winged Foot allows jrs in their club champ--but they have to play against guys who have won the MET Amateur--the members want to find out who the best player at the club is.  But more importantly--there are enough good players to make this a question worth answering.  The mini tour guy would get a game there.

My club is a bunch of wall street guys.  there are 2-3 guys who were good when they could play every day, but they can't now.  Champ flight fills out at 89-90.

So my vote at my club was - no juniors, no pros.  My club champ is a chance to compete for guys who cant practice every day.  its more fun for the guys who pay the dues bills if they are playing each other, and not their fellow member's kid.

there are only 150 guys in the club who use it--so saying the club champ is anything but a chance for grill room bragging rights is kinda nuts.

Hope this helps.

[Mark Johnson]

A few thoughts on club championships...

1)  The goal should be to a) ID the best golfer in the club and b) to encourage participation across the club and fill as many clubs as possible

2) Dont have the super trick up the course for the event, while it might make the course ID the best player, it will really discourage participation in the lower flight

3) Have it be match play, especially in the lower flights if it is a difficult course

4) Have a separate sr. club championship at a different time which will allow seniors to enter this event.

5) only have the championship flight play from the tips

6) have the head pro work as starter on first tee in order to make the event "bigger"