Tweaking our Holiday Scrambles

In a variation on the theme of growing our revenues and bringing in new golfers, we will be experimenting with a change to our Holiday Scrambles in 2013. Let's start with the reason for the change.

In 2012, we saw the turnout for our Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day Scrambles level off or drop. On average, each of those tournaments had just under 40 golfers playing. At those levels of participation, the anticipated revenue from our tournaments falls short of our budgeted income.

When the Board and Golf Committee looked at the disappointing financial results from the Holiday Scrambles, one of the obvious things that holds down player numbers is the policy of only allowing Members and Guests to play. Clearly, if we expand the potential pool of players we can draw from, we are likely to get more players!

That's the basic premise for the changes we will implement this summer:

• We will allow non-Members/Member Guests to play in the tournament.
• The Scrambles will be advertised, and we'll permit the public to register for the tournaments online.
• We will reserve 40 player slots for our Members, and open 52 slots to the public.
• Since we will not have the A, B, C, D profiles for public golfers who sign up, we will scrap that format for forming teams.
• Replacing the ABCD team construction will be "open signup" - both Members/Guests and the public will be allowed to sign up as: 1) Single golfers, 2) a Pair of golfers, or 3) a Team of four.
• Singles and Pairs will be randomly combined to form teams of four.
• The Team scores will be flighted, giving every team a chance to win money.

This type of "open signup" has some advantages for many of you. First, married couples (for the first time) can sign up as a Pair and know they will play together. That is a positive change for many of our Members, who would enjoy playing the Scramble with their spouse!

Secondly, it allows you form a team with your friends. Four golfers who sign up as a team, play as a team. If you are a single golfer, you can choose the other three people you'll spend the holiday with, rather than being thrown in with strangers.

So, while it's true this approach will bring some strangers into the Holiday Scramble, we don't think they'll stay strangers for long! And, to be perfectly honest, it's likely that many of the public golfers who participate will come in as teams. 

Those who sign up as Singles or Pairs may find themselves playing with unfamiliar people; but that's often the case with the ABCD teams, too.

I have also heard that our Members believe we will be instituting steep price increases for the tournaments. The numbers I've heard are an exaggeration. The public fee is $50. However, our Members will get a 20% discount on the Tournament fee. So, as a Member, you'll pay $40. 

That is an increase, but keep in mind that part of it is going into the prize pool (where it can be won back.) The rest is to help offset the added cost of staging a tournament. Additional man-hours go into preparing the course, preparing the Clubhouse, taking registrations, flighting the results, etc. Even with volunteers helping out, we have an obligation to try and make events profitable for the Club.

I know I'm often "beating the same drum," but the only way to avoid steep Membership and Greens Fee price hikes is to maximize our revenue in golfing operations. This is an experiment to see if we can gain added revenue on the holidays.

Finally, it's worth noting that the Golf Committee is planning to hold Member/Guest ONLY tournaments between the holidays.

Hang in with us...don't be afraid to let us know what is (and isn't) working for you! We're trying to make the Elks Golf Course a GREAT place to golf for Members and the public alike. We always, always, always want to know what you think!