Mulligans?

The dreaded Mulligan. Should you be selling them? If so, how many per player? How much should you charge? How many people will buy them? Are they even worth it?

Everyone reading this is hoping for a 4 or 4.5 hour round. Yeah, that’s not happening. Sorry.

The golf part of your outing will take 5 to 5.5 hours and maybe more if you allow your guests to stop for lunch or have a BBQ cookout on the course somewhere.

Now we get back to the “big decision” of your committee on Mulligans.

Thumbs up? Thumbs down? You ask;  “Jerry, what do you think, you were at the outing last year?”

Jerry says, “I think players like them, let’s do it.”

Personally, it cracks me up when I see people stumble up to the registration table and they are asked the question… “Has anyone from the Anderson foursome checked in yet?” Your greeter says, “nope, you are the first… would you like to buy any Mulligans?” Then you get the quizzical look and reply, “I should probably wait and see what my group wants to do. ”  Like that matters at all! Either YOU want mulligans or YOU don’t.

Here is the math. Every single mulligan adds, at the very least 1.5 minutes to each players round. Actually more like 2.5 minutes as most use it either for lining up a putt that they swear broke less than the 2″ they allowed for or a new tee shot on a par 3. Oddly this guy NEVER has an extra ball or even a tee in his pocket and will have to walk back down to his cart to get each out of two different pockets in his golf bag and change his club as long as he is there. Brace yourself if it is a waterhole and he has to search for a ball that is more expendable, just in case he didn’t get any better at the game than he was 3 minutes ago. Either way, you are now adding 4 extra minutes to this groups round to use only one mulligan.

So, if every player gets 5 mulligans, you have added between 30 minutes and 80 minutes to just that one group. You event is now looking at 6.5 hours on the course and EVERYONE, including the Chef making dinner for everyone is upset!

In reality, not everyone will spend that $10 for mulligans either, so your expected windfall of cash certainly isn’t worth the extra time in the sun and upset “dinner only” guests. Remember, golfers will hit extra balls and cheat anyway. It’s just a fun day of golf. All you have to do is simply add $20 to the cost to play in the event to everyone. EVERYONE who is there is actually paying it so you instantly have 100% particpation, didn’t slow down check-in and you made far more money than if you sold mulligans. Oh, and the round is faster anyway… Just let Jerry hit a second tee shot on that par 3, he will anyway.

PRICING YOUR EVENT PROPERLY or, HOW TO MAKE MORE MONEY

Simply ASK FOR IT!

Don’t be afraid. This is your day. If you don’t ask for it, who will?

I see it every day, committee’s afraid to ask for money or raise pricing due to what someone on the committee believes will be a problem.

The economy, gas prices, the cost of kids going back to school, people just paid their taxes, if we raise prices we will not have as many people, etc. All are incorrect.

Well, after 44 years of watching charity events and fundraisers trying to do the right thing, today was the ultimate in watching a charity actually losing a ton of money because they all feared things like I just listed above.

You see, the golf course was charging the charity $110 per player which included golf, lunch, 2 hours of open bar, dinner, and a forced 20% gratuity.

The charity was charging their golfer/guests $105 to play and only $20 for extra “dinner only” guests when dinner actually cost them $22.50 per head.

They called me three weeks ago concerned, like all of you are, that there were only 80 players registered and asked what they should do.

When I heard the cost vs. what they were charging, my immediate reply was: “Stop inviting people! You can’t afford to have anyone else register for this event.”

Their belief was that the guests would buy into raffle tickets, silent auction items and games on the course.

Today the rain was so bad that the creek that runs through the course flooded 80 feet outside its banks, the course closed and the event was not only cancelled, but the golfers all received the courtesy of a rain check to come back and play at their leisure. The lunch & dinner was cancelled but the terms of their contract didn’t allow for a refund.

So, the golf course was paid by the charity and the golfers, like every event on the planet registered in droves.

136 golfers and 20 extra dinner guests. But nobody hung around during the ensuing monsoon.

Because the charity DIDN’T simply ASK FOR THE MONEY they needed, they ended up losing $680 on greens fees and $50 on the extra dinner guests for a total of $730 lost with NO CHANCE of recovery as the golf course gave away gift certificates for each player to play on their own, some other day.

To say nothing of all the shirts, gifts and baskets and stuff that had to be loaded back up and hidden away in some committee member’s basement for another year.

Stop wasting time, effort and money. Don’t have these things on the golf course.

The three biggest wastes of your time and money are certainly the three games that you already have in your event. It is time to take them out behind the barn and shoot them.

LONG DRIVE: The first reason is that the same guy wins this thing every year. He is the guy that wins the long drive contest not only at your event, but at the Rotary Club Outing, but the Chamber of Commerce Outing in all four neighboring towns and his company outing for the past two years. He is the guy that has eleven, cheap 4” long drive recognition trophies lined up in the bookcase behind the desk in his office. He is oddly proud of each of them and looking forward to “defending his title” at each next year. Everyone yells… “cheater” as he strolls up at dinner to pick up this year’s pile of plastic. Factually speaking, only 3 or 4 people have any shot at winning the thing at any event in the country. The absolute WORST part of it is that nobody on the planet ever comes to your long drive hole and says, “Sure, I’ll give you $10 to take a shot. Watch this!”. But you have to buy that stupid trophy for both the men’s and women’s division each year, which is completely opposite of your goal of making money at your event.

CLOSEST TO THE PIN: Same thing. Statistics show that only 26% of the field will actually hit the green on a par 3 that is only 125 long. When the hole gets longer, the percentage of people that can even HIT THE GREEN is far less, let alone has any real shot of getting it close. Same crappy 4” plastic trophy only goes to the most accomplished golfers in your field. Shockingly, NOBODY ever donates cash to your cause for the chance. You are losing money with this game too!

HOLE-IN-ONE CONTEST: Perhaps the single most ridiculous waste of time and effort at any golf outing anywhere in the country. I say that having been doing this daily for 44+ years straight! The argument I get back from Event Coordinators is that “but we had the local car dealer donate the car, so it didn’t cost us anything”. So what? You probably had to pay for the signage, You probably need to have a volunteer or several out there all day because Jerry can only be out there until 12:30 and Carol needs to be off the course at 2:00 to pick up the kids for soccer practice. The golf shop has to drive the car out to the Par 3, your guests/supporters stumble up to that hole and odds are, they might not even see the car because it has become so commonplace. The length of the hole needs to be over 165 yards for this event which reduces people who can legitimately hit the green to about 18% of your field and nobody, NOBODY ever drops a $20 donation to your cause to take a shot at that shiny new Mustang. To make things far, far worse,  many events actually get talked into giving the car dealership who “graciously” donated the car, a free foursome in the event which, in reality, costs them money based upon the greens fee, food & drink per player. So, NOBODY donates, you had to clothe & feed your volunteer(s), you had to stress over volunteer schedules, shuttle them back and forth to the hole, maybe pay for the dealership foursome to play for their “generous donation”, and watch 90 of the 100 golfers in your outing hit balls all over the property while nobody has ever won the car in the history of your outing. Shockingly the car didn’t draw golfers for your event because everyone does that same thing.

Each of these three games are completely against your overall goal of RAISING MONEY.

It’s time to stop wasting time, effort and money. Just because, everyone has done it that way, it doesn’t make it right.

1. SPONSORS

Far and away your Sponsors are your top profit producing source for your event. While you are certainly aware of this fact, you have to admit that you and your committee have actually spent the least effort in this area than, say, gathering auction items. I would guess that you also have spent more effort on what to put in the goody bags. It is shocking that most know that what amounts to “free money” is always the most overlooked. Instead of putting together “Birdie Packages” or “Platinum Sponsorships” which really only give potential sponsors a reason to say “no”. Have ALL your committee get out and meet with all potential sponsors and simply ask them what they want from and for their sponsorship dollars. Get creative. You have dozens of things that you can have sponsored from scorecards to parking spaces. Water hazards, Jello shots, Hooters girls, hand car washes while your players are out on the course. Think outside the box.

2. ENTRY FEE

Probably the single biggest mistake made at every event. The cost from the golf course for golf, lunch, dinner, tax and mandatory gratuity comes to $116.20 per player and your committee decides to set the outing cost at $120 because you either don’t want to gouge people or you fear that people will not attend if the price is too high. This is a fatal error. Besides giving you less than $4 profit per player, what happens if the weather is so bad that your event is cancelled? You still have to pay the course, but you only make $4 per player and everyone gets a rain check to play the course. Your fundraiser is ruined and all of your efforts have been wasted. You need to think of it another way. This is the single item that every participant will pay that absolutely guarantees you 100% participation, because they are there. In other words, not everyone will buy your mulligans, raffle tickets, silent auction items, play your games etc. You need to price your golf outing in anticipation both for the worst weather situation and for the possibility that your event will be inhabited by the absolute cheapest people on the planet. You need to make real profit on your costs from the golf course. It is your only 100% guarantee. Don’t be afraid to give your players a real VALUE and charge them for it.

3. RAFFLE

Since your raffle table, more often than not, is filled with stuff that has been donated by potential sponsors that couldn’t or wouldn’t come up with a cash donation, you need to turn that donated “stuff” into cash. Your raffle and raffle ticket sales are your #3 largest profit source for your event. The problem that exists is that far too many events decide on a raffle ticket sale system that caters to the cheapest person at your event. In other words, you often see things like; $1 per ticket, 6 for $5, 12 for $10 or an arm’s length for $20. This is far too time consuming for your ticket sellers to handle and gives people too many confusing choices. Think about the great prizes you have assembled, displayed and how much time and effort it took to do. You don’t want to sell 20 people a single ticket for one dollar. You are better off selling that stuff on eBay. Sell all of your raffle tickets for one price. They can ONLY buy an arm’s length of tickets for $20, period. No discussion, no choices and it is far easier for your ticket sellers. You only have so many people in your group, either they buy $20 worth of raffle tickets or buy none at all. You will increase your revenue dramatically with one price.

4. SILENT or LIVE AUCTION

If you get some really nice “stuff” donated, take it off the Auction table and use it for your live auction. You have to be aware of a couple of things though. First, a Silent Auction is for your Bargain Hunters who are looking to steal something at a discounted price from the rest of the people so you might not do as well with it there. A Live Auction is for the people who like to brag or who need the notoriety of the applause after the bidding has ended. We have all heard where table number three whispers, “Can you believe Jim spent that kind of money for those tickets?” “Well, if I had his money, I would burn mine. He can afford it, just keep clapping”. Know your people, choose the right type of auction and your event will do very well.

5. GAMES

Most events believe that the bulk of their money comes from the games or contests that they have on the golf course. They could not be more wrong. First, imagine a total rain out situation. The only way that you are making any money that day is by following my advice from #1 & #2 above. Secondly, you will never get 100% participation in your games and contests, especially when you have corporate sponsors playing in your event and they have filled their “free” foursomes with people from the office as those people have no real reason to participate, are not golfers and often will feel a sense of entitlement as Title Sponsors and not believe they need to do anything else all day long to help your cause. Please note however, every single game that you have on the course and every single prize is something that you should sell to a sponsor ( #1 above). Secondly, as the day gets late, people will also feel tapped out and be far less likely to participate in any game that you have on the course, especially if that game requires any type of skill.

Sometimes things can be too cheap. Or, just because
something is donated, doesn’t mean that it is a bargain.

A local church was holding their fundraiser at a beautiful banquet room and I was asked to both bring in several pieces of my silent auction items as well as a few live auction pieces to add to the selection that they had secured for the evening.

Upon my arrival I was quite pleasantly surprised at the professional presentation of their pieces and commented to the committee immediately on what a great job they had done.

They told me that they had spent months putting all of this together, in fact, that they had spent a full week prior preparing each and every bountiful basket, wrapping each in cellophane and creating hand cut labels noting basket contents and donors for each.

They stored each basket in two separate garages and had to fill four volunteer vans full of baskets to the venue for the 7 hour setup the day before the fundraiser with 6 of their helpers doing all of the work.

It did look SPECTACULAR though!

Walking around that evening, I couldn’t help notice that some of the opening bids seemed rather low. I mean… 20” diameter wicker baskets filled 2 feet high starting at $20 or $30 in many cases.

When I asked about this, I was told… “Well, almost all of the items
in our silent auction were donated to us by local businesses or families”.

The first thought that raced to my mind was … “ALMOST all of the items”?!?!?!?! That means they actually spent money on some of the items in each basket!

Immediately I started doing a bit of math in my head, and it looked like this.

While donations seem to be great and really exciting for every golf outing coordinator, I guarantee that they don’t see the absolute reality as pointed out above.

The stark reality hitting home at the end of that night, when 7 of their 20 beautiful baskets went without a single bid! (That means, you can add 30% to the total cost in that image).

To say nothing of the fact that people simply do not, and clearly did not want to bid on a basket filled with a car wash gift certificate, bottle of Windex, Armor All, tire pressure gauge, an assortment of air fresheners and two rolls of paper towels. I know for a fact that the only items in that basket that were donated was the car wash gift card and the paper towels out of one of the wives’ kitchens.

This fact makes my image above even more frightening as the evening was a FUNDRAISER.

Sorry, getting back to my point…

I brought 7 silent auction pieces, 2 Masters Tickets and an autographed guitar for the Live Auction portion of the evening.

It took me 20 minutes to set up my items and they blended in perfectly with their room full of gorgeous baskets. Their cost and effort to have me there?…. ZERO.

At the end of the night, all 7 of my silent auction pieces sold as did my guitar & Masters Tickets. All had minimum bids of course and the church profited almost $3,900 on the items that I brought.

On the other hand….

Only 13 of their 20 baskets sold. Some even made pretty good money, but one of the husbands commented that they spent almost $700 on all of the “extras” to fill out the baskets to make them “look good”.

And I couldn’t help but wonder what they were going to do with all of those Allstate Insurance stadium seat cushions and Starbucks travel mugs that didn’t sell?

I guess they will pack them back in those volunteer vans and store them in one of their garages until next year….  Add that cost to my graphic above.

The moral of the story is quite simple…

KNOW YOUR COSTS!

Realize that things can indeed be too cheap.

Asking for donations and getting them is worthless unless you can monetize them. Don’t even get me started on hole-in-one insurance.

You are far better off actually buying a few great items and raffling them off than getting a room full of beer coozies and spending valuable volunteer hours trying to “put perfume on that pig”. There are more important things you can be doing for your cause.

Of course, you can just call SMT Golf Outing Services and use one of our Outing Packages and be done with it.