History of golf tournaments
The first nationally televised golf event was in 1953: the Tam O'Shanter World Championship. This first televised tournament is what has made golf commercial, bringing sponsors, investors, and more money into the development of facilities and management. By having more capital from sponsors, the purse had increased. The world became more concerned with marketing and customer care. The purse in 1953 was $25,000, now it is more like $6,000,000 (at major tournaments such as The British Open).
Moreover, The British Open is golf's oldest national championship and the only one of the four majors that is played outside the USA. The first Open dates back to the 1860s, it took place in Scotland. After it was declared open to the whole world, it has been known simply as ‘The Open’ ever since. This event is only played on seaside courses (also known as links courses), this was established by the Royal and Ancient Golf Club (R & A) at the beginning of the 20th century (Murray, 2000).
Before the 1980s The Open was divided into four days/four rounds, starting Thursday and finishing Sunday, however, it has never been finished by Sunday due to the long playoffs, because players competed over 18 holes and originally over 36 holes in a playoff for The Open title, until the 1980s. Specifically in 1985, the R & A introduced the 4-hole playoff that was followed by sudden death, to ensure a four day finish for The Open Championship.
With golf becoming more popular, and more commercialized, bringing investments and more sponsors into the game, in 1990, the 119th Open Championship at St Andrews reached record crowds. More than 208,680 spectators attended The Open at the golf club where this sport was born: St Andrews, Scotland. Golf became more popular and more available, so more people started attending. In 2000, at the Millennium Open, again at St Andrews, 238,787 spectators came to watch Tiger Woods’ way to victory. (R&A championships, 2000)
In 2004, the International Final Qualifying for the Open was introduced, that takes place in five continents: Africa, America, Australia, Asia and Europe. Finally, for the first time players could qualify through the international qualifying for The Open, directly to the starting field of 156 players.
In the old days, golf was a sport for the higher class society (Browning, 1955), however, it has now become available to everyone, and is one of the most played sport in the world. Golf is popular because it is a very social sport and people play it just to get away from their routine work by a desk. It has become very popular in the business circles, some business deals are even discussed during a game of golf. In addition, it is a very healthy sport, as there is nothing healthier than to take a nice long walk on amazing fairways, through hundreds of years old forests and nice scenery.
Golf tournament management has improved in the past twenty years, more people are involved and more attention is paid to customers, there is a whole big circle with customers in the middle. Nowadays everything circles around customers. However, more things need to be considered in the modern tournaments, because more laws and procedures have been introduced, more people are involved in managing it and marketing is also a huge concern. (See fig.1)
http://www.qondio.com/images/files-2/9919.jpg
Characteristics of a golf tournament and component tasks to run a successful event
A golf tournament consists of few components and characteristics that have to be considered well, in order to finish with a successful event. Some of the main characteristics and elements are:
- Purpose of the event
- Targeted audience
- Type of the golf event
- Location
- Date/Time (Not for example on the Christmas Eve)
- Funding – what are the main funding resources?
- Organizers
- Costs
- Good leadership
- Excellent communication and infrastructure
- Effective publicity and presentation
- Budgeting
- Planning
- Efficient time management
- Fully committed personnel
- Uniqueness
- Post-event evaluation
- Team effort
The scope and objectives of a golf event
Golf events vary in the scope, as it can be a small tournament for twenty people or a big event like The Open played by the world’s best players and involve thousands of people organizing and managing it. In the early stages of planning, it is crucial for competition organizers to decide on the span of the tournament, considering the potential number of people attending, location (type of golf course and club house, parking space), and goals to achieve and so on.
"Failure to plan is planning to fail."
(Anon)
"The best preparation for good work tomorrow is to do good work today."
(Elbert Hubbard)
In a small event, only a small number has to be satisfied, however, on The Open the players, spectators and basically the whole world watching it on television has to considered. An event has to be manageable; therefore it is very important to produce a detailed plan. You are not able to predict the outcome, but you can plan, prepare and then be prepared for the unexpected; such as people not turning up. This can be referred to Murphy’s Law (1929):
"Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong"
Every event has its uniqueness, every of them will be different, there are always going to be unexpected things emerging. Golf events do have same standards used every time such as golf rules set by the R & A, but will never be exactly the same. For example, the Ryder Cup (Golf trophy – matches between Europe and USA) which happens every two years for the past hundred years, the same event, however, there is always different audience, different players, different organizers, the choice of location, and so on.
Organizers
A tournament can be organized by anyone who has the ability and knowledge to run a golf event. It can be organized by just a small group of people, or it can be organized by a large charity group. Either way, an organization must have a strong leader with authority and caliber, who is able to push the personnel over their limits of productivity, put everything together and a good team leader.
Targeted audience
There is significant difference between aiming the event at amateurs and professional golfers as for example different course and game conditions are used. A tournament might be aimed at children, therefore organizers have to think differently as how to satisfy the kids to the fullest, for example, the choice of prizes and the overall management – children might want to play in groups of two or the event might be aimed at seniors, such as the Amateur Senior Tour, so then again organizers have to re-consider the management of the event.
Type of a golf event
The type of events is the important one, as every game type has its magic. There are two types: individual – stroke play, Stableford; or team – four-ball, Texas scramble (R&A Rules, 2007). Organizers need to consider which type to choose, however, that depends on the targeted audience, is it just “for fun” tournament or a national event.
Location
Type and quality of the golf course
For organizers, it is crucial to determine, which golf course to play on. The quality and level of golf courses in the United Kingdom drastically varies. UK has over 3,000 golf courses. There is a significant difference between the 2nd world’s best golf links course Royal County Down in Northern Ireland and the Preston Golf Club. First of all, the quality and scenery are incomparable, as links courses are unique due its seashore surroundings and its wind and heavy rough conditions. Second of all, the price of these two courses can vary from 100-200 pounds.
Budgeting
Preliminary budgets should include main costs such as:
- Transportation
- Venue rentals
- Food
- Beverage
- Lighting
- Photographer
- Prizes
- Insurance
- Security
- Labour charges
- Power charges
- Promotional material
- Staffing
- Miscellaneous
If the preliminary cost estimates are well under the proposed budget figures then it is possible to start organizing an event. The money spent is always more than estimated (Beech, 2004). This is why all events should be equally weighted in terms of planning and management.
Marketing
The whole project management process must be dominated by the desire to market the event to all necessary parties, not just spectators and participants, but sponsors, media, VIPs, staff, advertisers and the public. The marketing for an event is very important, and many people do not have a clue what marketing is:
“Marketing is so basic that it cannot be considered a separate function…it is the whole business seen from the point of view of its final result, that is, from the customer’s point of view.” (Peter Drucker)
With good marketing, there is more chance for a successful event to happen; this is discussed by Bowdin et al (2006). They also mention the key characteristics that an event should contain, such as meeting customer needs, attracting new visitors, reacting to market trends, targeting specific customers, identifying market opportunities, noting customer feedback and others.
Health & Safety and Legislation
The risk assessment and precautions (For example, thunder storm or fire in the club house) are already provided by the course, however, organizers still need to be concerned with Health and Safety. In a golf event, there are a couple of issues that need attention such as lightening, the balls in the air, club stroking, alcohol consumption, fire in club house, visitors, wild animals, stage safety. The sensible assessment of potential hazards and preventative action is the basis of risk management, and is a legal requirement under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1992 (Tarlow, 2002). According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE, 1999, p. 7), risk is defined as “likelihood that harm from a hazard is realised and the extent of it.”
For instance, weather conditions are a very threatening factor in golf, so a contingency and safety plans need to be created for rainy and stormy conditions.
Funding resources
The tournament’s purpose might be to raise money for charity, so a lot of money could be raised from sponsors, National Lottery, local council, players, investors, local companies and donations. Whenever, there is a fund-raising event, such as raising money for charity a lot of sponsors are interested, as usually these events appear in the local news or even television if it is a bigger event, giving companies potential regional or national advertising.
References
Beech, J.; Chadwick, S., 2004. The business of Sport Management. London: Pearson Education
Bowdin, G.; O’Toole, W.; Allen, J.; Harris, R.; McDonnell. I., 2006. Events Management. Great Britain: Butterworth-Heinemann.
Browning, K., H., R., 1955. A History of Golf: The Royal and Ancient Game. London: J.M. Dent & Sons,1955.
Gilchrist, K., (1999). Organising an Event: A Guide for the Millennium. Kent: Charities Aid Foundation.
Goldblatt, J. (2005). Special Events: Event Leadership for a New World. 4th ed. Hoboken, John Wiley & Sons.
Health and Safety Executive (1988). Essentials of Health & Safety at Work. London: HMSO.
Health and Safety Executive (1999). The Event Safety Guide. Norwich: HSE Books.
Murray, F., (2000). The British Open: A History of Golf's Greatest Championship. London: Contemporary Books
R&A Rules Limited and the United States Golf Association, 2007. Rules of Golf. 31st ed. (Internet) Available from: http://www.randa.org/flash/rules/PDF/WEB_ROG_spreads.pdf (accessed 13/02/08).
R&A Championships. A Walk Through History. (Internet) Available from: http://www.opengolf.com/timeline/ (accessed 12/02/08).
Shone, A.; Parry, B., (2004). Successful Event Management. 2nd ed. London: Thomson Learning.
Tarlow, P, E, Ph.D. Event Risk Management and Safety. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Watt, D., C., (1998). Event Management in Leisure and Tourism. Essex: Longman.
