Producing a golf event takes careful organization and planning, as well as the right promotional products that will enhance the event. Check out these tips from experts Roger Caldwell, owner and founder of Kansas-based Great Golf Events; Larry Battaglia, owner of New York-based Golf Event Planning; and Kevin Ludke, PGA professional with Miami-based Professional Golf Events South Florida.

Start with a plan. Caldwell advises to plan a minimum of 120 days out. "Focus on what you're trying to accomplish and plan ways to promote both your purpose and the event," he says. "If this is a customer appreciation event, spoil them with branded gifts and awards to keep your brand in front of them."

Product Suggestions: Build interest by sending sets of branded golf balls to potential participants. Use four-color printing to enhance your logo.

Locate the best course. "Proximity is a factor, but I look at the overall facility and how the course sets up for a particular tournament, including the cart staging area, lunch and dinner arrangements, overall player room and activity setup room," Ludke says. He also advises making sure the course and greens are in good shape and that the staff can accommodate the needs of the event including competitive pricing for golf, lunches, dinners, etc.
Product Suggestions: Once you've picked a golf course, order T-shirts emblazoned with the course name and your logo. Add branded hats if the budget allows.

Design an event website. Battaglia says, "We start out by educating ourselves about the overall mission and purpose of the event. We then create custom imagery that is tailored to individual clients." He notes that capability for event marketing, accessibility to online registration and linking clients' homepages also make for great websites, as well as options for tee time reservations and social media integration.
Product Suggestions: Make participants want to register via your website by offering logoed boxes of tees to those who sign up online.

Choose fun games. "Traditional on-course contests are a must, including hole-in-one, longest drive and closest to pin," says Caldwell, "But implement some unique games as well." He suggests placing five pins on the green and making all of them hole-in-one prize holes or providing prizes for natural birdies to any flag. "In order to make this work, the jackpots must look easy to earn," Caldwell says.
Product Suggestions: Branded contest prizes range from the expensive (custom tournament jackets) to the economical (ditty bags loaded with accessories). Choose based on difficulty of winning the prize.

Present the right trophy. "It's a mistake to choose cheap trophies or something donated that most people could care less about," says Ludke. "The key is that you want your players to remember the event and you want to impress them with that wow factor from start to finish."
Product Suggestions: Pick from a vast selection of top-drawer logoed golf trophies for team prizes. For individual prizes, choose branded items that participants can use on a day-to-day basis so they will be constantly reminded of the event.