Every year, there are about 37,000 charitable golf tournaments in Canada, raising about half a billion dollars for worthwhile causes. There are also innumerable corporate tournaments that entertain clients and customers, many with a charitable aspect.
Congratulations to all involved.
But, as the old saying goes, “No good deed goes unpunished.”
As much as those tournaments and their philanthropic results make for feel-good headlines, there are thousands of volunteers who devote countless hours to making sure these events come off as planned. It’s a largely thankless and, in many cases, frustrating task. It can be punishing.
I speak from experience.
Next month, the 15th annual Mikey’s Tournament for Autism will take place at Midland Golf and Country Club in Ontario. As a co-founder, even with my background in golf, I can attest to the many hours it takes to pull off a successful event. Kudos to our volunteer committee which knocks on doors, literally, for sponsors, repeatedly phones and emails potential players, puts up posters, and tries to keep track manually of registrations, donations and more.
Everyone breathes a sigh of relief when tournament day arrives.
Where was TournamentCaddie 15 years ago?
After a few years of sharing his technological and marketing expertise working with Golf Canada, Donal Byrne turned his focus towards creating, with the help of a talented team, the TournamentCaddie software.
For those of us far less technically adept, let’s call it “tournament in a (virtual) box.”
“There are lots of other platforms out there but our goal was to simplify the process,” says Byrne. “This is a made-in-Canada, responsive, customizable, intuitive and mobile-friendly solution that is perfect for anyone who wants to raise funds through a golf tournament but doesn’t know where to start.
“You’re good at your day job, no doubt, but when it comes to organizing a golf tournament you have to accept just what you are good at and what you’re not. We’re good at this. This is our day job. We are here to help.”
Click on the website and the first thing you see is, “Sign up for free and create your event website in about 90 seconds!”
It’s not false advertising. I ran through the process during a conversation with Byrne and it takes care of every detail “auto-magically,” as he likes to say.
We will be using TournamentCaddie for Mikey’s. Our fee is $150 but we will bump that to $155 to cover Tournament Caddie’s $4 per-player charge (plus HST). It’s well worth it.
Why? It’s a no-brainer, even for a techno-dummy like me.
Using TournamentCaddie streamlines the entire process, from effortlessly building a great-looking, interactive web site to collecting registration payments and even printing tee and cart signs and scorecards. Organizers can arrange and rearrange foursomes, starting times and formats. Their partnership with Aviva Canada makes arranging hole-in-one insurance a breeze.
If you’re an event organizer, take a run through the set-up process. If you’re a golf course, do the same and look into TournamentCaddie’s “Club Affiliate Program” with its marketing benefits.
Stop punishing yourself for a good cause!