With Greens Fees on the rise and budgets stagnant, planners face a new challenge: Put on the same top-notch tournament as always — but for the same amount of money as last year (and the year before that).

In fact, in a just-completed survey of Corporate Meetings & Incentives' readers, a full 30 percent said that they have put some constraints on their golf expenses. (See box on page 16.)

It's a dilemma that Rick Eisenman, president at Eisenman & Associates, a Glen Allen, Va. — based event planning firm, recently faced with one of his clients, which had held its annual golf outing at Independence Golf Club in Midlothian, Va.

“The golf course was coming back with a standard increase every year, yet our budget wasn't increasing,” Eisenman says. So he went back to the club and brokered a deal that satisfied both sides: “We signed a multiyear deal, and they actually kept the price the same.”

Even clients whose budgets are bigger than they were right after September 11, 2001, are still trying “to keep costs in line,” he says. “The thought is, if you could do it when we didn't have the money, now that we do, you still ought to be able to do it for the same price.”

More With Less

Frank Sablone, president, Tag & Label Manufacturers Institute Inc., Naperville, Ill., and a member of Corporate Meetings & Incentives' Golden Links Advisory Board, has seen the trend firsthand. In the late 1990s, 220 players would routinely participate in TLMI's annual golf tournament, but now the numbers are between 180 and 200.

Why the decline? While some companies used to foot the bill for whoever wanted to tee off, now they are limiting the number of golfers and providing other options, such as fishing, skeet shooting, spa, tennis, or sightseeing.

“Companies are being more judicious about where they are spending their money,” confirms John Lehmann, president, Network Sports Marketing LLC, Wellington, Fla., and another of our advisory board members. “They are no longer signing off on a golf event without looking at other recreational options to see where the money is best spent.”

Quite often, having a choice is just fine with the attendees. At last year's TLMI outing in Las Vegas, 10 members who regularly played golf decided to partake in a new option, skeet shooting. The savings: $100 per attendee.

A small number of companies are choosing to no longer pay greens fees, according to CMI's reader survey: 6.6 percent of respondents said they occasionally ask attendees to pay their own greens fees, and 3.6 percent always ask attendees to pay their own greens fees.

Buyer's Market

How can meeting planners save money on golf without significantly diluting the experience?

One way to start is with the course. Selecting a three-star resort instead of a four-star resort (or a four-star instead of a five-star) is one solution. “You don't have to play the Pinehurst No. 2's or Pebble Beaches of the world to have a good event,” says Teresa Williams, director, GMAC-RFC, Atlanta, citing two of the most prestigious courses in the country. “Most golfers are mid- to high-handicappers and just want to play.”

Another option is to take advantage of off-season rates. At Barton Creek Resort in Austin, Texas, greens fees at the two Tom Fazio — designed courses range from $180-$240 in the prime seasons but drop to $135-$180 in the value seasons.

While some courses are doing well, the overbuilding of golf resorts in the past several years means that buyers still hold the cards. “You can get greens fees down at almost all courses,” says Golden Links Advisory Board member Robert Hatheway, president, RJH Associates, Windsor Locks, Conn.

If the rate at an on-site course is too high, planners can look off-site to nearby courses. “You need to ask: ‘Is it worth going someplace else for maybe $125 per person as opposed to paying $275 per person for greens fees on site?’” says Lehmann. Of course, transportation costs must be factored in.

Hatheway is seeing a trend toward corporate groups holding meetings in cities or downtown areas and playing golf outside of town. “It gives you a lot of flexibility. You can negotiate with four, five, six courses,” he says.

Time Is Money

“In today's time-crunched world, golf must either cost less or add value,” says Nancy Berkley, president, Berkley Consulting Inc., Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and another member of CMI's Golden Links Advisory Board. One way to do both is to hold a nine-hole tournament instead of the traditional 18 holes. “If the purpose of the event is to establish camaraderie, aren't you better off being with three people for 2.5 hours followed by a cocktail party where you're with 100 people?” she asks.

Nine-hole tournaments take half the time of 18-hole rounds and, if executed properly, cost less. However, many resorts don't offer nine-hole rates and will charge the 18-hole fee unless the planner requests a discount. “A facility may say they only do 18-hole tournaments,” says Berkley, “but it's competitive out there right now. If event planners stick to their guns, they should be able to demand better pricing.”

That's exactly what Buzz Walling, a partner at the Washington, D.C. — based law firm of Dickstein, Shapiro, Morin, and Oshinsky, did. Walling was in charge of planning an annual golf tournament for partners and ran into problems booking a nine-hole round in the afternoon. Some of the courses he contacted in Scottsdale, Ariz., where the outing was held, said they would still charge an 18-hole rate to play nine holes in the afternoon. Ultimately, he found two — the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess and Grayhawk — that were willing to negotiate nine-hole rates.

Planners can beef up a nine-hole outing by adding a 30-minute demonstration or lesson conducted by local pros. Or they can forgo a golf tournament and replace it with skills contests, outings where people don't actually play a round, but instead gather to compete in contests such as longest drive, closest to the pin, chipping, and putting, with awards given to the winners.

“It's a lot less money, and it can be a lot more exciting because it's a shared experience not just with three people but with the entire group,” says Lehmann. Bars are set up on the tee box so spectators can enjoy cocktails while they watch the action. “It's really a social gathering as well as a skills competition,” he says.

For more on Corporate Meetings & Incentives' Golden Links Advisory Board, see page 50.

Keep Costs Down

Brown-bagging it and other tips

• GO LIGHT ON LUNCH — “Golfers can get by with a halfway decent sandwich, a piece of fruit, and a bag of chips,” says Frank Sablone, president, Tag & Label Manufacturers Institute Inc., Naperville, Ill., and a member of Corporate Meetings & Incentives' Golden Links Advisory Board. Save the coleslaw, granola bar, brownie, and the fancy box it all comes in, because it's too much food, and it's not necessary. Sablone buys his own brown paper bags and requests that the resort put the lunches in them. “I don't want to spend the extra $2 on this elaborate box that basically gets thrown out.”

• HAVE A COOKOUT AT ONE OF THE HOLES — It doesn't have to be fancy — just hot dogs and hamburgers, which the players can grab and go. “It's cheaper than doing all the labor that's involved in putting together a boxed lunch, and they like it,” says Rick Eisenman, president at Eisenman & Associates, a Glen Allen, Va. — based event-planning firm.

• CUT OUT THE BOOZE — Choose to pick up the cost of beer, wine, and soft drinks and let individuals pay for hard liquor if they want it. Or, put bottles of beer, wine, water, or soft drinks on the cart before the tournaments starts. If an individual consumes more than the pre-determined per-person amount, he or she has to pay for it.

• KEEP GIFTS SIMPLE — “Companies just aren't giving the kinds of prizes that they used to,” says Robert Hatheway, president, RJH Associates, Windsor Locks, Conn., and another Golden Links Advisory Board member. Consider using trophies, which are cheaper than golf equipment, clubs, and bags. Or cut back on certain contests — such as the longest-drive competition, which is difficult for anyone other than the best players to win — and you won't need to give out prizes for those.

Find out what kind of prizes your attendees would value, says Nancy Berkley, president, Berkley Consulting, Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and a member of CMI's Golden Links Advisory Board. Books or CDs may be more appreciated by some attendees, while others may find more value in a gift certificate to the pro shop. “Imagine if you asked people what size shirts their children wear so you can print personalized T-shirts with their names on them.” It wouldn't cost much, she says, and the gift would have great value for some attendees.

Planners can usually get better deals on promotional items by buying them through preferred vendors rather than the golf shop at the resort, says Kathleen Cook, senior manager, corporate conferences and global events at Manugistics, Rockville, Md. Some resorts may allow you to put their logos on the items, even if you didn't buy them there. Cook did this recently for a company golf outing at Chateau …Élan in Atlanta — and saved hundreds of dollars.

• SEEK SPONSORS — For tournaments and even corporate events, obtaining sponsorships for everything from the beverage cart to the closest-to-the-pin contest is a good way to enhance relationships with vendors and augment the price of the tournament.

• DONATE TO A CHARITY — If your company typically spent $10,000 on gifts and prizes, it can donate a portion of that to a charity. It's a win-win all around, says Golden Links Advisory Board member Jo Ann Hoffman, president and chief executive officer of MILO/The Golfe, Rockville, Md. Participants get to enjoy playing golf, and the company gives back to the community — and gets a tax deduction.

Corporate Golf by the Numbers

What readers are really spending

What are companies paying for golf these days? We went right to the source — our readers — to see. In an e-mail survey of 137 Corporate Meetings & Incentives readers in January, we found that the average amount respondents spend on greens fees is $138 per person. The most they would pay for a round of golf, on average, was $201 per person.

We also found that just about 30 percent of respondents have put some constraints on their golf expenses, either by sometimes or always asking attendees to pay their own greens fees (10.2 percent), cutting down on the number of tournaments they hold (15.3 percent), or no longer hosting tournaments at all (2.9 percent). However, not everyone is in cutting mode: Just over 40 percent of respondents said that their golf activity and spending have remained status quo.

The bulk of survey respondents, 29.9 percent, hold one tournament per year, although almost 15 percent plan five or more per year — no small task. On average, respondents include golf events as part of 3.2 meetings and/or incentive programs per year.

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