6 Advantages of Virtual Golf Events
Born largely out of necessity, virtual golf tournament fundraisers bring donors and sponsors together to enjoy a round of golf in support of a great cause—just not all at the same place at the same time. A virtual golf event is played over an extended timeframe at one or more golf courses, leveraging technology to give golfers the flexibility to play when it’s convenient for them while supporting a great cause. Indeed, virtual golf events have kept many tournaments from being forced to cancel. But the advantages of virtual golf events go well beyond social distancing. Event organizers have found that these virtual events—whether an entirely virtual outing or an additional virtual round added to a traditional golf tournament—hold tremendous possibilities for fundraising, connecting with supporters, and further expanding your organization’s donor base. The right technology makes them lucrative—and fun! Here are a six advantages of virtual golf events.
1. You have more options—and opportunities.
Particularly in times of uncertainty, organizations need options. Virtual events give you more options to help meet your fundraising goals. You can choose to run a completely virtual event at one course, across multiple courses throughout your city, or even across regions. You can also add a virtual round to a traditional, one-day event—which lets you choose more than one golf facility, increase the field size to an almost unlimited number of players and teams, and extend the event’s duration. A virtual round that extends over the month in which the in-person tournament is held, for example, attracts the whole community to the course to play a round in support of your cause. The best part? This is all in addition to the support your organization receives the day of your traditional event.
2. Virtual events often come with lower overhead costs and more flexibility.
Most virtual golf event formats don’t require reserved use of the golf facility, which keeps costs low for event organizers and allows golf facilities to continue business as usual. Since golfers play on their own time, there are no food and beverage contracts to negotiate, banquets or awards ceremonies to plan, or day-of details to handle last minute. This makes virtual events a low-risk, high-reward option with the flexibility to change course if needed.
3. Live scoring keeps supporters engaged.
Virtual events powered by GolfStatus benefit from its robust golf event management technology, which includes live-scoring functionality. When golfers register for the virtual event, they receive a code to live-score their round via the GolfStatus mobile app to submit their scores to the event’s aggregate online leaderboard. Golfers and spectators love keeping up with the real-time leaderboard standings throughout the event’s duration, and sponsors love the extended digital exposure to an engaged audience of golfers.
Golfers and spectators follow live leaderboards throughout the event.
4. You can Leverage leaderboards
to Raise more money.
You’ll want to promote your virtual event heavily once it goes live and players and teams can register and submit scores—not only to keep it in front of potential players and supporters, but to attract spectators who support your cause to donate through your online leaderboards. GolfStatus’s live leaderboards have the built-in ability to accept online donations before, during, and after any event, including virtual tournaments. Get creative and leverage this feature to raise additional funds. Challenge supporters to donate an amount equal to their score or ranking, match the winning team, or give another specified amount. In addition to targeted asks, it’s also a great idea to share live leaderboards on your organization’s social media accounts and encourage supporters to help spread the word.
5. Virtual events use Digital exposure
to bring in sponsorship dollars.
Sponsors appreciate meaningful exposure to an affluent, influential demographic and they especially appreciate when their brand looks good. GolfStatus’s virtual event options provide tons of digital exposure, through professional and prominent branding across multiple channels (including online and mobile). This means not only more sponsorship options, but options with minimal overhead and value for sponsors. Event organizers can include digital exposure as part of other sponsorship packages, or list it as a standalone technology sponsorship.
6. Technology makes virtual events easy, lucrative, and fun.
Virtual golf events powered by GolfStatus start with the buildout of a free custom event registration website and include access to its full-service golf event management platform. We make every detail—from live-scoring to digital sponsorships—easy and stress-free with user-friendly technology and full access to our top-rated, in-house customer success team. What’s more, GolfStatus is available at no cost to qualifying nonprofits through our Golf for Good program. Contact us at [email protected] to get qualified, or follow the link below.