After the Final Putt: Must-Dos to Wrap Up Your Golf Event
You did it! Your golf tournament may be in the books, but the work doesn’t stop with the final putt.
It’s time to celebrate your success—and wrap up your tournament the right way.
Post-event follow-up is just as important as the event itself, and what you do in the days and weeks after your tournament is key to growing its impact and affects everything from golfer retention to sponsor renewals to next year’s success.
The final installment of this blog series dives into the post-tournament must-dos. This stage ensures you wrap up your tournament the right way—setting the stage for an even better event next year.
Planning Team & Committee Meetings
The planning and implementation phases are complete, but there’s one last planning team meeting to be held.
Hold a planning team debrief. Celebrate what the tournament accomplished, but have an honest conversation about what could be even better next year—and don’t forget to document the debrief. Talk about:
What went well and how you can build on it
Challenges that arose and how they were addressed
Processes that worked particularly well
Processes that can be improved and streamlined
Feedback team members heard directly from participants, sponsors, or volunteers
Ideas to improve for next year
Event website
Your golf tournament website shouldn’t go dark when the tournament ends. Use it to share results and drive continued engagement and donations.
Update the event website with tournament outcomes. Share tournament outcomes and impact on the event website, and thank visitors for their support. Include information like the total amount raised, the number of golfers, sponsors, and volunteers, and the tangible impact of the funds raised.
Keep the donation function active. Keep the donation function active after the tournament for supporters who may still want to contribute.
helpful post-event planning resources
Post EVent
Now that every logistic has been handled, it’s time to transition to the post-event phase of your golf tournament.
Create an event evaluation. Capture feedback from participants to identify areas of improvement and what has worked especially well. Download a sample feedback survey.
Send a thank-you email to participants. Within a few days, use GolfStatus’ messaging feature to send tournament participants a thank-you email. Acknowledge their participation, share a highlight or two from the day, and let them know how much their support means to your cause. Include the event evaluation!
Send handwritten sponsor thank-you notes. Enlist your board, staff, and committee members to help write handwritten thank-you notes to express your appreciation to sponsors. Consider having your committee, board, or beneficiaries sign a pin flag from the event and present it to major sponsors as a keepsake.
Thank volunteers and your planning team. The event wouldn’t happen without the people behind the scenes, so make sure you thank everyone who helped bring the tournament together.
Share a wrap-up post on social media. Leverage photos and videos captured on tournament day to celebrate the event and its accomplishments. Be sure to share tournament outcomes and recognize sponsors.
Create and send sponsor reports. Send a sponsorship fulfillment report to top-dollar sponsors that details every deliverable outlined in each sponsorship package and exactly how you met it. Think of it as an itemized summary of everything you promised the sponsor, along with documentation of how you delivered. Download a sponsor report template.
Request a payout. A payout can be initiated directly in the Orders & Payouts tab in the GolfStatus software. If you have a connected bank account, funds can be transferred directly, but a check can also be requested.
Finalize budget and accounting. Review day-of purchases (raffle ticket sales, mulligan purchases, game and contest entries, auction payouts, any tournament day donations), deposit any cash, and reconcile expenses and income (confirm all revenue is accounted for, all expenses are recorded, and ensure any remaining invoices or bills with your venue, vendors, and partners are paid promptly).
Send a save-the-date email for next year. Don’t wait months to reconnect with participants! Send a simple save-the-date email as soon as you have it determined to keep the momentum going and encourage golfers to return for the next tournament.
Get Ready for Your Next Golf Event With GolfStatus
GolfStatus’ golf tournament management platform simplifies planning from start to finish and through all phases of planning. Organizations of all types and sizes can leverage GolfStatus to efficiently plan, manage, and execute golf tournaments that raise mission-critical funds. Tournaments can get started with GolfStatus and get a free event website, access to Fundraising Specialists, live support seven days a week, golf event-specific solutions, and much more—all at no upfront cost. Click below to book a product demo or get started in the software on your own.