Like many volunteer-run organizations, the Grand Rapids Hockey Golf Classic is keenly aware of the value of every second of its volunteers’ time. Hundreds of volunteer coaches, administrators, and personnel have served thousands of boys and girls through its programs. Hockey is a way of life in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and the annual golf event raises money to offset travel and equipment costs for high school teams and provide free equipment for first-year players.

“For a small community, this program has produced a lot of college and pro hockey players,” says Roger Mischke, chair of the golf committee. He volunteers his time to head up the Golf Classic, which keeps the program thriving and gives kids the best experience they can get. In search of a way to streamline the planning process for this year’s golf tournament, and safe options for the event amid COVID-19, Roger found GolfStatus’s Golf for Good program, which provides access to golf fundraising and event management tools at no cost to organizations like his.

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Dollars Raised

$13,000

Golfers

220

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changes, adaptations & improvements

Health and safety measures and restrictions on in-person events led the golf committee to make several adaptations to the annual tournament. In a year when most in-person events had to be canceled, its loyal participants were particularly thrilled that the Golf Classic could be held. “I think everybody was just so happy that the event could happen that they were willing to adapt,” says Roger.

Through GolfStatus.org and the Golf for Good program, the Grand Rapids Hockey Golf Classic qualified for a free event registration website, built by the GolfStatus team, and no-cost access to GolfStatus’s golf event management technology. Roger and the committee simply shared the link to the event’s website through emails, social media, and other channels so teams and sponsors could register instantly. The simple upgrade to secure online registration was a game-changer for the volunteer organizers in terms of eliminating duplicative work. “We had tried to do online registration in years prior, but it didn’t function very well,” Roger says. “Registration through the GolfStatus event website was definitely an improvement and eliminated a lot of work.”

In fact, many modifications ended up making the event even better. For example, the committee made the decision to switch from a traditional shotgun start to tee times to reduce crowding at the golf course. “Going with tee times might be the way to go moving forward because we can have more players,” Roger says, noting that this year’s tournament attracted 220 golfers, comparatively more than in previous years.

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“Registration through the GolfStatus event website definitely worked out better and eliminated a lot of work.”

— Roger Mischke, chair of the Grand Rapids Hockey Golf Classic golf committee

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When a team or sponsor registered through the event website, all their information automatically populated into the GolfStatus event management platform, which meant there was no need for Roger or other volunteers to enter and re-enter information into multiple spreadsheets or systems, maximizing every volunteer’s time and effort.

Another change the committee made was the addition of live-scoring and leaderboards, effectively eliminating paper scorecards to reduce touchpoints and keep golfers, volunteers, and course staff safe. GolfStatus makes live-scoring especially simple: Each team is assigned a unique team code, then one person simply enters the group’s score for each hole into the app with a couple quick taps. Scores populate the event’s leaderboards in real-time, so they can be shared through social media to engage new and existing supporters. In the case of Grand Rapids Hockey, sponsors loved the additional digital exposure offered through the leaderboards and the in-app scorecard. “Sponsors definitely liked having their names and logos in the mobile app,” Roger says.

Left: Live Leaderboards; Right; In-App Registration

Competitive Add-Ons Bring Fun & Engagement

Many of the golfers who play in the annual tournament are program alumni, some of whom have gone on to play hockey at the NCAA Division I level and even in the NHL. Naturally, they loved the competitive aspect of the live scoring feature. Not only do these folks want to support Grand Rapids Hockey, but they also want to compete and enjoy the outing. When players know their score in real-time, it’s a better overall experience. “It was great to not have to rely on golfers turning in paper scorecards or wait on the golf professional to calculate final standings, since everything was done through GolfStatus,” Roger says.

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“It was great to not have to rely on golfers turning in paper scorecards or wait on the golf professional to calculate final standings, since everything was done through GolfStatus.”

— Roger Mischke, chair of the Grand Rapids Hockey Golf Classic golf committee

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GolfStatus’s platform also facilitates skins games as a fun add-on and side competition that can easily be added to any tournament. Typically in a skins game, each hole is played separately and is won by the player with the lowest score on that particular hole. If two or more golfers tie for the low score, the skin carries over to the next hole. At the end of the round, the player with the most skins is the winner.

GolfStatus makes it easy to keep track of skins games; tournament organizers can quickly select who is in and out on any type of skins game—gross, net, team, and/or individual. For the Grand Rapids Hockey Golf Classic, Roger and the committee offered a Team Skins (Gross) option. “The skins feature worked really well,” Roger says. “It was great how the software kept track and calculated that for us.” The software instantly compares all hole-by-hole scores of golfers in the skins game against one another to give live skins results during score entry, adding more engagement, competition, and enjoyment to the round.

Maximizing Volunteer Time & Outcomes

Maximizing the time and effort of its volunteers is critical to the success of volunteer-run organizations, including many youth sports clubs and associations. Implementing GolfStatus’s technology for the annual golf tournament not only saved volunteers many hours of work, but it improved the event’s professionalism, kept sponsors happy, and further engaged golfers to maximize fundraising outcomes. Though the committee had to make the difficult choice to eliminate some of the extra components of the golf fundraiser—like the live auction, banquet, and some on-course competitions—the additional golfers and sponsors the tournament attracted raised crucial dollars for youth hockey programs.

In the end, this year’s golf fundraiser allowed program alumni to connect with current players, families, and supporters in a safe way, enjoy a round of golf, and raise money to draw—and keep—more kids in the sport.

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Learn more about the Grand Rapids Hockey Golf Classic at www.grhockeygolfclassic.com.

GolfStatus.org is proud to serve youth sports organizations. To learn more about how GolfStatus’s technology can help nonprofit organizations of all sizes and types run a successful golf fundraiser—and how you can get no-cost access through the Golf for Good program—contact us or get a demo.

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Howell’s Mill Christian Assembly is a scenic year-round camp and retreat center located in Cabell County, West Virginia. Founded in the late 1940s, the assembly’s 25 acres come alive as spring wakes its landscape and the camp prepares to host thousands. Its Christian camps, retreat programs, outreach events, acts of service, and partnerships with other local parachurch missions and organizations impact the lives of teens and adults alike. And while its massive campus is equipped to host up to 188 guests, this year has been quite unlike any before it.

Like other camps and retreat centers nationwide, Howell’s Mill struggled through early spring with empty facilities and lost revenue amid COVID-19. By April, the camp's executive director, Tim Yankey, was faced with another challenge: What to do with the annual golf fundraiser at a time when resources and budgets were squeezed especially tight. With mounting uncertainty, Tim set out to determine if and how he could safely move forward.

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A Crucial Time to Fundraise 

COVID-19’s impact on Howell’s Mill and other area camps has been substantial. “I’m close with a number of other camp directors and some have been hit harder than others,” says Tim, citing an organization that was forced to cancel all of its summer programming, and another that, by the onset of Spring, had already lost close to $200,000. “By that time, we had only lost about $15,000, so we were in better shape than other camps, but we really did not want to have to cancel our golf fundraiser.” 

In addition to helping raise mission-critical funds, the annual event is a way for Howell’s Mill to engage with the more than 35 churches that send volunteers and campers to the facility each summer—helping to develop relationships that are central to the assembly’s mission and ongoing work. “We’ve run the golf fundraiser for the last 17 years as a way for us to keep those volunteers in the tri-state area connected, but also as a fundraiser,” explains Tim. Proceeds from the event are typically funneled into designated capital campaigns, aimed at renovation projects and other clearly outlined needs like replacing mattresses or remodeling showers. “We try to do something tangible so we can show participants exactly how their support has helped us,” notes Tim. This year, however, with the assembly in dire need, the outing’s revenue was designated to general funds. 

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Adapting for Safety

For the last six years, Howell’s Mill’s golf scramble has been held at Sugarwood Golf Club in nearby Lavalette. Owner Ed Allen was especially flexible amid this year’s challenges, working with Tim on modifications and waiving contracts to help the organization avoid risk amid the uncertainty. “Ed has a heart for our ministry,” says Tim. “He’s really great to work with and we’re grateful for his flexibility and accommodations.” 

To safely host this year’s event, Tim worked with Ed to make some important modifications, starting with upgrades to the registration process that moved it online through GolfStatus.org’s event management platform. “We hadn’t made any changes to our registration process for the last 17 years,” explains Tim, noting that for as long as he could remember, Howell’s Mill had sent paper registration forms and asked participants to mail in checks. “It’s funny—every other event we do has an online registration option to make things easier, but I had never considered looking for an option for our golf event,” explains Tim, who worked with GolfStatus to quickly and easily launch a custom event website for the event. 

“It’s funny—every other event we do has an online registration option to make things easier, but I had never considered looking for an option for our golf event.”

— Tim Yankey, Executive Director at Howell's Mill

The process is simple: Event organizers connect with a member of GolfStatus’s in-house customer success team to set up a registration website that includes all the information pertinent to the event: Event description and cause information, event date, facility location and scorecard, tournament format, available sponsorships, and more. Event organizers like Tim work with that specific member of the GolfStatus team (in this case, customer success rep Nick White) to put together specifics on sponsorship packages, including add-ons like mulligans, raffle tickets, and additional donations. GolfStatus’s technology also makes a number of digital sponsorship packages available to event organizers to list as part of existing packages of separately—providing additional opportunities for sponsor revenue. These include but are not limited to exposure on the event website, digital in-app hole sponsorships, live leaderboard sponsorships, and sponsored in-app communications during the outing.

Contact-Free is Just the Beginning 

The event website makes promoting the outing easy and cost effective, notes Tim: “Instead of printing the paperwork, putting it in the mail, hoping they got it, and then processing it after waiting for everyone to return the form with a check—I just sent everyone a link and they registered and paid online.” Once linked to the event website, players and sponsors can purchase teams, choose from a variety of custom sponsorship packages, and purchase add-ons, securely submitting payment quickly and easily. Player and sponsor information drops instantly into GolfStatus’s back-end event management software, where organizers and golf facility staff can manage teams, drag and drop hole assignments, organize flights, do handicapping, and automate other time-consuming logistical tasks. At any time, event organizers and course staff can call on their GolfStatus customer success rep when they need a hand. “The support is second to none,” adds Tim. “Nick was absolutely great to work with. Quick to respond and help with anything we needed. It was great to have someone there to lend a hand when we needed it.” 

In the age of social distancing, online registration is more than a convenience—it’s a necessity. Online registration enabled Tim to avoid the traditional physical touchpoints of registration, payment, and check-in the day of the event. “We let people know that we would not allow pay at course this year with COVID-19,” notes Tim. “I didn’t want my staff out there working at the course in close contact with players and we didn’t want a line or people congregating to pay ahead of the round. The golf club also doesn’t have very strong WiFi, so it was easier to not have to process the transactions onsite and keep people waiting,” he explains, noting that the value of online registration certainly extends beyond these peculiar times. “This is something we plan to take advantage of from here on out.” 

The Advantage of Live Leaderboards 

Tim skipped a hosted lunch, tee gifts, and merchandise giveaways in an effort to rally through these challenging times, but also to keep participants safe. Players also skipped pencils and paper scorecards, avoiding the need to collect them at the end and tally scores by taking advantage of contact-free live scoring via the GolfStatus mobile app. Once players arrived at the course, they simply downloaded the free GolfStatus app, which automatically prompts users to check into the course and enter their unique team code. After each hole, one person per team uses the app to quickly enter the score, which is then displayed on the live leaderboard for the event. Importantly, the live leaderboards make it possible for tournament organizers like Tim to extend play over multiple days—another feature he plans to take advantage in the years ahead. “People have always told us that they’d play if we held the event on a Friday or if it were on a Saturday,” explains Tim. “GolfStatus’s technology opens us up to extend next year’s tournament to multiple days, maximizing our profit and allowing people who couldn’t play based on work, family, or sports schedules to still participate. I could foresee doubling our fundraising revenue if our event spanned two or three days!” 

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Results that Speak Volumes 

With a little technology in place, Howell’s Mill’s 2020 golf fundraiser went off safely and without a hitch. The event fielded 15 teams—60 golfers in total—and attracted 12 sponsors at various levels of support, including a national sporting goods store, a car dealership, two banks, an insurance agency, a financial service provider, and a number of area businesses. “We typically have closer to 18 or 24 sponsors, but we expected those to be down with so many businesses on pause,” notes Tim. “Our prizes were donated, and the only real overhead expense was paying the golf course.” 

Best of all, Howell’s Mill was able to meet its fundraising goals for the event, which it originally expected to have to cancel—effectively salvaging the spring golf fundraiser at a time when its funds are badly needed. “We were extremely impressed with GolfStatus! We would have had to cancel our event, but this technology allowed us to salvage our golf fundraiser while also providing some useful and exciting features that we’ll definitely use in the future.”

“We would have had to cancel, but this technology allowed us to salvage our golf fundraiser.”

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GolfStatus’s golf fundraising and event management software is available to nonprofits at no cost through our Golf for Good program. To learn more or get started, submit an inquiry online or email us directly at:

[email protected].

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Interested in supporting Howell's Mill Christian Assembly?
View the final results for the golf scramble and donate directly to the cause.