2007-03-26 22:00:01 -
FARMINGTON, Mich., March 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Golf's first comprehensive tournament planning Web site has been launched by Ryder Golf Events, the company announced. The free Web site, called RyderGolfEvents.com and found at http://www.rydergolfevents.com/, is anchored by a six-minute planning "Wizard" designed to help map out and assist in planning every aspect of any type of golf event -- from locating a tournament host course to accepting registration and payment to picking hole-in-one and million-dollar-shot contests.
"There are more than 1.5 million golf events in the U.S.
annually organized as charitable events, corporate outings, association gatherings, alumni events and general golf outings," said Jamie Ryder, founder of Ryder Golf Events. "There is no comprehensive tool to organize and execute events online. The majority of tournament organizers use file folders and Excel(TM) spreadsheets to organize their event. We provide them with the template and guide them through every aspect of the entire process, turning something that has potential to be extremely stressful into a simple, point-and-click process."
Ryder Golf Events modeled the Web site after successful comprehensive wedding planning Web sites. The company found that sites offering assistance in every aspect of the planning dominate the market, and nothing like this exists in the golf world. Marry this idea with Ryder's nearly 10 years' experience in golf event planning and providing services to more than 10,000 golf tournaments, and RyderGolfEvents.com was born.
"Planning a golf tournament is in many ways similar to planning a wedding," Ryder said. "Those who are planning these types of events know there are a significant number of details to coordinate and so they are historically forced to go to multiple vendors to meet all their planning needs. Ryder Golf Events provides a one-stop online solution to facilitate all the tournament planner's needs."
Free to users -- RyderGolfEvents.com derives its income from advertising along with tournament products and services -- the site's six-minute Wizard is an easy-to-use form that allows even the most uninitiated planner to put together a top-notch golf event from scratch.
Ryder spent two years conducting focus groups with executive directors of non-profits, corporate planners, PGA of America members and association executives to help design the Wizard's areas of focus and capabilities. Essentially, this site is a free do-it-yourself version of hiring a collaboration of the world's most experienced tournament organizers. Most events take anywhere from 250-400 hours to plan. With this system, initial tournament setup can be done in minutes.
The Wizard walks the user through the process, taking approximately six minutes to complete, starting with event registration, host course information, then providing a template for sponsorship packages and suggestions for sponsored contests and even the percentage of successful tournaments that use each type of contest. The same information is also provided for the "Set Up My Tournament Experience" section, which provides suggestions of whether to give player gifts, have a long-drive contest, mulligans, raffles and auctions, etc. RyderGolfEvents.com then sets up a task list for tournament organizers to follow leading up to the tournament, even sending reminder e-mails as dictated by the organizer, so the organizer has online guidance every step of the way.
RyderGolfEvents.com then uses all this information to set up an easily-accessed tournament Web site with the tournament and registration information. Participants can sign up and pay for the event online, something that only three percent of tournaments can claim.
The system has more than 20 standard e-mail marketing templates for soliciting sponsors and players, confirming registration and communicating with volunteers. These e-mail templates run on "auto pilot," gathering player information including foursome names, sponsor logos, auction items, providing thank you notes, etc. without the organizers' follow up.
The site also saves a planner's information from year to year, so in the event of an organizer turnover, as many events are simply put together by a different volunteer each year, the new organizer has a record of everything done the previous year, including player and sponsor information. The application can also "push" key information to the course professional so they can prepare for the event. This includes registration counts, pairing sheets and the event day agenda. Organizers also have a personal "logo vault" on the application to store their tournament logo and all their sponsor logos for sign, banners and promotional materials.
For more information or to explore the seemingly endless guidance RyderGolfEvents.com can give any tournament organizer, log on to http://www.rydergolfevents.com/.
ABOUT RYDER GOLF EVENTS
Ryder Golf Events has been actively involved in the golf tournament business since 1998. The firm has managed or provided services to more than 10,000 golf tournaments. Ryder Golf Events was the executive director for the Arnold Palmer Turning Point Invitational, which celebrated Arnold Palmer's 50th Anniversary of his U.S. Amateur Championship. The Arnold Palmer Turning Point Invitational raised $6.3 million. "This is the most incredible event I have ever been involved in more than 60 years of golf, and I have been involved in a lot of them over the years," Palmer said. Ryder Golf Events developed a highly desirable and first of its kind online hole-in-one prize package ordering and fulfillment system. Ryder Golf Events holds contractual relationships for the online hole-in-one prize package program with Ford, Chrysler, Lincoln, Jeep, Mercury, Dodge, Jaguar, Land Rover, Volvo and Mazda.
Source: Ryder Golf Events
