If golf remains a strong fit for your community but you’re struggling to register players, you likely need some creative marketing strategies.

Spend Money to Make Money: It’s increasingly difficult to rely solely on organic social media to spread the word about your event. Investing in a Facebook ad boost—even with a modest budget of up to $100—allows you to target local golfers specifically.

This strategy ensures you reach beyond your current chamber members, potentially bringing in brand-new members who are avid golfers.

Target Warm Leads: You can spend all day telling a member what’s in it for them, but if they hate golf (or don’t know how to play), they’re highly unlikely to buy a ticket.

Stop wasting time on cold leads and go where the golfers are. Put flyers out at the local golf course, on public bulletin boards, and in local golf stores. Ensure that the host course's marketing staff is actively assisting you and that they’re tagged as a co-host on your Facebook event. Since you’re a membership organization, they may not think to add it to their events calendar as they may be under the impression it's for members only. Make sure you tell them otherwise and that you’d appreciate any marketing efforts they could add.

Leverage All Forms of Media: Don’t forget to utilize traditional media outlets. Send your event information to local news and radio stations for their free community calendars. You can even give a local radio station a complimentary foursome team in exchange for trade advertising. They can have on-air employees play alongside listeners who win a contest to join their team.

Do It the Old-Fashioned Way: No matter how brilliant you are, how exciting the event is, and how many reminders you send, people can still forget about buying tickets. Sometimes, securing a ticket sale requires a little more than social media posts. You (or your volunteers) might need to pick up the phone or send a text message. A simple, “Hey, I noticed you haven’t signed up yet,” is often the gentle push needed. Your members are busy and distracted. Remind them like you do children.

Expand Your Demographics: Introduce a Beginner’s Division to attract new players who might not normally attend. Offering prizes for each designation (Pros and Future Pros) increases exposure and can draw in people who would’ve normally passed on your event.

Additionally, purchasing a “Hole-in-One” prize package is highly affordable (often under $200) because the odds of winning are so low, but they drum up incredible excitement.

Speaking of drawing a crowd and having fun, that’s the next component to a successful golf tournament.

Once you’ve successfully marketed your tournament and gathered a crowd, you can dramatically increase the event's profitability by moving beyond basic hole sponsorships. A successful tournament turns the standard game of golf into an unforgettable experience utilizing games of luck and skill.

Sell Gameplay Advantages: A popular method to raise extra funds is selling "mulligans" (do-overs) before or during play. For a more playful twist, allow teams to buy "The Bird". This allows a team to add extra penalty strokes to an opposing team's scorecard. No one knows how many strokes they have been given until the end of the day, but teams are given the opportunity to pay a fee prior to the start to "buy out" and kill any birds directed at them, creating a hilarious and lucrative dynamic.

Host Spectacle Games: Non-golf activities provide incredible entertainment and social media gold. Work with a sponsor to set up a dunk tank featuring local officials, such as the mayor, city manager, or chief of police. As golfers finish up their rounds and enjoy drinks, they can buy a chance to dunk community leaders. Get creative with those tickets like charging $20 for three throws, or $50 to allow a player to walk directly up and push the button for a guaranteed dunk. Depending on the community leaders’ popularity, the latter could be very lucrative. Just make sure you select leaders with a good sense of humor because they may end up getting very wet.

Unique Putting and Driving Games: Set up a large gong with a sponsor's logo on the driving range, charging players for a chance to hit it and create a loud echo that distracts the competition and draws even more attention. Alternatively, host "Putting for Proof," where liquor bottles are set up on the putting green and attendees pay $5 to try and putt at the specific bottle they want to win.

The Ball Drop: If your tournament caters to less serious (or new) golfers, a ball drop is an exciting "split the pot" game. Sell numbered or colored golf balls, load them into something large like a bulldozer bucket, and drop them onto the putting green. The ball closest to the hole (or farthest, or in the hole) wins a prize or half the cash. Some chambers even use t-shirt cannons to launch the balls and get the crowd riled up.

Optimize Raffles and Auctions: Standard 50/50 raffles are ideal because they require zero prep or donated items. If you've been doing this for a while revisit your pricing strategy as it probably needs to be updated. Instead of selling 6 tickets for $5, raise the price to 1 for $10 or 3 for $25.

You can also set up a mobile silent auction featuring 10 high-value donated items like Yeti coolers, wine baskets, high end sunglasses, and dinner certificates. Move this table directly to wherever the golfers are congregating during check-in and clubhouse to ensure maximum visibility and bidding wars.