If golf is such a great way to build business relationships, why don’t more business people use it to develop their teams? Perhaps their last event was missing one or more of the eight essentials necessary for successful, exciting team events. Our customers tell us that golf is truly a great way to grow their team. 
We’ve hosted over a hundred company events and as a result, we’ve seen what works and what doesn’t. Here are eight essentials we’ve culled from our customer’s experiences to help ensure your next team event is a memorable success!
- Identify Your Goal! What do you want to be different after the event is over? Are you looking to merge two teams, develop team member trust, or work through conflict resolution? Establishing a primary objective is important to knowing where you’re going and whether you achieve your desired goal.
- Determine Your Budget! In business, resources are precious and while playing golf has many benefits to bringing teams together, spending all day (and lots of money) playing 18 holes might be more than you can budget (or your team can handle). Taking a couple of hours to play nine holes might better fit your time and budget.
- Fit the Event to Your Team (not the other way around)! Keep to your objective. Members of your team may have never played golf. No, worries. There are ways skilled team building facilitators leverage golf venues into teachable moments to help teams achieve their goals. For example, customers often play a Scramble format enabling each team member to contribute to the overall score. In a scramble, team members all hit each shot, decide which is the best shot, and then team members hit the next shot from that spot. Other formats can increase the challenge if desired. Golf is a great way to work on team communications and decision-making.
- Location, Location, Location! Finding an appropriate course is very important.
Some golf courses don’t welcome non-golfers. You will also want to pick a course that isn’t too challenging. Nine-hole courses are often sufficient. In addition to looking at the course itself, make sure the location can meet your needs for club rentals, practice facilities, food offerings, and meeting space. Non-golfers will need clubs. Consider making practice time available for your golfers to “tune-up” and teach non-golfers some basics. Food and beverages can be enjoyed before, during, or after playing. If you intend on presenting awards and reinforcing the team building, ask if there is a room where your group can meet afterwards. - Bend the Rules to Keep it Fun AND Competitive! A few rules can help the outing run smoothly. Some groups require each player on the team to contribute 2-3 drives and putts to help ensure that everyone contributes to the team score. Place someone in each group who understands the rules of golf and course-etiquette. Set a maximum number of strokes per hole (usually 2-3 over par) so no group gets bogged down on a bad hole. Keep each team at five players or less if possible and, unless you’re playing at Play-a-Round Golf, make sure everyone has their own clubs and bag.
- “Buzz” the Field! Next, you’ll need to promote the event.
Golfers may need to be reminded that this is a team building event not a golf tournament. Help non-golfers get excited by ensuring that each team has a “real” golfer and that they’re playing in a Scramble format. Golf can help you have fun and achieve your goal. - Celebrate Teamwork! Decide ahead of time what awards to hand out at the end. A long-drive hole or a closest to the pin hole give the golfers something to shoot at. Winning team members should receive identical prizes. Consider giving prizes to the 2nd and 3rd place teams. Humorous awards can lighten the mood as well as give you a way to include more non-golfers in the prizes. The local “dollar” store can help ensure you stay within your prize budget. Create a “team” award for the whole team based on achieving your objective.
- Net it Out! Did you hit your objective? Golf-based exercises can build teams through positive reinforcement of teamwork and inter-personal relationships.
[Editor’s Note: Play-a-Round Golf, based in Malvern, PA, is an indoor golf center with seven (7) simulators, large meeting room, and team building facilitators enabling customers to build teams in a comfortable setting, at a convenient time, and accommodating to their budget. Want to build your team, try integrating golf into your next company event? Give us a call at the number below. We’ll help you get where you want to go.]
