21 Fundraiser Ideas For Your Charity Golf Tournament

Tips to maximize funds

• Include what you plan to sell on your flyer so players know how much cash they should bring

• Allow players to pay with Venmo or some other electronic means ahead of time or at the tournament.

• Coordinate with local businesses and other golf courses ahead of time.

• Reach out to groups or companies who you think may participate.

• Encourage players to work with their companies to sponsor teams, holes, etc.

Sell Ways to Lower a Teams score

The beauty of most of these ideas is – they cost nothing! No donations are required, just collect some money from each golfer or team for your charity.

Oftentimes, a few of these are “package” deals. For example

1. $100 for 2 mulligans and a foot wedge

2. $120 for 2 mulligans, a foot wedge, and a throw

3. $150 for mulligans, foot wedge, throw, and gimmie rope

Every team is going to spend $150!

Note – Adjust your prices based on the demographic of the tournament participants. If these sound too high, lower them. If you are certain you can get more, raise them.

Mulligans

A mulligan is basically a do-over for a golfer. They might hit a bad shot and decide they can do better, so they take a “mulligan”. Mulligans are not allowed in normal golf play, but every golfer knows what it is.

Simply “sell” mulligans. They can be sold to individuals, or as a package deal to the 4-person team. You can typically make $100 per team by simply selling 2 mulligans per player.

Foot Wedge

Similar to a Mulligan, a “foot wedge” is not allowed in normal golf. But again, everyone knows what it is. It’s basically an allowed “kick” of the ball, which allows a team to get out of a potentially bad spot on the golf course.

This one isn’t as valuable as a mulligan, so you might sell 1 per team.

Throw

A throw allows you to significantly improve your position, and if someone is skilled enough, may even finish the hole for a team!

It’s pretty simple, allow 1 throw per team in the round. 1 player on the team gets to pick the ball up from its current position and throw it, without it being counted as a stroke. If they throw it and it goes into the hole, it counts as if the last shot went in.

Gimmie Rope

Quite possibly my favorite, but I’ve only seen it a few times. This one requires some supplies and there are a couple of ways to do it. Whichever option you choose, you’ll need to plan for 1 pack per team because they’ll all buy it for the fundraiser.

Option 1 – Greenie String

You are going to sell “x” number of gimmes for a single team fee, easily $20 or $25 per team. You can pickup reusable one Foot Gimme Strings from Objective Golf for $4 each. As you sell them to teams, be sure to remind everyone to return them, you’ll be able to reuse them in your next tournament. This method cuts out much of the hassle of option 2 below.

The gimme strings are pre-measured to 1 foot. If a team gets their ball to within the distance of the string, they can use one of their gimmes and consider the ball holed. You could sell each team 2, 3, 4 gimmes, whatever makes sense for your tournament.

Option 2 – DIY, Scissors and Twine

You are going to sell “xx” feet of gimmie rope. These could sell for $20 per team, minimum. You’ll need ziplock bags, some cheap twine (~$5), and scissors (~$22 for a 24 pack). You could do 3′, 6′, 12’…whatever you’d like. It’s not important, what is important is people buying it for your charity.

Have ziplock bags prepared with “xx” feet of gimmie rope and a pair of scissors to hand out at registration (for paying teams). Remind players to return the scissors when they’re finished, you can reuse them next year or donate them to your elementary school.

When a team comes up short on a putt, they’ll have the option to cut off the equivalent length from their gimmie rope and count it as if the ball went in. They can do this as many times as they can possibly muster out of the “xx” feet of gimmie rope. Each cut gets thrown out and they can only use what’s left.

Sell Sponsorship Packages for your Golf Tournament

Golf tournament fundraising can raise quite a bit of money, especially when you are getting local businesses, or even big businesses involved.

Leverage your community, and the players, and make sure you give opportunities for sponsorship ahead of time! I’ve played in tournaments where I have only seen a basic flyer advertising the cause and cost per team, only to show up and see local business signs on a few holes. If I had the opportunity to work with my company, I would have tried.

I’ve also seen tournaments where every player can clearly see the hole sponsorship and team sponsorship opportunities ahead of time. As an individual, if I see that a sponsorship tier comes with a “free” four-person team entry, I am probably motivated to work with my company to get their buy-in.

I’ve been fortunate to play in a few where my company sponsored the team as a “team building” event. And one where my company paid $7,500 to sponsor 2 teams and a hole. Although the entry was paid by the company, everyone on my team still spent as much as we would have otherwise at the event to buy raffle tickets, etc.

Hole Sponsorship

You’re not limited to 18 sponsors here! You can sell as many as you’d like. Typically when a hole is sponsored, a sign is placed near the tee box. You can have several on each hole if you have enough sponsors.

Get the word out ahead of time. Sharing on Facebook, twitter, or whatever social media platform is most used in your area.

Diamond Sponsorship

You can call it diamond, Elite, Gold, or whatever you’d like. The price is significantly higher, and limit the number of sponsors to 2 or 3. Limit to 2 if you plan to add a premier sponsor. These sponsors will have their “own hole” and maybe get a team entry to go with it.

Their sign should also be larger and they should be featured and thanked during the dinner!

If you go with 3, their sign should be the only sign on 1, 9, and 18. Again, it should be larger as well. These sponsors are also likely to provide merchandise for goodie bags with their branding.

Premier Sponsor

If you are fortunate enough to find a major sponsor for your charity golf tournament, congratulations! Make them feel appreciated and be sure to thank them publicly a couple of times.

They’ll likely provide merchandise for goodie bags including golf balls, tees, etc.

Hole in one Sponsors

For each par 3 on the course, you can often times get local businesses to participate. You can sell this as an “add-on” to a hole sponsorship. The price is adjusted up for it. But keep in mind, the business is putting something potentially very valuable on the line.

• A truck or SUV from a car dealership

• An ATV from an outdoor sports shop

• New clubs from a local golf shop

• REALLY nice sunglasses from a local eye doctor

Typically, it is well worth it and most of the time is never actually won. Advertising is the primary benefit to the business in this situation.

If you are lucky enough to get a local car dealership to put a car or truck on the line, this can create a lot of buzz from the players. The dealership will typically buy insurance to cover the cost of the vehicle if someone wins it. They’ll get some advertising benefit from it, but consider they are already paying quite a bit for that insurance.

Instead of charging them more for the sponsorship, consider charging them nothing. Instead, make your money by charging each golfer $10 for the chance to win it with a hole-in-one.

If you can get them to put a vehicle on the line and charge them the sponsorship fee, great! But if they are hesitant, you have some room to negotiate. They can pay an insurance fee, and if someone wins, it actually benefits them. Imagine the advertising mileage they’ll get out of someone winning one of their vehicles!

Closest to the pin

Most tournaments are going to have a closest-to-the-pin competition for both men and women. Typically on different holes. This is not something I’d charge players for, instead its an advertising opportunity for a local business.

You can sell a “closest to the pin sponsored by {your local restaurant}” They get a little advertising, then maybe the winner gets a $50 gift card to the establishment. The restaurant has a chance to gain new customers.

Long Drive

Again, this is pretty typical to have in a golf tournament. You have the opportunity to get a sponsor for it from a local business. This again can be an “add-on” for someone already sponsoring a hole. I wouldn’t charge golfers to participate in this one either. You’ll also have a men’s and women’s long drive.

Make Your Fundraiser an Event

Don’t limit yourself to just golfers who will participate. And, don’t limit the event to golf only!

More Than Just Dinner

Invite anyone to enjoy the meal and festivities after the golf!

Think about this – I’m married. I leave at 11 am to make my 12:30 shotgun start event. We finish at 5:30 if we’re lucky, we eat quickly and stick around for announcements because we want to see who won. As soon as that’s done, I’m headed home because my wife is expecting me.

OR

I can invite my wife to attend the dinner (assuming she isn’t playing). She shows up at around 5:30 and she wants to get in on the raffle. She wants to play the other games you have scattered about while we wait for dinner and announcements. I have no problem hanging around, and spending more money, at the event because my obligation to get home has been removed by allowing guests for the dinner.

Putting Contest

You can do this before and after, but typically it will only be done before. You can setup a really hard putt on the practice green. Maybe something 30 feet away with some break. Give golfers 3 balls for a chance to win a new putter.

Get the putter as a donation from a local golf shop! Or as part of one of your sponsorship deals.

Charge $5, or $10 per golfer and let them try as many times as they’d like.

When you have guests show up for dinner, get them to try it too!

Take Advantage of the Delay!

Every tournament, on any course, is likely to have a choke point. Talk with the golf course staff to figure out where this choke point is. Where players will be waiting 10-15 min while the team in front of them finishes a hole.

Chipping Game

You could set up a backyard chipping game and charge golfers $5 to win a bottle of booze or a case of beer, for making a difficult shot.

Sell Raffle Tickets

When this delay hits, golfers can get impatient. If you are keeping them busy, they’ll be happy to oblige! Put a cooler full of an already mixed Jolly Rancher Shot, or whatever mix you’d like.

Buy raffle tickets and get a free shot! Most golfers are going to pony up at least $5. If you get the right personalities pushing the ticket sales, you can usually get a couple of shots out of these guys!

Sell Lots of Tickets

Yes, I know I just mentioned raffle tickets, BUT there are plenty of other opportunities to push ticket sales.

50/50

Admittedly, this is pretty basic and you already knew about this one…so, moving on!

Merchandise Entry Tickets

Let’s say you have 20 items to give away. Sell tickets and allow attendees to put their tickets into whatever jar they want. If I want to put my entire $20 worth of tickets in for a chance to win a new golf bag, that’s my choice. Give them lots of choices!

Pot Shot Raffle Tickets

Typically reserved for one of your bigger giveaway items. Players will pay $1, $5, $20, whatever makes sense for the prize, to buy one of the 42 positions. They essentially have a 1-in-42 chance of winning. They buy, put their name on the spot they’d like and wait for the drawing!

More Fundraising ideas for the course

In addition to the basics of a hole in one, closest to the pin, and long drive, there are some other fun games that you don’t see very often.

In The Money

Work with the golf course to put some sort of marking, usually paint or chalk, on a par 3 hole creating a 10 ft circle around the cup. You’ll need two “facilitators”, one on the tee to collect money, the other near the green to verify winners and pay them.

Charge golfers $5 for a chance to win $20 if they put it in the 10ft circle. You’re certain to come out on top in this! Professional golfers would lose this one on average. But, you’ll collect $5 from most of the golfers on the course!

I will emphasize again, work with the golf course on this one. Don’t just go paint a line. Explain what you want to do and let them decide the right approach to marking it.

Beat the Pro

If you can get your local golf pro to volunteer, you can station them at one of your par 3 holes. As groups come up, let them place a wager that they’ll get closer to the pin than the pro. You could do a straight-up bet, or sweeten the deal a bit by giving the amateur some odds. i.e. pay them $15 if they win on a $10 bet.

This is a cool way to raise money. It’s unlikely the pro will lose much, especially since they will be hitting from the same spot over and over again. They’ll have a definite edge, but it will be a lot of fun for the amateur because – who wouldn’t want to beat a pro!

Outreach

I really believe the more you reach out to local businesses, the more you’ll make for your event. Local restaurants may see it as an opportunity to gain new customers by donating gift cards. Local stores may donate merchandise for the cause, but also knowing it will get their store some visibility.

Other Golf Courses

Other golf courses are often overlooked. It’s pretty common for the course you are playing to give a free pass for 4 to some lucky winner. But what about other local courses? Not all courses are suitable for hosting a charity golf tournament, or perhaps they were booked.

You can still get a donation of a free round from them if you ask! They’ll be happy to host some new golfers and hopefully gain their business as repeat customers.

One way to find these opportunities is to simply google “Golf Donation Request {INSERT NAME OF YOUR TOWN/STATE}”

Golf Companies

Companies like Dixon Golf are gracious enough to sponsor many tournaments throughout the year. And don’t think you’re too small to request! I didn’t know Dixon Golf existed until I played in a small local tournament and got a sleeve of their golf balls.

Topgolf may participate if you have one nearby and the event benefits broad causes such as health & wellness, military, animals, disaster relief, and education.

Final Thoughts for your Fundraiser

Every fundraising event is ultimately about making money for your cause! Make it easy for people and find the sweet spot in your planning. The more you implement, the more volunteers you’ll need to help!

Golf tournaments can be really fun and there are a ton of opportunities to raise additional funds for your cause. It really comes down to how many volunteers you can get, and how much effort you’re willing to put into it.

It is a TON of work! To anyone out there who has coordinated one, or who is in the process of doing so, YOU ARE AWESOME!!!

I hope these golf fundraiser ideas have been helpful to you. If you have any suggestions that I may have missed and you’d like to share with other readers, I’d love to hear your feedback.

Good luck with your golf event!