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4 Tips To Help Improve Your Golf Society

Golf Societies come in all shapes and sizes - some larger than others, some more formal than others and some run by a casual group of friends hoping to play a few rounds a year.

Whatever the size of your society, finding the time to keep things running smoothly is always challenging - more often than not, you will spend more time organising and communicating with your members than actually playing the game.

If you are struggling with similar issues, the following tips will help you stay organised and better manage your Golf Society

1) Plan Plan Plan

It is important to plan everything in advance. You should know how many rounds you will be playing ahead of the season and roughly the dates you want to play them.

At this point, you should compile a list of the courses you would like to play and start contacting them. The sooner you contact the course the more likely you will be in securing the tee times you want.

Special Offers
It is worth noting, Societies often receive discounts and can buy packages which include meals and buggies etc, so be sure to ask about available packages when you contact the course.

2) Stay Organised

My second tip is to keep everything organised. Whether you prefer working with paper and doing things manually, or working with online software, there are a number of solutions available to suit your needs.

Paper Based Solutions

If you prefer using paper-based methods to organise your society, I suggest a notepad and ring binder. These basic things will help you segregate and store the information you need. You can store the information in as many categories as you require, but I find three categories are enough:

  1. Rounds
    This category should be used to log the rounds, courses and competitions you have planned for the season ahead.

  2. Results
    This category should be used to log the scorecard for each player at the end of the round.

  3. Members
    This category should be used to store a list of society members, contact and handicap details.

This simple method will help you organise the important information and make it easy to access when needed.

If you prefer working with paper, you might find our free templates useful. Download our free templates and get organised today.

Electronic / Online Solutions

If you prefer working online and keeping things electronically, you have two options:

  1. Computer
    you can use the method mentioned above but store the information in files on your desktop computer, mobile or tablet. I will be creating starter templates based in excel or word, so drop me an email if you would find this useful and I will notify you when they are ready.

  2. Web App / Online Service
    Alternatively, you could use an online service to easily manage, organise and communicate with members of your society. The benefit of using an online service is that your information will be secure and available to access from any device and location as long as you have an internet connection.

There are lots of available options, some paid and some free, some offer more features than others, but generally, they help you achieve the same result - staying organised.

Here are a few services:

3) Get Help

My third tip is to get help. A common issue with new golf societies is the founder takes on a bit too much of the work load instead of getting help sooner than later. I have one thing to say about this: STOP!

In order to enjoy your time running the society (that is the ultimate goal after all, actually enjoying it), you need to share the workload and have a number of members you can rely on and delegate work to.

Whether you choose to keep the structure informal by asking for volunteers on the day, or creating a more formal structure within the society, spreading the workload will improve the level of organisation and each round you play will run more smoothly.

To give an example, here is a list of jobs that typically happen for a round of golf in a society:

  1. Before the day

    • planning what course to play
    • contacting the course to secure a booking
    • communicating with members and sharing details about the upcoming game
    • organise the playing groups and tee times
    • organise in-game competitions (nearest the pin, longest drive etc)
    • organise transport (if needed)

  2. On the day

    • collect money/subs from the players
    • pay the clubhouse and pickup buggies
    • give out the scorecards and collect them at the end of the round
    • liaise with the clubhouse if you have ordered food and gather players for the pre/post-match meal
    • calculate scores from each scorecard and identify the winners of the in-game competitions
    • gather players and ensure all players counted for the transport home

  3. After the day

    • record the scores and update the leaderboards
    • communicate and share the results with members

As you can see, a lot of jobs need to happen before, during and after each round. The more you delegate the easier the process will be.

4) Communicate

The fourth and final tip is communication. It's important for you to establish good lines of communication with all society members.

You should communicate ahead of each rounds so each member has enough time to clear their calendar and reserve their places. You should communicate the results of each round and remind them of the details for the next round.

A number of methods of communication can be used, some are more useful than others, and some more convenient than others. It doesn't matter what method you use as long as you are communicating with members and it is easy to manage.

Here are four methods and a few pros and cons for each:

  1. SMS
    SMS text messaging is quick and easy to use, however, depending on your mobile service provider, it could cost you money, especially if you are sending a lot of bulky messages. Another downside to this is that messages 1-1 and are private which prevents group/collaborative communication.

  2. Email
    Email is a great way to communicate and you can send messages in batches to all members of the society for free. The downside to this method is that it requires the members to be checking their email regularly.

  3. WhatsApp Group
    WhatsApp is a mobile app and can be thought of as a hybrid between SMS and Email. It can be used like a forum and is free to use. If you set up a WhatsApp group and invite all society members, this method will allow two-way communication and all conversations will be visible to all members of the group. This encourages group/collaborative communication.

  4. Web App
    Another option is to use an online golf app service similar to the ones mentioned in the "Stay Organised" section above. Communication is greatly improved and you get the best of both worlds when it comes to private/group communication.

A Final Note

Organising your society can be a hard process, be patient and try various approaches and tools until you have a good routine and things are a lot easier. Remember the four tips mentioned here and you will be on your way to running a more efficient society:

  1. Plan Plan Plan
  2. Stay Organised
  3. Get Help
  4. Communicate

I hope this article was useful and provided helpful advice for you to apply to your own golf society.

What are your favourite tips for managing your society? Do you have anything to add to the list?

I would love to hear from you so leave a comment below or drop me an email.