E-Service Eases Course-Selection Process For Planners

Leesburg, Va. — Just a year old, egolfevents.com already is calling itself "the great facilitator" — a matchmaker service that connects more than 250 golf courses with event planners looking for locations for golf tournaments and outings.

Strick Heilman, chief marketing officer for the service, is so confident that both planners and courses will find the site useful that he believes all U.S. coures that host outings will eventually be featured in its database.

"Golf-event planners, at the click of a few buttons or with the help of our customer service staff, narrow down the massive list of potential golf course hosts, based upon planners' requirements," Heilman said. "Meanwhile, golf courses use egolfevents and our website as a qualified marketing tool to generate outing sales leads."

So far, among the courses that have signed up to be part of the database are several major resorts, including Doral in Miami and Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, Calif., as well as public courses with outing packages that cost as little as $25 per person, Heilman said.

Golf resorts and courses pay a one-time listing fee of $500 to be part of the "Best of Business Golf" database.

Compared to most printed or online course directories, egolfevents.com provides an exhaustive amount of information. Included for each course are basics such as fees, playability for golfers of different skill levels, F&B capabilities, rental equipment, meeting space and nearby accommodations. Beyond the basics, information includes the type of golf carts and cart paths. That item may sound minor but is something a planner may need to know, since a course without continuous cart paths may not be able to host an event after a day of heavy rain.

Planners of golf events register at the website, filling out a profile form that asks about the type and frequency of outings staged. That service is free to the planner. For a commission that's part of the package price charged by a course, egolfevents can do more of the work of planning and booking an event.

The website also features a section for comments about individual courses that planners or event participants have played or are familiar with, which can help a planner determine if a course is a good match with a group's needs. "We find we can help shave time off the planning process" with that service, Heilman said.