Insightful Surveys: Elevate Your Events with Participant Feedback

Post-Tournament Surveys: The Questions That Make Your Next Golf Event Better

If you read our post on evaluating your golf tournament, you know the player survey is one of the most valuable tools in the whole review. It’s worth its own deep dive — because a good survey is the difference between guessing what your players thought and knowing. As the founder of Colorado Under Par, I’ve never run an event survey that didn’t teach me something I couldn’t see from inside the operation. Here’s how to build one that actually moves the needle.

Why the player survey matters

You see your tournament from the staff side: the logistics, the timing, the scramble behind the scenes. Your players see something completely different — the check-in line, the pace of play, whether the food was worth it, whether they’d do it again. The survey is the only way to close that gap. Done well, it tells you exactly what to keep, what to fix, and — most importantly — whether players will come back and bring friends, which is what fills next year’s field.

When and how to send it

Timing is everything. Send your survey within 24 to 48 hours of the event, while the round is still fresh — wait a week and both your response rate and the quality of the answers drop sharply. Keep it short enough to finish in two minutes; a long survey is a survey nobody completes. A small incentive (a discount on next year’s entry, or entry into a prize drawing) can meaningfully lift your response rate, and it doubles as a soft nudge toward registering again.

The questions worth asking

The right questions gather specific, actionable feedback — not vague impressions. A strong golf tournament survey covers a few core areas:

The overall experience

• How would you rate your overall experience? (1–5)
• How likely are you to play in this event again next year? (1–10)
• How likely are you to recommend it to a friend or colleague? (your NPS question)

The golf itself

• How were the course conditions?
• Was the pace of play acceptable?
• How smooth was check-in and getting to your starting hole?

The extras

• How would you rate the food and beverage?
• Which contests or on-course activities did you enjoy most? (closest-to-the-pin, longest drive, etc.)
• Was the event good value for the entry fee?

The open-ended gold

• What was the best part of the day?
• What’s the one thing we should change next year?

That last pair is where the real insight lives. Rating scales tell you what; the open responses tell you why — and they’re where you’ll find the fix you never would have guessed.

Turn the answers into action

Collecting responses is only the start. To make the survey worth the effort:

Look for patterns, not one-offs. One person hated the pace; five people hating the pace is a problem to solve. Sort the signal from the noise before you change anything.

Close the loop with your team and sponsors. Share the relevant findings — pace-of-play complaints go to operations, food ratings go to your caterer, sponsor-related notes go into next year’s pitch.

Tell players you listened. When you act on feedback, say so. “You asked for faster check-in — here’s what we changed” is one of the most powerful retention messages you can send, because it shows players their input actually mattered.

Final thoughts

The best tournament organizers aren’t the ones who guess right — they’re the ones who ask. A two-minute survey, sent at the right moment with the right questions, turns every event into a blueprint for a better one. Listen to your players, act on what they tell you, and your tournament gets stronger every single year.

When you’re ready to run your next one, you can list your golf tournament on Colorado Under Par and reach players across the state.

Best regards, Andrew Mueller, Founder, Colorado Under Par