Golf Tournament Planning FAQ

Ideal timeline: 6 months to 1 year out.

Bare minimum: 60 days (but expect to hustle).

The earlier you begin, the more time you’ll have to secure players, sponsors and volunteers without the last-minute scramble.

Choose your why (fundraising event or networking and exposure).

Pick a season and a day of the week. Fridays are often best.

Estimate your target player count (typically 100 to 120).

Start mapping out sponsorships and pricing.

Begin outreach to venues, sponsors and potential players.

Basic math: add up your venue, food, prize, media and marketing costs.

Then divide that total by your average per-player revenue (usually $200 a player).

Many events break even at 80 players, but sponsorships are where the real revenue comes in.

Private courses: exclusivity and higher cost.

Public courses: affordability and flexibility.

Resorts: great for weekend or destination events.

Ask about shotgun vs. tee times, food options, cart fees, rain policies and minimum player counts.

Yes. Ask your venue about its rain policy before you sign: whether it offers a rain date, rain checks or a shortened format, and what the cutoff time is. Put your own policy in your refund terms so players know what happens.

On the day, send one message to everyone registered from your Organizer Dashboard with the decision and the new plan. If you move the date, update the event and every ticket and page follows.

Yes. A simple guide: $0 to $500 for grassroots outreach (email, social, flyers), and $500 to $5,000 if you add ads, video or paid support. Listing on Colorado Under Par is free, and Full Promotion is $100 if you want extra reach.

Expect 400 to 500 hours spread over 6 months, including:

140 to 200 hours: management and logistics

200 to 300 hours: marketing and outreach

40 hours: day-of photos and social

40 hours: day-of logistics and wrap-up

Split the work if you can, or reach out to CUP for professional help.

Start with businesses that know you (past donors, vendors, employers), local companies that are philanthropic themselves, and golf or sports-adjacent brands.

Try this: “We’re hosting a golf fundraiser at [Course Name] on [Date] to support [Cause]. We’d love to partner with your business as a sponsor. Investments as low as $250 include signage, social media mentions and a chance to engage with 100+ local players.”

Pro tip: offer tiered sponsor options and think about what value you can add to their business.

Highly recommended. Good registration software handles player and sponsor checkout, team entries, confirmation emails, invoicing and pairings in one place. CUP does all of this, free to build, and pays you straight to your own Stripe account.

Listing your event on the calendar is free. To sell registrations and tickets, building your event is free, and CUP’s fee is 1% per paid order plus standard card processing, paid straight to your own Stripe account. You choose whether buyers cover the fees.

Free events cost nothing: no CUP fee and no card fees.

Full Promotion is $100 per event. It includes everything in a free listing, plus: it publishes instantly, featured placement in your category on the Event Hub, sharing across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Google Business, a custom social media event cover in your colors, an official Facebook Group and LinkedIn event page, and a featured spot in The Turn newsletter until your event.

Free listings stay free.

Yes. In your organizer dashboard, tap Create event and use Talk to build: tap Talk and describe your event out loud, or type it. Say the sport and format, the date and time, where it is, how many players, what entries and sponsorships cost, and who it benefits. CUP builds a draft with all of that filled in and outlines anything to double-check. Nothing goes live until you publish.

Listing an event instead? The Submit Your Event form has the same option: tap Talk under “No event page? Tell us about it instead.”

Open any event in your dashboard and tap Tell CUP at the top. Say or type things like “email the team captains that check-in moves to 7:30,” “add Sarah Jones as check-in staff,” “raise capacity to 40” or “add a $25 spectator ticket.” CUP drafts the message, fills in the staff invite with the right role, or sets up the change, and you check each one and tap to confirm. Nothing is sent or saved until you do.

Every text box in the dashboard also has a Talk button, so you can dictate messages, descriptions and notes instead of typing.

Marketing builds momentum and tells your story. A good campaign increases player sign-ups, attracts sponsors and raises awareness for your mission. Use a mix of email, social media, community pages and personal outreach, and list your event free on Colorado Under Par so local players can find it.

Aim for 10 to 15 people, depending on event size:

3 to 4 for check-in and registration

1 to 2 for raffle or merch tables

3 to 4 for on-course logistics (contest holes, directions)

2+ floaters for last-minute needs

Consider assigning a volunteer coordinator and building a run-of-show schedule.

Yes. The Resource Hub has free planning checklists, timelines and a budget planner you can use as is.

If you build your event on CUP, the dashboard has a Start here guide that walks you through each step in order, plus a budget planner that shows what you could raise at 50%, 75% and 100% sold.

In most cases, yes. Colorado treats raffles as charitable gaming, and you need a bingo-raffle license from the Colorado Secretary of State before you print or sell tickets. Only qualifying Colorado nonprofits can get one: the group must operate without profit to its members, have existed continuously for 5 years, and have a member certified as the games manager. Plan on a 50/50 drawing needing the same license.

Approval takes 1 to 6 weeks, so apply early. If you are not a qualifying nonprofit, partner with one that holds a license, or swap the raffle for a contest of skill like closest to the pin. The Secretary of State’s Charitable Gaming Section can confirm what your event needs.

Yes. Golf and 62 other sports, from 5Ks and pickleball brackets to judged figure skating and bowling. Pick your sport and format when you build your event, and the dashboard changes to fit: the words, the tools and the Start here guide all follow your sport. See every sport and format you can run.

Yes. Timed races get a course map, automatic bibs, a phone finish line and results by age group. Brackets and leagues get pools or brackets across your courts, fields or rinks, with a phone score link for each one. Judged sports get judge phone links, and score-total sports rank totals by division. Clinics, lessons and social play skip results entirely.

Every sport on our sports page lists its formats. Sport pages explain each format in plain words, with fun event ideas and a short how-to video as they are added.

Yes. A free event has no platform fee and needs no Stripe account. Set the event to Private and share its invite code so only your members or group can sign up. If you charge for anything, the platform fee is 1% per paid order, plus card processing.

Not at all. We welcome golfers of every skill level. Some events may be flighted by ability or use fun scoring formats that level the playing field, so even if you’re brand new to the game, you’ll still enjoy the competition.

Your events and QR tickets in one place, one-tap team invites, CUP Club points (Par, Birdie at 250, Eagle at 600) and partner perks that unlock as you play. Sign in on My Account with just your email.

Every event page shows the date, start time, venue, entry price and what’s included at the top, with the full schedule and FAQs below. On the Event Hub you can filter by date, sport, price and distance, or tap Talk and say what you want.

Still have a question? Ask Caddie in the bottom-right corner, or tap Contact the organizer on the event page.

Yes. On the Event Hub, tap Talk next to the search box and say what you want, like “pickleball near Denver in March under $50” or “charity golf for juniors this spring.” The filters are set for you, and you can change any of them. You can also tap the microphone in the Ask Caddie chat to ask a question out loud.

Either. Register on your own and the organizer can pair you, or register a team and invite friends to fill your spots. Each friend gets an email and accepts in their CUP account.

Yes. Anyone can join your team with just their email. If they sign up for an event with your invite link, you earn 50 CUP Club points.

Open the event in My Account. You can transfer your spot to a friend, or check the organizer’s refund policy on your ticket. Each organizer sets their own policy.

Sponsorship works at the event level. Organizers set their own packages (title sponsor, hole sponsor, cart sponsor and more) and list them on their event page. As a sponsor, you browse events on Colorado Under Par and back the ones that fit your brand and budget.

That’s set by each organizer, who decides where sponsor logos and activations appear: on signage, carts, scorecards or the event listing itself. Every event page shows what each sponsorship tier includes before you commit.

Yes. Most event sponsors are local businesses, not golf companies: restaurants, financial advisors, real estate, home services, anyone who wants to reach an engaged Colorado audience. You don’t need a connection to golf to sponsor an event.

Yes. Become a Venue Partner free and manage it from your own dashboard. Premier Venues ($250/yr) get top placement, a photo gallery, a Book your event button and organizer referrals. Your venue can also build its own leagues and clinics on CUP, and free events have no platform fee.

Sponsors back events directly from each event page on the Event Hub. Vendors list free in the Premier Partners directory and can go Premier ($500/yr) any time.

In your Organizer Dashboard, open Registration & Packages and tap + Sponsor. Add a package for each level (hole, cart, lunch, title) with its price, how many you have and what is included, such as a foursome.

Sponsors buy online, upload their logo from their receipt link, and appear on your event page right away. CUP reminds them if a logo is missing, and the hole plan shows which sponsor goes on which hole.

Colorado Under Par is the platform where events get listed, discovered and promoted, not the host. Tournaments are run by their own organizers; we give them the tools to grow and help players, sponsors and venues find them.

Activations are the on-course experiences that make an event memorable: contest holes, sampling stations, putting challenges, beat-the-pro, photo ops. Organizers add them to boost engagement and sponsor value, and our planning guides and Ask Caddie can help you choose the right ones.

That’s up to the organizer. Many activations are low or no cost to run, and several can be sponsored so they pay for themselves. You decide what fits your event and budget.

Yes. Activations are flexible: you tailor them to your format, your sponsors and your crowd. Our resources walk through how to match activations to your event’s goals.

No. You can run your event at any venue. Our venue directory helps you find a course or facility that fits, but you’re never limited to a set list.

Start with our blog and the 50 tournament ideas guide, then open Ask Caddie in the bottom-right corner for suggestions tailored to your event. Running another sport? Each sport page has fun event ideas too. You run the activations, we help you plan them.

Most tournaments involve liability around the course, contests like hole-in-one prizes, and participant safety. Event insurance protects the organizer and the host venue. Many courses require proof of coverage before they’ll host.

Common types include general event liability and hole-in-one prize coverage. The right mix depends on your event’s size and activities, so it’s worth confirming requirements with your venue.

No. You’re free to use any provider you choose. We can point you toward options, but the coverage is yours to arrange.

It depends on your venue and activities. Many courses require it, and prize contests often do too. Check with your host venue early so it doesn’t become a last-minute scramble.

We can share starting points in our planning resources, but you’re not locked into any provider. Compare options and pick what fits your event.

Most events need signage, raffle items, trophies, plaques, swag bag items and a few backup essentials. Build a clean list so nothing falls through the cracks. Our Premier Partners directory lists local vendors for signs, trophies, swag and more.

Plan on 3 to 4 weeks. Custom pieces take time, and early ordering keeps you out of the last-minute scramble that every event planner has experienced at least once.

Useful beats branded-for-its-own-sake. Players value items they’ll actually keep, like quality headwear, a good cooler bag or premium balls, over throwaway giveaways. One nice item lands better than five cheap ones.

Plan supplies and giveaways early so they come out of sponsorship money, not ticket revenue. The biggest swings are tee gifts and swag bags, which grow with your player count, and custom signage, which grows with your sponsor count. Ask a sponsor to cover player gifts in exchange for their logo, collect donated raffle items instead of buying them, and reuse generic signs year to year. Our Budget Planner helps you set a line for each item.

Group items by category, label them clearly, and display them so they’re easy for players to browse before and after the round. Clear signage for raffle vs. auction avoids confusion, speeds up check-in and makes bidding or ticket purchases feel seamless.

A consignment item is a trip, signed memorabilia or experience supplied by a consignment company for your silent or live auction. There is usually no upfront cost: you set a minimum bid above the company’s price, pay them only if it sells, and keep the difference for your cause.

Read the terms for shipping fees and unsold-item rules, and mix in donated items, which raise 100% of the winning bid.