Golf League Money Question

[NorthMNgolfer]

I have been asked to run our weekly men's golf league at my local course to replace the two guys that were running it as everyone was unhappy with how they were running it. I have all of the scoring and such figured out but I have a question for those running leagues.

 

How is the money handled for the league you run?

 

In the past the guys running the league would collect checks from everyone and handle all of the money. The checks would be made out to them (which always left a bad taste in everyone's mouth) and they would deposit them in a personal checking account they had for the league and pay out from that account. The club prefers this as they don't have to handle any of the money. Looking at the money the league takes in (about $7,000) and what they paid out I'm pretty sure they were taking a bit for themselves but that is another topic. My plan for the league is that all the money that comes in would be paid back out.

 

Is this the way most leagues are run? Just seems odd to me.

 

Thanks for the help!

[angler99]

I don't run our league, but there is a yearly men's league fee that goes straight to the club to pay for the end of the season party and prizes for the club championship at the end of the season. Then for each weekly men's league, there is an optional skins game, along with closest to the pins on 3 par 3s. It's always cash up front to the organizer and payouts are at the end of the day. If you win money, but can't stay at the bar until they announce the skins and closest to the pin winners, usually you can pick up an envelope of cash at some other point in time. It's also announced how many are playing the skins game, so it's very transparent on the amount of money collected and payouts.

[masamitsu]

Our club handles all the money outside of skins. No cash is exchanged, everything is charged to my account. Yearly fees, tourney fee etc all charged to account.

[sixtysevensixtyseven]

Our club handles all the money outside of skins. No cash is exchanged, everything is charged to my account. Yearly fees, tourney fee etc all charged to account.

 

I don't think the OP is talking about a private club, however, my club does the same. Everything is billed to my account and winnings outside of skins is credited to my account.

 

I also play in a money game at a muni and everything is handled in cash. It's a pretty big money game with a decent size buy in at the beginning of the year so we didn't want to deal with checks. The last thing I need is to get audited and have to explain that to the IRS.

 

Unless you're playing with a bunch of old women you should collect cash up front. Do people still actually write checks anyway? We collect the buy in at the beginning of the season and then the weekly payout fund money each week.

[apprenti23]

So they spend time and effort running the league but get nothing for doing it? Sounds awful to me. Want to volunteer, go find a soup kitchen or big brothers. I'd take a ten percent mgmt fee at least!

[knock it close]

So for the mens night, all entry fees are paid to a club account, prizes are purchased through that account weekly, we usually try to carry over a bit of the total from each week to fund the year end event. The other group is the Saturday morning snips, weekly skins and year long ringerboard, I'm just responsible for holding the money and making change if they need it. For that all money in each week is paid out.

[sixtysevensixtyseven]

So they spend time and effort running the league but get nothing for doing it? Sounds awful to me. Want to volunteer, go find a soup kitchen or big brothers. I'd take a ten percent mgmt fee at least!

 

We pay pretty big dues at my club and pay our pros well. If one of our guys wanted to take a cut out of our game for doing the job we pay him to do he'd get laughed straight to the unemployment line.

[knock it close]

So they spend time and effort running the league but get nothing for doing it? Sounds awful to me. Want to volunteer, go find a soup kitchen or big brothers. I'd take a ten percent mgmt fee at least!

Really? I mean even with an elementary system it's gonna take what 10 minutes to enter scores and figure out prizes, hell if thats worth 10 percent sign me up. In regards to OP if they said forthright they would be keeping a small percentage that would be less of an issue that just keeping some for themselves and not telling anyone.

[sixtysevensixtyseven]

So they spend time and effort running the league but get nothing for doing it? Sounds awful to me. Want to volunteer, go find a soup kitchen or big brothers. I'd take a ten percent mgmt fee at least!

Really? I mean even with an elementary system it's gonna take what 10 minutes to enter scores and figure out prizes, hell if thats worth 10 percent sign me up. In regards to OP if they said forthright they would be keeping a small percentage that would be less of an issue that just keeping some for themselves and not telling anyone.

 

Our pros use the system that we paid for. They were talking about taking a cut in the muni-game I play in but we told them if the assistant wanted a cut we'd just go pay greens fees somewhere else. We run the game with zero interaction from the pro but they got a new assistant at the muni and he wanted to run it in exchange for a percentage. I'm all about supporting local pros but taking a cut out of a money game is a deal-breaker for me.

[knock it close]

So they spend time and effort running the league but get nothing for doing it? Sounds awful to me. Want to volunteer, go find a soup kitchen or big brothers. I'd take a ten percent mgmt fee at least!

Really? I mean even with an elementary system it's gonna take what 10 minutes to enter scores and figure out prizes, hell if thats worth 10 percent sign me up. In regards to OP if they said forthright they would be keeping a small percentage that would be less of an issue that just keeping some for themselves and not telling anyone.

 

Our pros use the system that we paid for. They were talking about taking a cut in the muni-game I play in but we told them if the assistant wanted a cut we'd just go pay greens fees somewhere else. We run the game with zero interaction from the pro but they got a new assistant at the muni and he wanted to run it in exchange for a percentage. I'm all about supporting local pros but taking a cut out of a money game is a deal-breaker for me.

Yea that's kinda lame if y'all paid for the system just suck it up and plug in the numbers for the guys coming out to play. I've worked in the shop at a semi for the last 6 or so years and we use "Impact Scoring" there's a little work on the backend to put caps in and set it up but once it's all set it takes me like 5 minutes to figure out who won everything, to me that's not worth much more than a thank you and maybe a bottle of booze at the end of the year.

[cwglum]

Guy(s) running the league and handling all the money are always going to need the check made out to themselves. Unless you've started a business type account where it's not anyone's money specifically. I've never seen that before though.

 

At any rate ... I've always paid up front and guy would distribute each week's money at the conclusion of the round.

 

Make each group responsible for compiling their own scoring results, just like a tournament.

Nothing for the person running the league to do except enter results into a spreadsheet, no calculations.

 

Document the payout specifics and send out to everyone, that way every player is on the same page.

[sixtysevensixtyseven]

So they spend time and effort running the league but get nothing for doing it? Sounds awful to me. Want to volunteer, go find a soup kitchen or big brothers. I'd take a ten percent mgmt fee at least!

Really? I mean even with an elementary system it's gonna take what 10 minutes to enter scores and figure out prizes, hell if thats worth 10 percent sign me up. In regards to OP if they said forthright they would be keeping a small percentage that would be less of an issue that just keeping some for themselves and not telling anyone.

 

Our pros use the system that we paid for. They were talking about taking a cut in the muni-game I play in but we told them if the assistant wanted a cut we'd just go pay greens fees somewhere else. We run the game with zero interaction from the pro but they got a new assistant at the muni and he wanted to run it in exchange for a percentage. I'm all about supporting local pros but taking a cut out of a money game is a deal-breaker for me.

Yea that's kinda lame if y'all paid for the system just suck it up and plug in the numbers for the guys coming out to play. I've worked in the shop at a semi for the last 6 or so years and we use "Impact Scoring" there's a little work on the backend to put caps in and set it up but once it's all set it takes me like 5 minutes to figure out who won everything, to me that's not worth much more than a thank you and maybe a bottle of booze at the end of the year.

 

The private club games are all done on Blue Golf. It's an upscale club so they would never ask us to take a cut out of that game. At the muni we've got 60 players who pay greens fees, cart fees, and range fees every week and then sit in the bar and spend money after we're done playing so if they want a cut out of a cash game we'll just go somewhere else.

 

In the muni game we do everything cash and all the results are emailed out the following day. If anyone has a complaint about what they got paid they can see the breakdown of all the scores and payouts the next day. We've got two of us who calculate and check everything while we sit at the bar and it doesn't take 10 minutes. We pay weekly money out the following week so everyone has a chance to take a look at the results and ask questions before the money is paid out.

 

As long as you're transparent about everything nobody will have a legitimate complaint.

[Tcann32]

Our club (non private) handles it all. Even the skins.

 

The last league I did, there was a guy running it, and everyone paid the course their handicap dues and green's fees, and the skins were all separate. I would just do it in as transparent of a way as possible to make sure that nobody has any questions. If it is a pain for you to run the league, enter all the scores, do handicaps, etc.. then I wouldn't see it as a problem that someone would keep $5-$10 per player of the seasons league dues.

 

Where's the league OP? I semi near Ham Lake.

[KevCarter]

In my opinion, any endeavor like this that is going to run thousands of dollars through an account needs to have it's own account. That way you can be completely transparent, and show every transaction. That is something you can't do using your personal account. If it were me, I would also want a second person working on the committee to discuss every transaction, no questions asked that way, and you can sleep at night not worrying about somebody making stuff up...

 

Good luck!

[tdk8180]

I run a Monday night league. I collect personal checks, deposit them in my bank account, when all the money is collected, I write the course a check for $6,800 and the rest of the money ($1500) goes towards league payouts and side brackets, which I manage throughout the year.

 

I'm 100 percent transparent and everyone is well informed on a weekly basis.

[2putttom]

So they spend time and effort running the league but get nothing for doing it? Sounds awful to me. Want to volunteer, go find a soup kitchen or big brothers. I'd take a ten percent mgmt fee at least!

:cheesy:

[snoilr1]

I play in a 9 hole league at a public course that collects the annual fee up front. We make our checks out to the league, not the person who handles the money. Fee includes green fees for the 10 round season plus, an 18 hole end of year tournament and banquet plus $50 prize money. The guy who runs it pays green fees each week out of the fee. If you don't show up, your green fee money gets added to the prize pool.

 

They occasionally have the restaurant make food for us during the season. Whatever money is left gets paid out to the top 4 point leaders in both flight. Usually $400, 300, 200, 100. Any small balance gets saved and added to the prize/ food fund for the following year. (Talking about <$100. If there was more, they'd add a $50 prize for 5th in each flight

[2putttom]

In my opinion, any endeavor like this that is going to run thousands of dollars through an account needs to have it's own account. That way you can be completely transparent, and show every transaction. That is something you can't do using your personal account. If it were me, I would also want a second person working on the committee to discuss every transaction, no questions asked that way, and you can sleep at night not worrying about somebody making stuff up...

 

Good luck!

this is the way our league runs finances.

[LeoLeo99]

I run a Monday night league. I collect personal checks, deposit them in my bank account, when all the money is collected, I write the course a check for $6,800 and the rest of the money ($1500) goes towards league payouts and side brackets, which I manage throughout the year.

 

I'm 100 percent transparent and everyone is well informed on a weekly basis.

 

Transparency and communication is the key to these types of endeavors.

[sixtysevensixtyseven]

Our muni league is $500/player for the season long game and $25/player for the weekly game. The season long game is two man teams and it's a simple points system playing against the other 2 man team in your group so that game is really easy to keep track of since the players are responsible for turning in a signed card with their points total. We pay out 40%, 30%, 20%, 10% for the season long game. The weekly game is $600 gross skins pot, $600 net skin pot and $300 pinball pot. We've got an excel program written so all we have to do is enter 60 scores and the points from the year long game and it gives us everything. It literally takes 10 minutes to figure.

 

An email gets sent out the following day with the weekly game scores and payouts as well as the updated season standings and everyone is happy.

[NorthMNgolfer]

Thanks for all the great feedback. A couple specific responses.....

 

So they spend time and effort running the league but get nothing for doing it? Sounds awful to me. Want to volunteer, go find a soup kitchen or big brothers. I'd take a ten percent mgmt fee at least!

 

"Payment" for running the league comes in the form of a free membership to the club for the year. We run the league and a few tournaments for them to help out as it's a smaller golf course. The club treats us right for helping out so all of the money paid into the league goes back out to the league.

 

Our club (non private) handles it all. Even the skins.

 

The last league I did, there was a guy running it, and everyone paid the course their handicap dues and green's fees, and the skins were all separate. I would just do it in as transparent of a way as possible to make sure that nobody has any questions. If it is a pain for you to run the league, enter all the scores, do handicaps, etc.. then I wouldn't see it as a problem that someone would keep $5-$10 per player of the seasons league dues.

 

Where's the league OP? I semi near Ham Lake.

 

The league is at Viking Meadows in East Bethel.

 

 

In my opinion, any endeavor like this that is going to run thousands of dollars through an account needs to have it's own account. That way you can be completely transparent, and show every transaction. That is something you can't do using your personal account. If it were me, I would also want a second person working on the committee to discuss every transaction, no questions asked that way, and you can sleep at night not worrying about somebody making stuff up...

 

Good luck!

 

There is two of us running the league so all monies and such are seen by two people. We were just planning to open a personal checking account specifically for the league. I had already talked to my credit union about it and they had no issue with that being I already have my personal and business accounts with them. But I agree transparency is key on this.

 

 

I run a Monday night league. I collect personal checks, deposit them in my bank account, when all the money is collected, I write the course a check for $6,800 and the rest of the money ($1500) goes towards league payouts and side brackets, which I manage throughout the year.

 

I'm 100 percent transparent and everyone is well informed on a weekly basis.

 

The way ours lays out we collect about $7,000 depending on total players. Each person pays $150 for the season to cover pin events (4 each week), low net and low gross payouts (each week). League championship payouts, the banquet and lots of door prizes at the banquet.