Glow Ball Tournament

[NGstaff]

suggestions?

Hey everyone. I wanted to touch base with everyone and get their opinions on this. I just took over as head of the local golf course this year. I can't say the pro, since I am not certified by the PGA (even though a PGA member, said no, you are still a pro minus the teaching cert), so call it what you will...Director of Golf, Manager, General Manager...whatever. Anyways, we are looking to do a Glow Ball/Night Tournament this year. I know from reading on here before about the glow balls to use and not to use. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions and had any experience running these and could give some insight. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[Tmiller72]

Played in one earlier this year. It was a scramble. We did 9 holes before dark. Ate dinner while it got dark and went back out for 9 more. It was pretty fun. No way I would use my own driver though. Each year one or two drivers are broken in the event.

[MadGolfer76]

My club learned the hard way about making sure all participants had some reflective clothing on.

[feedlotdoc]

Get your teaching certificate, glow ball really screws up the swing. Haven't been the same since.............

[NGstaff]

Anyone have a recommendation on a certain brand glow ball? Better than others?

I can't afford to do the PGA teaching program. Wife and 2 kids. Don't have the time or money right now

[spro]

Make sure the sprinklers are off for that night- or have lots of towels for soaked golfers. It's hard to dodge sprinklers in the dark!

[NGstaff]

Any other suggestions. Ones that I could actually implement in this tournament

[alyce]

I have done 4 glow ball tourneys. They are fun to plan and play. The budget must include the glow supplies and balls (although I always have the players purchase 1 ball each). The average cost for 9 holes/80 players for supplies is about $900-$1000 and you recoup $480 from the sale of the balls.

Selecting the date and time requires thought. Do you want to play on a moonlit night or in complete darkness? Sunset is not the perfect time to play, 30-45 minutes later is better.

Players should sign a waiver ... injuries may occur. Each cart should have a flashlight to find clubs, but they must be turned off during play, cannot be used to determine yardage. Insect repellent may be needed by each player and you should remind them of that.

All players must wear at least one glow item and each cart must have a large glow ring on the back ... imperative to determine if a cart is moving toward you or away from you on the fairways!

We use a Scotch Double format (8 players to a team), alternating men and women driving. We also play only 5-6 holes depending on which course we use.

Be sure to have sprinklers turned OFF! Not a pleasant experience for the player caught in the sprinkler stream.

It is best to have a two-man volunteer cart at each hole to follow the players from tee to green for safety reasons.

Use glow sticks to mark yardage (150, 50). Also, move the players up a tee - men form the ladies and ladies from the family/senior.

If your course allows alcoholic beverages, it is nice to provide each player with a wine or beer or soft drink to enjoy on the course.

Halloween offers the best theme ...you can offer mulligans to those who arrive in costume and there's so many decor items for sale plus adults seem to enjoy the theme.

I also find that having a social activity before and after make the event more special. Playing only 5-6 holes and nothing else is really not fun.

Hope that helps. Ask more questions ...

[TheMackDaddy]

It's a blast i have a glow ball tournement at my house every year. I would reccoment putting up some tiki torches. There inexpensive and they look amazing! I outlined my green and it was the coolest thing ever. If i can find pictures, i'll upload em'

[PostandGhost]

I've played in a few of these and the one I enjoyed the best was a 2-man 9 hole best ball before dark and a 2-man 9 hole scramble after dark. In between the 9's we had dinner and drinks as we waited for it to get dark.

Here are a few notes that I would add to the recent comments that have been made:

1. Use a Night Flyer CL golf ball. I haven't heard of them harming any drivers. They feel like Pinnacles and fly further than the Glow Flyer golf balls. There are no glow sticks that can fly out of the ball. I think they are brighter too. www.nightflyer.com

2. Make sure the light inside the hole is sufficient. The best I've seen to light a golf hole is a stick and click light like these: http://www.asseenontvguys.com/stick-n-click.aspx. Simply have the players click it on when they are putting and have them click it off when they are finished. It's really fun when you sink a long putt because the ball will turn the light off.

3. Do not let the players use a flash light for anything other than safety. I have seen a lot of teams try to read break with a flash light or hold a flash light on the ball while their partner swings and that takes the fun out of it.

4. You could start a 2-man 9 hole best ball at 5:00pm. Hold the dinner and drinks from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. During that time, flight the teams based on the first 9 hole scores and hold a small calcutta. Finish the event with a 2-man 9 hole scramble that starts at 9:00pm. Pay out the calcutta for the best 4 second 9 hole scores only and pay out the tournament prizes for the best three 18 hole scores. That would be a lot of fun.

5. Did anyone mention to make sure the sprinklers are off?

[Imp]

More input to the thread. I play one every year. (Scramble drive, best 2 afterwards).

- Glow sticks hanging from the 150/100 markers (and 50 if you have them)
- Glow stick hanging from the flag.
- They make glow rings that you can put inside the cup (you don't have to remember to turn them on).
- Each player must wear a glowstick/ring on their back. (Loop a ring through your belt loop in the back of your pants). Just to see where the group is.
- Also, each bag or push cart (no golf carts allowed and that's a good thing IMHO) much be adorned with glowing paraphenalia.

The course we play has a different teeing ground (also marked by glowsticks) that's also forward of the ladies/forward tees. Just a portion of the rough they just cut short. Your swing reference is off, you're going to get dirt, so they don't want you teeing from the regular teeing ground). Trust me, your greens keeper will thank you for this as they will be dug into... badly. As the glowballs only have about 65-75% of the distance of a regular ball, t works out to be just about right.

Night flyer balls. They're the only ones we use now. The glow stick ones (I have one sitting here under my monitor) are much less predictable to hit and aren't as bright.

Using a flashlight, you lose your night vision. Let your eyes adapt. It's amazing how much light there is (at least where we play). No flashlights (or if you do have one to find clubs, put some masking tape over them to mute the brightness).


--kC

[Chasemyprov1]

I run one of these events each year at our club. They are great events, but also cost a decent price to both the course and the golfer, however they are fun! Night Flyer's LED balls are great, they are reliable and reusable! I have modified our course layout some to avoid any dangerous terrain (i.e. hills, creeks, lakes) and also play the course much shorter because of the limited flight of the golf balls. I also urges participants to bring additional glow in the dark items to decorate themselves and their carts, and give prizes out for both.

These events can be very fun and successful, but they also bring on additional challenges that you may not have thought about until you've done one or two of them.

As for the guy who said it messed up his swing...it certainly messes with your depth perception because off the dark but I don't know that playing glow in the dark golf could have messed up your golf swing/game after playing.