What types of golf courses and formats encourage faster play?
… “Some 
of the events I like for groups with time-sensitive itineraries are breakfast, lunch or dinner with 9 holes, 18 holes of golf from the 150 to 175 yard markers, speed golf, a walking and running game where each player has only three clubs, and providing a teaching pro with each group for a set number of holes,” said Dawn Donahue, president and CEO for Go Golf Events Management in Vancouver, British Columbia.
One of Donahue’s favorite fun games is called Tombstone Golf, which allows golfers to end the round when a certain score is reached. “You pick a score such as 90 or 100, and the round ends no matter how many holes you play,” Donahue said. “For tournaments, this can be fun because we print individual twelve-inch-by-four-inch foam board tombstones, and when a golfer hits the predetermined score, they plant their tombstone and leave the course.”
Everyone Involved
Let’s face it, not everyone is enamored with golf, and there might be some meeting participants who don’t know a golf club from a baseball bat.
… “We’ll station non-golfers on par 3 holes that have some type of giveaway,” Cusick said. “We also create a hole where an emcee introduces the golfers, and the non-golfers cheer them on.”
Donahue said keeping non-golfers fully engaged allows them to network with golfers and then talk about the day later at the awards ceremony where they otherwise might feel left out. “There are so many things non-golfers can do, such as tend the flag on greens, rake sand traps, clean golf clubs before and after the round or perform as social media gurus taking photographs and videos to post or save for the participants,” Donahue said.