Kyle Davy '11
Wrap Up
July 27th, 2009 by kdavy11
The tournament is over…I can’t believe that it has finally come to a close. I am done with my 5 am – 9 pm days, but I still find myself waking up at 5 even though I don’t have to anymore. Overall the GCROpen was a huge success. A total of 91 professionals competed, 36 amateurs, and 3 seniors. Sean Mccarty ended up winning the tournament by firing a ten under par.
During the tournament I did a little bit of everything. I helped set up, ran the registration of players and donor companies, coordinated volunteers, escorted media…it was a whirlwind. I learned a great deal about tournament prep, organization, non profit organizations, advertisement, graphic design, etc. during this experience. But most important of all I greatly increased my networking and people skills. Everyone on the GCRO committee was a volunteer. All 25 of us came from different backgrounds and different careers. I would have to say that this was the most valuable part of my work. I got a chance to work alongside bankers, real estate agents, financial advisers, and tv hosts. I have created so many connections through working in this tournament, and many doors for future internships have been opened. While I searched for this internship as a way to get involved in a sports management opportunity, it proved to be more than just that. It taught me how to manage and put together any event and how to work alongside professionals from a variety of backgrounds. I am very grateful for my opportunity to work with the GCROpen and hope to be involved in the years to come.
Tournament Prep
July 27th, 2009 by kdavy11
The week before the tournament was a busy one. I was in charge of meeting with Jim multiple times in order to finalize all of the advertisements that would be printed, for example I was in charge of creating a poster for the up, up and away raffle. I also had to drive to Waterloo to drop off caddie smocks that needed players names embroidered on the back. I also found myself with the duty of contacting all of the donor companies that had not responded about their involvement in the pro-am golf event that was to take place on the Wednesday of the tournament.
As the tournament approached we had raised a total of $71,000, which was just above expectations! All we could do now was wait until the morning of the pro am and get everything set up!
Getting Closer pt 2
July 13th, 2009 by kdavy11
On Thursday I met with Jim at his house to collect, clean, and organize both donor signs and caddie smocks. We had to figure out which company logos we already had from last year, which ones needed to be updated, and which ones we didn’t have at all. Most of the companies that have donate to our tournament (or I should say a large portion of them) are scoreboard donors. This means that have they donated $1,200 dollars and along with other perks, get their company logo posted on the scoreboard throughout the duration of the tournament. Therefor, it is very important to have the correct signs, and only the signs up that contributed donations.
We also went through the caddie smocks from last year, and I placed an order with a company in Waterloo that will print names on the smocks for players that are competing in this years tournament.
Jim and I also went through my raffle, coupon, and advertisement designs in order to make sure they were exactly what we wanted before sending them to the printer where they would then be distributed throughout Cedar Rapids!!
Getting Closer
July 13th, 2009 by kdavy11
7/6/09
The committee met tonight at Hunters Ridge Golf Course, and you could tell the tournament date was nearing quickly. I had been in charge of raffle ticket designs, coupon designs, and other miscellaneous advertisements. I had also finished merging the database of donors that I had created in excel with our informational letter that is going to be sent out. I also was in charge of calling all of the donor companies (about 50 of them) in order to verify contact information and to answer any questions they may have. I had also just recently met with Jim McPartland to go over this and we addressed and finished off all of the letters and sent them off in the mail. As of right now we are just over the $70,000 mark for donations. This is just above where we wanted to be, but we are still hoping to get even more money here in the closing weeks before the tournament.
On the agenda for the night was volunteers, decorations, our first ball drop, the raffle, caddie smocks, nametags, food, etc. We have decided that on the night of the dinner party, we will have a helicopter ball drop as a fundraiser. As we sell raffle tickets, people will be able to purchase a $5 golf ball with a number on it. After the dinner party finishes, we are going to have a helicopter fly above the driving range with all of the balls that were purchased in it, and have them dropped at a target on the range. The ball that lands closest will win some money! We hope this will increase sales in raffle tickets, and will also encourage attendees to come back for the tournament…as for the raffle, we are giving away about $5,000 dollars worth of prizes. Hopefully we can make at least half of that in ticket sales!
Meeting with Jim
June 29th, 2009 by kdavy11
Friday morning I met with Jim McPartland at TrueNorth in downtown Cedar Rapids. We discussed the tasks that have to be completed here very soon.
First on our list was editing the donor letter. We went through it to make changes and make it as thankful as possible, for it is these people that make our tournament run. We questioned how to invite them to the dinner party and whether or not it was necessary to send their tickets in the mail. Jim and I decided that we would just wait for their RSVP…and if they didn’t do that I will have to call them…instead of sending out tickets that will most probably get lost in the mail. My text task was to figure out how to merge his list of donors, addresses, etc., that are in excel to fit into the word document. I think I have it figured out…
We also discussed a final proposal for the check presenter cards that I had designed. We had to take out the info on the raffle and make the rest of my advertisement bigger in general. They are now ready to be printed and handed out to Biaggi’s to be seen by everyone there!
My next job is now to create the raffle tickets as well as the $5/$10 bev/food coupons that will be given out at the tournament. I will also be mailing out all of the donor letters as well as contacting them about dinner party details and attendance!
That’s it for now!
Committee Meeting
June 29th, 2009 by kdavy11
I have been without internet access for the past weekend so I will be typing a few blogs that I have been waiting to post!
Last week our committee met at Hunters Ridge Golf Course to discuss updates to the tournament and fundraiser. Our website had been down for the past week because of server issues, but we met with our web master to get it all figured out. Hopefully now we will have a solid base of information that our fanbase and professionals can utilize as tournament time looms closer. Fundraising was next on our agenda, and surprisingly we had done better than expected. We are now up to $67,000, very close to our goal of $70,000. Donations keep on coming in from the Cedar Rapids community, and we hope to have more than our goal by the time the tournament arrives.
A large portion of our time was spent discussing the players only area during the tournament. We went over regulations, materials, etc. As of right now only those people that have player or committee lanyards will be allowed to enter for the free ice cream, food, beer, and beverages.
We also considered handing out $5 coupons during the pro/am tournament that would go towards food and beverages from July 24-26. We believe that this could help to entice the companies who donated to come back for the tournament after all the “fun” is over. We are unsure of how this will work out, maybe we need to raise it to $10 per person?
Finally, we arrived at the issue of our raffel. We recently acquired a gambling liscense, and it will not be in effect until July 13th, so technically we cannot do any advertising yet…unfortunately. We have some great prizes, however, and we hope it will be a big earner. As of today we have 2 helicopter rides, a hot air balloon ride/dinner at Biaggi’s, a trip to Riverside, $500, a set of Taylor Made irons, $700 to Hunters Ridge Course, and a few more. We are questioning how much to sell the tickets for and whether or not each ticket should go in one big drawing for all the prizes, or if people should be able to choose which prize they would like to be able to win.
June 22nd, 2009 by kdavy11
This week has been a busy one for the GCRO. I have spent time working out scheduling for the tournament, and making it clear what events must be taken care of now before it is too late. I am also in the process of creating a small credit card holder advertisement that will be sent out to the community. I am awaiting our meeting tomorrow evening, and hope that we have received more donations!
Greater Cedar Rapids Open
June 10th, 2009 by kdavy11
I am working for the Greater Cedar Rapids Open, a non-profit organization that has coordinated the Greater Cedar Rapids Open (GRCO) golf tournament for the passed eleven years. The organization relies solely on donations from local businesses to put on this event, and has had great success over its lifetime. Based on Cedar Rapids’ economic multiplier of 5x expenses, the overall impact the tournament has had on the city has been well over $8,600,000! This golf tournament has provided both professional and amateur golfers with the opportunity to fine tune their game and take it to the next level. For example, master’s champion and Cedar Rapids native Zach Johnson has participated in this tournament many times! The tournament this year will be played from July 24-26th. We are currently in the process of collecting donations and awaiting players to sign up and play!
Last night I had a meeting with the GCRO committee. We talked about aspects of the tournament that must be taken care of, such as player recruitment, housing and hospitality, volunteers, t-shirts, the pro-am dinner party, etc. Before this meeting I was in charge of 3 tasks. First of all I had to create a post card that was going to be sent out to all prospective players. I included information on the golf course, tournament dates, cash prizes, etc. My second task was to write a player invitation letter. This was a little more difficult of a task, for it is this piece of paper that could make or break a player’s entrance to the tournament! Finally, I was in charge of creating a schedule of tasks that must be done for the tournament in the upcoming month. By doing so we will be able to put all of the tasks into perspective and prioritize accordingly for our next meeting, which takes place on June 23rd.
I am very excited to be working with this organization. It is going to be an amazing experience to be able to work with a non-profit organization and watch and work with them as they prepare for this tournament! I can only imagine how much busier it is going to get as tournament time approaches!