Brett Plymell, the 2011 Midwest PGA Section Merchandiser of the Year for Public Facilities, is the PGA general manager at Shoal Creek Golf Course in Kansas City, Mo.

Here at Shoal Creek, we run a lot of corporate outings with an emphasis on customer service and relationship building. To say thanks to all of our tournament coordinators who come to our facility, we host a free “VIP Day” each fall for them and one guest. This event usually has 80-100 participants. Each outing coordinator and their guest is treated to a full day of golf, food, drinks and an entry gift. Gifts in the past have ranged from logoed bottles of wine to leather luggage pieces with our logo on them. Our tournament coordinators have absolutely loved this event, and it creates loyalty between each of the coordinators and our club. The fall is a slower time of year for us in Kansas City, so having the VIP Day during this part of our season is great for us as well. This is just a simple event that helps our tournament program and strongly promotes loyalty.

The tournament costs our facility roughly $10,000 to host and is budgeted under marketing expenses, but we’re spending that money on people who help bring in more than $500,000 annually. Our tournaments are 90 percent rebooks, so loyalty between the tournament coordinator and our facility is a huge part of our outings program. The VIP Day is a perfect chance to give something back to the people who help make our outings a success throughout the year.