Fran Marrello, a 2013 inductee into Connecticut PGA Hall of Fame, is the PGA head professional at Canaan Country Club in Canaan, Connecticut.
A nine-hole facility, we started the Friday co-ed scramble years ago, and it was popular from the get-go. The event serves as a way to meet and play with other people in a relaxed yet competitive environment. That’s the beauty of a scramble – you don’t need to be the best player to make a significant contribution. It also helps our overall club environment by bringing together our men and women members more often and giving them new potential pairings going forward. The prizes are shop credits which can be used to redeem cart fees and green fees for non-members (we’re a public facility that does have a small number of members) as well as merchandise. We’re also revamping our tee structure this year and are hoping that both the Tee it Forward initiative and changing the forward most tee from red to another color spurs participation and takes away the stigma that it must be the “Ladies Tee.” There are so many golfers playing the “wrong” tees, it’s tough to convince them, especially men, to go forward.
While it’s down in participation numbers from its heyday, the Friday co-ed scramble still gets 25-30 players per week, which is very solid numbers when you add in that we have some kind of league or tournament action here nearly every day. At $10 per player, usually the shop credits amount to $250-300 which so far this season has added up to $1000 in shop revenue for us. (There’s no expiration date on the credits.) The payout is usually to three teams on a 50-30-20 percent basis. Meanwhile the restaurant and bar has seen a 20 percent boost in business on Friday nights and my lesson business has increased by 10-15 percent. So be creative in both league and format, and you may just see a nice jumpstarter for various areas of your shop.
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Editor’s note: The above comments reflect the opinion and experiences of the submitting PGA Professional and are not endorsed by PGA Magazine or the PGA of America.