T.J. Gomez, the 2007 Rocky Mountain PGA Section Merchandiser of the Year for Public Facilities, is the PGA head professional at Shadow Valley Golf Course in Boise, Idaho.

In a time when everyone’s looking to cut costs, attracting and retaining outing clients is more important than ever before. To make sure their events are as hassle-free as possible, we offer to help our clients with all of the functions that they might need during their day at Shadow Valley: scorecards, scoreboards, golf car staging, player registration, food and beverage services, scoring, rules, contests, prize distribution and much more. We always ask the clients about their goals so our staff can look at the world through their eyes and build a better event. We find that if we offer everything that they might possibly need or want, and then allow them to pick and choose the services they would like us to handle, it takes the pressure off and simply allows our event coordinators to enjoy their day at our facility – their job is to simply bring us the golfers and we will handle all of the event facilitation from there. Even when it comes to gifts and prizes, I usually offer, “Let me spend your money for you,” and it’s amazing how often clients will take me up on it. For example, if they have $500 to spend on gifts, I can make that go a long ways in our shop by giving them a small break on some items and by clearing out some of the items that have been around my shop for a season or two.

This approach has been very effective for us in booking, developing, growing and retaining our outings. For the past five years we’ve hosted more than 100 events each season, totaling around 20 event-days booked each month between May and September. When you’re honestly enthusiastic and excited about an event, it shows, and your clients will trust you to take the reigns. In this industry – and this economy– trust is always important, and will be what brings a client back to you season after season.