John Lyberger, the 2008 PGA Merchandiser of the Year for Private Facilities, is the PGA director of golf at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland.

Each month during the summer, we have a one-day member-guest tournament. We start the event with a luncheon, and then shotgun start at 1 p.m. These events have been occurring for nearly three decades now. We treat the events a lot like our prestigious multi-day member-guests. We have a meal, conduct contests, give prizes, and provide favors. The events are a great opportunity for us to expose the golf course to guests multiple times a year, during a time when the golf course is in fantastic condition. Most of the participants are playing for social reasons, rather than for the competition itself. For members, they can have their guests down for the weekend and have a great golf experience on Friday, leaving the rest of the weekend wide open to play golf or for other planned activities.

We charge $225 per team for the one-day member-guest tournaments, which is a great value for participants and provides a nice bump to our revenue. We typically have 80-84 teams per event. With a smaller field size than the multi-day event, the pace of play is much faster. We have never seen a decrease in participation for this event. We have a waiting list for this event as well, since we are always sold out. We have members that have played in the event as guests before, but with a seven-year waiting list, it is a while before they become members.

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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.