Insights · Playbook
90 days out from a member-guest
Ninety days is the last week you can still order like a host. After that you are chasing.
Six months is when you lock the format. Ninety days is when the spend becomes real. This is the playbook for the head pro who still has time — and for the chair who thinks the printer can do trophies in a week.
At 90 days
- Format and flights are closed. If they are not, read formats that hold through Sunday and pick one.
- F&B holds: shotgun space and dinner room. Head count can flex; the room cannot be invented in June.
- Trophy house and engraving deadline. Confirm the date they actually need the names.
- Print: books and the hole-location plan. Order now. Walk later.
At 60 days
- Guest gift and bag-drop plan. One object. A place to put it that is not the first-tee chaos.
- Photo plan — first tee and 18 — with a person attached, not a hope.
- Scoring and pairings method. Pick the vendor and stop shopping.
- A budget that has last year’s actuals next to this year’s asks. See how clubs budget the week.
At 30 days
- Rules sheet: pace, cart, dress, local, rain and lightning. On paper.
- Hole locations walked with the superintendent. The sheet matches the book.
- Signage list: parking, registration, first tee, scoreboard.
- Staff list: registration, scoring, photo, F&B. Names, not departments.
Week of
Print pairings and post them. Walk the course. Stage the gifts. Then stop inventing. A week like Chianti Classic at The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe or a ladies field like 18H Ladies Member-Guest at Beacon Hill Country Club and Ladies One Day Member-Guest at Fiddlesticks Country Club will not be saved by a new idea on Thursday.
The checklist is the same timeline with boxes. If you want someone else to mark what is late, that is the $1,000 written plan.
From the field
- Chianti Classic The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe
- 18H Ladies Member-Guest Beacon Hill Country Club
- Ladies One Day Member-Guest Fiddlesticks Country Club
More from the desk
A written plan for this year’s week. Request a consult · Services · All insights