Busy, but very rewarding week.

A week ago tomorrow we held our annual SLO Golf Card member appreciation 2-person scramble event at Dairy Creek Golf Course.  In 2007 we decided we wanted to have more card holding members and we set out to aggressively increase our brand.  That year ended with roughly 1850 card holders and we knew we could do much better.  Last year we came up a few cards short of 3,000...that's a 40% increase in three seasons and more than exceeded our expectations.  Needless to say we had 80 of our 128 player event filled within 4 days of the email blast and we ended with about 25 people on the waiting list trying to get in after we were able to accommodate 2-3 twosomes.

The event went extremely well as it should, given this is our third annual, but pace of play is something that we plan to address next year.  With the re-routing of the course it does take a bit longer as yardages are often not familiar.  Participants had a great time anyway. 

Golfers arrive to the sounds that hearken back to the land of the games roots...Scotland!  The pipes are complements of the lungs of Paul "Piper O' the Pines" Dunn and he is magnificent.  The day starts off with our continental breakfast registration and range balls for warming up.  Players return to the putting green to test their stroke on our miniature golf course as a challenge to see who can post the best score from our putting course complete with trees, sand hazards, out of bounds, lateral hazards, and boulders.  It pays to be creative, yet thoughtful on this course, as the risk reward is substantial.  The winning score was -1.

The golfers then head out to their hole assignments where there were many surprises in store like 8" cups on 6 of the greens along with another 4.25" hole for them to chose from.  There were bottles of wine given away for closest to the pin, hats for longest drive, free buckets of balls for inside of the circle, and three re-routed holes that played differently than John Harbottle designed back in 1996.

After the round, players were greeted with a free lunch featuring chicken coquin, or roast beef with all of the fixin's.  Toward the end of lunch the fun really got started as everyone took out their raffle tickets and about $2,500 worth of freebies were given away.  The items ranged from golf balls and clubs to hotel get-a-ways and spa packages.  The tallied scores are announced and the 1st and 2nd place teams from the gross and net divisions are awarded with free golf passes and golf course gift certificates.

"What is the cost for such an event," you ask?  How about the price of your green fee and optional cart.  Yes, that's right $26 or $29 dollars plus $17 optional cart rental for range balls, mini golf, 18-hole tournament, lunch, approximately $4,000 worth of freebies, and Net and Gross winners.  If you are a SLO Golf Card holder and are interested in this event next year do not delay and get your entry form in right away and don't let another year pass by.  If you do not have a SLO Golf Card, get yours today at www.slogolfcard.com or at Dairy Creek, Morro Bay, or Chalk Mountain golf courses.

Enjoy the time lapse photography from Mikael Culala.

Last night I returned from the Golf Industry Show in Las Vegas, so stay tuned as I will post some things I learned and saw at the greatest show on earth.