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Advice Needed From Other CC Owners

• courteneyfish 15,796 Posts

  Wed, Jun 19 2013 2:11 AM

  PRStevenson:

  The last resort is to give the inactive ones a fair warning that they'll be replaced with players who want to be part of a Country Club and will participate, if they continue to do nothing.

  You're too soft, if they don't participate or play within a month then boot them out.

• TWOMINUSONE 2,580 Posts

  Wed, Jun 19 2013 2:46 AM

  I havent read all the suggestions Dubfore, but hopefully some of these havent been mentioned already. First off, write a post in your CC area asking the members what they would like to see happen in the club. This could be seen as an easy way out, but it could work if you get enough members asking for the same thing.

  Run a league system, with different divisions. Give the same amount of points for each league division, so the members in the lower divisions have just a good a chance of winning as those in the higher divisions.

  Have a player of the year set up, where members receive points for the leagues, and any other big tournys you create. This could result in a player winning this, that hasnt won the league.

  Try get somebody who is good at creating graphics top make up a few trophies to award to members, and place them on the members profile wall. Believe me, members like to see this type of stuff, and seeing them on their walls makes them want to win more.

  I have seen 1 suggestion where they say dump those who dont participate, and i can only agree with that. A club full of members who arent playing will only stagnate things. When checking new members out, make sure they are fairly regular playing the game.

  Set up a poker league for no money, and run it once or twice a week. Pokerstars is a decent enough site. This could be a winner if you have enough players who play poker.

  If you have members who you think are more than willing to work with you, then by all means, let them. You could ask in a post on your cc wall if anybody would like to take on the challenge of creating tournys etc.

  1 more, and maybe the hardest 1 to do. Ask members if they are willing to donate to prizes. Prizes are what members are looking for when they are newish to the game,and friendship comes later when they are settled and know you more.

  If i think of any more, i will post here for you, and good luck with the club too.

  Jimmy.

• bypass07 1,360 Posts

  Wed, Jun 19 2013 2:49 AM

  when i recruit i look for players that play often. I realize holidays , work and personal issues prevent constant play. fortunately i have players eager to set up tournaments but the forum input is still lacking. i can live with that. i have had some deserters and i can live with that too !! all you can do is keep the majority happy !! i have found out in the past that low cost tournaments work best but the trend has been going the other way lately. that is fine the amount of players that enter a tourney with an ante is totally up to them. i make sure free tourneys are always available and the members seem to turn out in droves. i enjoy that the members enjoy the club play. i have asked their input for a tournament using starter clubs but allow the use of their big drivers to compensate for tier levels and where they tee from. just a few ideas. best of luck !! try setting up tourneys on the same course but in progressive demands of skill , wind variations , green speed and degree of pin location. give tournaments creative names. keep your members interested. find a co-captain if possible.   BE CREATIVE !!   now for my usual advise   play often - have fun !!

• Dubfore 4,350 Posts

  Wed, Jun 19 2013 6:17 AM

  Thanks for that PR.  We have a set of rules that includes a minimum of four tourneys a month, exceptions are allowed for work, exams and holidays etc.

  What really bugs me is the players who enter WGT t's often, but wont put some time aside to play even one club game a week, free or otherwise!

  I  did write to all the members spelling out how some of us feet,  and that I'm considering disbanding the club if it keeps going downhill.

  The text message seems to have worked, it's looking better already.

  Are you a club owner?

• 2,114 Posts

  Wed, Jun 19 2013 9:18 AM

  Dubfore:

  A committee sounds like a good idea, but I don't want it too be too formal.

  We have major monthly tournaments, and each member of the committee is responsible for their tournament. We use a message thread between us to pitch new ideas, or discuss upcoming events - multiple recipients can be added to messages, assuming they're on your friends list. There's nothing really formal about it at all. Sammi (the "owner") posts a schedule at the beginning of each month, and we run our respective tournaments accordingly. It works out pretty well, and all the responsibilities aren't forced onto 1 individual.

  Good luck - Kelsey  =)

• TWOMINUSONE 2,580 Posts

  Wed, Jun 19 2013 10:29 AM

  Exactly Kelsey. I think the biggest thing is to get some other members on board to be on a committee, and decide what it is you are going to do month by month. The more hands helping to run a CC the better. At the UNCC, we have our own website, so we need many hands to keep things ticking over.

  We have admins who look after the setting up of games, admins who update spreadsheets etc. We have senior pros who give possible new members the once over to see if they think they could be good enough to take into the club. We have a graphics department (me) lol, and we have other member who look after messaging other members regarding tournys etc.

  We have so many folks helping out, we actually have the year planned out in advance. So i suppose what im saying is , the more, the the better Dubfore. Its something worth thinking about for sure.

  Jimmy.

• h2g2 691 Posts

  Thu, Jun 20 2013 5:47 PM

  Over at FSCUK, we run a variety of formats to keep people interested.

  There is a monthly league tourney using handicaps with credit/equipment prizes to the top three.

  Our own majors competitions, also handicap based and pairs our members with a real life pro with the combines scores deciding the winner. I donate a prize from my own pocket for that one.

  There are also three specific premium events, the  Club Secretary Cup, Owners Invitational and the Captains Challenge with the winners going on to a grand final at the end of the year.

  One we are trying out at the moment is the SuperGolfBowl, along the lines of the NFL with two conferences of three divisions each, where everyone plays a certain number of matchplay games where division winners plus wild cards go through to a play off scenario............and we run our own website to keep everything neat and tidy.

  Its a lot of work for yours truly but the guys seem to like the variety it provides.

  Mark (Football Supporters Club UK CC)

• Dubfore 4,350 Posts

  Thu, Jun 20 2013 10:47 PM

  Thanks again for those positive responces and tips. They seem very well run and organised clubs, but although I have tried to engage with the players and encourage their involvement, very few respond and I can't remember anyone offering to share the workload.  In fact I was recently criticised by one player for my efforts. It's a long story, but he has since left the club and formed his own. The same player never even posted a club competition when he was with the Player Only!!  But you know the saying, there's always one!  :-)

  I'm not that ambitious for the club to have it running with the level of involvement as some of you above, I know how much I can handle myself and am willing to do it.  If I get offers of help, the invite is there for all players to see, I'll gladly welcome it.

  I'm trying new ideas to keep the interest up, just looking back at the club stats at the end of last year, over 10,000 credits was won by 50 members in only two months of clubs tournaments. See link below.  I can't be certain why or when it started to go downhill.

  Is their handicap sysytem that involves all tiers in the same competitions? This is one of the more important changes I need to make to club competitions, I want the playing field to be as level as possible. The only way I can see the lower tier players winning anything in the club is to set up competitions between certain tiers only, which I have done and that's showing good signs.

  Next week I will start to compile two league tables/money winners lists from two weekly competitions, for higher and lower tiers, the Friday Table Tournaments or FTT'S. Trial only.  See the link below. 

  I'm running out of ideas and will give the club another month or so to pick up.

  [View:http://www.wgt.com/clubs/players_only_country_club/forum/p/140891/937918.aspx#937918:550:0]

   

   

• Dubfore 4,350 Posts

  Fri, Jun 21 2013 12:30 AM

  Thanks again everyone for the brilliant feedback. Can you advise me on these?

  I. Cheats in the club, what to watch out for.

  2. How to organise match play games in the club.

  3. Club v club tournaments. Are they possible?

  4. Will someone explain 'club earnings'.

  And last of all. I have to show you this video of a shot I took a few days ago in a club C-T-T-H.  If you have the time to watch it, you should get a good kick out of seeing it. Play it on auto and can you tell me, does the ball stop or not?

  replay.aspx?ID=fb54e947 acbc 41cd b975 a1e100fb1b8c

   

• patriciawilliams 3,273 Posts

  Fri, Jun 21 2013 7:16 AM

  Dubfore:

  I'm looking at ways to up the interest from our members in the Players Only Country Club, the involvement in cc tournaments has waned a bit recently.   I tried to spice it up a bit with some new ideas like 'shot of the month', but that hasn't worked.

  I put a fair amount of my time into the club, but it's a bit disheartening atm. Has anyone got some positive advice for me, especially club owners?

  Cheers and thanks,

  Dubfore.

  Sounds like twominus one has it down packed for running a gr8 CC.

  Speaking as a  member of a Cc, ( not an owner) - it's most important to me to have an active forum with a good friendship with all. Lots of diversity, such as a photo , music , matches for tourney and so on listed, and of course one just for laughs. Everyone pretty well participates...

  Tier play is most important, as not everyone are TL...:-)

  In ours, members always create tournaments, whether for credits or just fun one. My self included have offered a sleeve of balls for a tourney I created.

  Diversity and communication is very important...