When it comes to running tournaments at Bay Creek Resort & Club in Cape Charles, Virginia, Director of Golf Zach Pfingst, PGA, has become an expert at “turning nothing into something special.” Instead of simply making the most of Bay Creek’s golf season, Pfingst has been transforming traditionally slow times at the club with creative ideas that have become member favorites.
First, Bay Creek hosts a “Big Hole” scramble each March the weekend after spring aeration, a time that used to see very little traffic but has evolved into Opening Weekend for a lot of members. About 12 years ago, Pfingst made an investment in a cup cutter and 15-inch golf hole cups – instead of the usual 4.5-inch cups – creating a fun two-person scramble style event.
“For a lot of members, this is their second home, so it’s the first time they come to the club for the year,” Pfingst says. “We get 144 players, and it brings in revenue from food & beverage and from all other aspects of the club just for running a silly, fun event on a weekend we would normally have almost no play. It’s a good event that not many places do.”
The initial investment of buying the cup cutter and cups wasn’t cheap, according to Pfingst, but it has paid for itself many times over since then. The event brings in at least four times the revenue the club would get that weekend without the event – and maybe five to eight times as much some years.
“It’s a big weekend for us with play on Friday, play on Saturday and brunch before they leave on Sunday,” he says. “For a club like ours, I know we wouldn’t have the kind of business we have without running this tournament.”
The Big Hole scramble isn’t the only event that has brought new life to Bay Creek’s off-season. In the months of December, January, February and March each year, the club runs leagues through the Trackman Tournament Suite, with each two-person team playing one round of tournament play on the simulator every 10 days, or three times per month.
“We do it as a three-round event, like a stroke play event, and it brings in a lot of revenue we wouldn’t normally see,” explains Pfingst, who presents a different theme each month – from the courses of Mexico, Australia and Ireland/Scotland to courses around the globe that have hosted a Ryder Cup.
“It usually takes two hours to play 18 holes, and the way the room is set up, there’s a window people can look through to see people playing. In a good month, we can now have 15 to 20 teams, or 30 to 40 players, and this is during what has traditionally been our four worst months.”
With the entry fee players are charged, Bay Creek was able to almost pay for the simulator in one year. Plus, it gives the food & beverage department a chance to get involved, and participants will browse around the golf shop between rounds or when they’re waiting for their session to start.
“It really gets people excited, and those who play in the events are renting additional time in the room to get better with their game,” Pfingst adds. “People want to get lessons, especially early in the season. They also use the F&B portion of it, and they’re renting it on their own with their buddies on non-tournament days.
“So, it results in more than just league play; it activates a lot more revenue.”
