Not Just Another Charity Golf Tournament

Every once in awhile I talk about something that is close to my heart. Well, maybe it is more than every once in awhile. Maybe it is more like everyday I talk about the Screen Door Open.

If you have been seriously blogging the last months then you have run into the Screen Door Open blog site. If not you will now.

The Screen Door Open Charity Pro-AM Golf Tournament is one of only two PGA officially sanctioned Pro-AM charity golf tournaments. Now, before you go off with this NOT ANOTHER CHARITY GOLF TOURNAMENT attitude, let me tell you, the SDO is Not Another Charity Golf Tournament.

Yes, on any given day in the North Texas Area there will be at least 6 charity golf tournaments scheduled each day. But none of them hold a candle to the SDO’s organization, and uniqueness. This year will the SDO’s eight year of putting on the best charity golf tournament in the DFW area. What makes it great, unique and the best?

Now you got me started. What makes the Screen Door Open great is the people who volunteer each year to help make the SDO the unique and the best. Each year the SDO attracts men and women who want to help and they dig in because they now the SDO makes a difference in the community. What makes the SDO unique is the quality of the event.

As I mentioned, the SDO is an officially sanctioned PGA Pro-AM event. These designations do not come lightly and are not just handed out to just any event. In order to become an officially sanctioned PGS event you have to meet certain standards and purpose. In 2000 the Northern Texas PGA awarded the SDO with this designation which means it is a quality event.

If you have played the charity golf tournament circuit here in Dallas/Ft Worth like I have (it is probably the same in all of the Golf Mecca’s of the world) you know that most of the charity tournament organizers herd as many people as they can onto the golf course to maximize their fundraising efforts. Not a bad idea fro the charity fund, but a really bad idea for golf. I said people because most of the people they have signed up to play in the tournament are not regular golfers and don’t have to be since the format for these outings is the standard ‘Hit & Giggle’ Scramble.

(For you non-golfers, or golfers, not familiar with the Hit & Giggle format of golf it is a mutation of the Florida Scramble where all four person teams start at one of the 18 designated holes on the course and the members of the four person team all hit their ball and proceed to the best of all four shots for the next shot and then do it all over again until the ball is holed out. Each team does this all the way around the course until they have played all 18 holes. In the Hit & Giggle, the same format is used and the same start, but in this case, there is a minimum of two teams at each starting hole, and I have seen as many as 4 teams at a tee box. In the Hit & Giggle there is usually only one good golfer on each team that can hit the ball well enough to keep the team going. But in a few cases I have been on a team that did not have anyone who could hit the ball, including me. The other three members of the team usually only play in the tournament each year and slap at the ball with really no interest or care on where it goes since they know the ‘A’ player will bring them home. This usually provides for a lot of laughs and a round of golf that could last up 8 eight hours, thus, the Hit & Giggle.)

Now, the SDO strives to keep the pace of play at 5 hours or less and to do so they use the Shamble format of golf. And to keep with the uniqueness the SDO adds a modified Stapleforth to the scoring. This is where for every Eagle a number of points are awarded, every birdie scored gets a lesser point and for every Par there is a point. What makes it modified is the SDO does not use the original Stapleforth scoring and take points away for not making at least a PAR. The SHAMBLE is a format of golf where all of the players in the foursome hit their tee shot (In the SDO’s case, the PRO is included in the tee shot) and then proceed to the best drive. From there each player plays their own ball until it is holed out. Now, here is another unique part of the SDO, the scorecards are Scan Cards. So when the players finish the round the scorecards are scanned by a computer. The computer has their handicap registered and deducts the strokes from their Gross score. Tallies up their Stapleforth points, adds all of the points up for the team, including the PRO’s. The team with the most points is declared the winner of the Screen Door Open.

Here is another reason why the SDO is not just another charity golf tournament. The junior golfers are stationed around the course and depending on their age and skill level will be hitting a wedge shot into a par three or will be hitting a drive off of the tee of a par four. In either case the players get to take the junior’s shot if it is better than the teams. A lot of excitement here, since some of these players can use all of the help they can to get a better shot.

Now to make the SDO the Best charity golf tournament in the area, the organizers of the SDO have approved a new program where you can play in the event for FREE. The details on this program are on the SDO’s web site http://www.screendooropen.org/ Or if you will email me I can provide you more details.

There is an after event, and before dinner, cocktail hour where the players get to make bids on the silent auction items. And to cap off the annual event is one of the best awards ceremonies with the best awards buffet dinner you can image.

SO, you see why I like talking about this event???

You have got to check this tournament out, or better yet, sign-up to play and see for yourself what the SDO has to offer.

Screen Door Open Charity Golf, Inc.

A 501c3 tax-exempt non-profit organization

14232 Marsh Lane #486

Addison, TX 75001

info@screendooropen.org

http://www.screendooropen.org/

Proudly presenting the 8th Annual Screen Door Open Charity Pro-AM Golf Tournament on June 5, 2006 at the Los Colinas Country Club, Irving, TX

About The Author: As President of Innovative Business Golf Solutions, Scot Duke provides over 31 years of corporate management experience to helping small businesses improve their marketing strategies. To purchase How TO Play Business Golf visit www.innovativebusinessgolf.com or Scot can be reached by info@innovativebusinessgolf.com or 214 549-0306.

And They Call It a Buffet.

You know, there are buffets and then there are buffets at five star hotels. The difference? Not much…

You have the regular buffet in the neighborhood restaurant that serves a selections of things that probably are of interest to you are you probably would not be there. There usually is just the regular crowd there who you see every once in a while but you have no idea who they are so you never talk to them. But that is another story..

Then you have the Five Star Hotel brunch buffet held in the GRAND BALLROOM that holds a zillion people and has so much stuff to eat you spend all of the first half hour walking around bumping into the other people walking around looking at all of the food. And since there are five meals being prepared in a small area it gets pretty crowded.

And the people…!!? Let me tell you about the people. There are a variety of different types of people who go to buffets.

In the small neighborhood buffet you have the ‘blue hair’ crowd that like the price and the variety.

You have the ‘small families’ that like the price. Then you have the ‘couples’ who come for the quality and the price.

It is a toss up on which of these groups of people really know where the buffet line begins. The ‘blue hairs’ just pick up a plate and use it like a sword to cut into the buffet line wherever they want to start, and then reach both ways down the line to get a teaspoon of everything..

Then you have the picky eaters that stand at the buffet like it was a trough tasting everything in reach, telling all what they don’t like and then usually end up at the desert line with a shovel…

Now getting to the meat of the matter(pardon the pun), but at the Five Star Hotel Brunch you have all of these type of people plus the ‘out-of-towners’ who come from one of the moons of Saturn where they obviously had left their manors.. The ‘out-of-towners’ come in all shapes and sizes with their leader being the ‘ladies in the mink stoles’ who want you to see the mink stole by standing at the Prime Rib carver and commenting on how ‘rare’ the meat looks. You will usually make contact with the Ladies in the Mick Stoles’ while they are moving over to order an omelet. They usually will not have any idea what they want in it. At this feeding the cook only waited a second before he did the right thing by going to the next person in line (me). Seeing that the mink stole was moving my way, I rattle off my order quickly knowing that the mink stole may come a live and attack me, which it didn’t, but the lady wearing it got all huffed up because on her planet the cooks are suppose to stand at attention in their presence while they get a tongue lashing about ‘if this was a true five star hotel I would not be treated like this’. Not sure what took place after I left, but I think the cook had to use two omelet pans to cook up an omelet for the ‘mink stole lady’..

Then you have the specialist that come from the same planet as the ‘ladies with the mink stole’, but they are different because they only wanting a particular part of an item on the buffet. Like the bone of the Prime Rib, which had been taken off in the kitchen, but they want it brought out for their plate. The specialists only want the kidney beans that are in the three bean salad, so they stand at the salad table picking out kidney beans. And, yes the classic that the specialist is know for is the ‘desert dissection’ … The specialist are the ones you see taking the icing off the top of the chocolate cake and placing it on their plates and leaving the cake. Or, cutting off the tips of a dozen pieces of pie and placing them on their plate like little trophies..

I am not sure where America is going with its mix of cultures and the decay of proper manors. I would hope that somehow there will be someone other than DR Phil who takes personal action to tell these people what is expected. I am sure in time things will change.

So, the next time you go to a buffet look for these freaks of nature and ask yourself, ‘why do they call this a buffet?’

Duke

About The Author: As President of Innovative Business Golf Solutions, Scot Duke provides over 31 years of corporate management experience to helping small businesses improve their marketing strategies.

Author of: ‘How To Play Business Golf’, From The Boardroom To The Fairways…

The best investment you can make for your business…

http://www.innovativebusinessgolf.com/business_golf/cb_order.html

Innovative Business Golf Solutions, LLC.

scot.duke@innovativebusinessgolf.com

http://www.innovativebusinessgolf.com/

So You Want To Learn Golf Quick???

First of all, there is no way to quickly learn to play golf.

Back in my corporate days there was an up and coming junior exec that was invited to one of the golf outings where all of the executives will be in attendance. This guy did not know which end of a golf club to hold, much less anything about what he just got himself into with playing with the ‘Big Boys’.

So, searching for how to deal with this situation he went to his mentor. His mentor, not being a golfer himself, told the kid to go into the Pro-Shop before the outing and tell the golf instructor he needed to learn as much as he could before that afternoon’s golf outing.

He did this and the golf pro immediately dismissed his wish of learning everything because there was just no way. After a line of questions asked by the Pro, he hit on the fact that the outing was going to be a ‘Hit & Giggle’ Scramble. Knowing that the pressure for individual play would not be as high the pro took aim at teaching the rookie the full swing with the thought that the others on his group will cover him with a better shot.

So out to the range they went and the Pro knowing he only had an hour told the kid that the main thing to remember is “to use the same swing with each club”. This resonated through the young man’s head like an echo… The Pro showed him how to set up to the ball, how to grip the club, how to aim and then how to hit the ball.

Now if you are a golfer I am sure you have fond memories of your first golf swing. Over 50% of all new golfers first swing either misses the ball or digs the club in the ground about a foot behind the ball. Well that happened with this guy’s first two swings.

So, with some words of wisdom the Pro got the guy to hit a few shots by only making half swings. Then here came the call to the carts. The Pro could only watch as the kid took off with his clubs to where the carts were staged.

In this kids group was some very high level executives and officers of the corporation. And, yes, these guys were players. The kid kind of slinked into his cart just as his cart partner arriving from a little area next to the cart that had a bunch of holes punched in the finely mowed grass with little flag sticks sticking up. The kid just stared at the greens and knew not to ask what that area was for since he wanted to keep his secret as long as he could. Which was for about three more seconds when his cart partner stuck out his hand and provided the kid with the handshake that would have made a gorilla cringe while asking ‘what’s your handicap?’.

Not knowing what a handicap meant the kid had to cave with ‘sorry, I am not sure what that means’. Well, the look on his partner’s face told the story that starts with…’SO, you have never played golf, right?’

And from that point the story pretty much went the way you are thinking it would. As the kid and his cart buddy arrived at the first tee the Alpha Dog of the group immediately barked out the side bets and the side games that will be played. Which brought an immediate remark from the kids cart partner ‘Hold on Chief, we have a rookie in our group.”

Fortunately, the Alpha Dog was cordial with remembering his first outing with the group and him being a rookie. A little comfort for the kid, but the story keeps going…

So the Alpha Dog let the rest of the pack take the tee and the kid’s cart partner advised him on what club to hit by handing him the driver with the remark, ‘don’t worry kid we will have one in the middle, you just relax and have a good time.’

That was the first and the last time the kid got to relax. Naturally his shot went about 50 feet and the group got their first of many chuckles. But the big one was just about to come.

The group made it to the green from the stellar play of the Alpha Dog. As they drove up the green the kids saw the others taking out the funny looking short club that had a flat face. Wanting to not look totally out of it, the kid looked through his bag and found that he had the same club as the other and he pulled it out and took it with him.

The ball was sitting about 20ft from the cup and the Alpha Dog barked out, ‘Go ahead kid, show us the way.”. Not knowing exactly what that meant he asked his cart buddy what he was to do. His new fiend said to ‘line the ball up to the hole and swing the club to hit the ball into the cup’. Just then the echo of ‘remember to use the same swing for every club’ went through the kid’s head…

and the kid stepped up to the ball, lined up the ball to the hole and…

Now, here comes the most horrific thing that could ever happen to a golf green and to a kids business career…

As you suspected, The kid took the putter back like a five iron and stuck down on the ball ripping a one foot divot out of the green, and never hit the ball…

Needless to say, this story has been told for more years than I can remember and I have no idea where that kid is now. I heard about six years ago that he left the company and was running marathons or something like that…

I think you get the point, that there is no way to learn the game of golf in a short period of time.

I write in my book, How To Play Business Golf, that depending on how much practice you put into what you have learned from a golf professional, will determine how long it will take to learn to play golf at a comfortable level. There is not a golfer out there, professional or amateur, that is ever satisfied with their game and will never say they have learned it all. So, my suggestion is to be patient and the game will come to you…

Read more about this and all you need to know about golf and why you should learn to play golf to improve your business.

About The Author: As President of Innovative Business Golf Solutions, Scot Duke provides over 31 years of corporate management experience to helping small businesses improve their marketing strategies.

Author of: ‘How To Play Business Golf’, From The Boardroom To The Fairways…

The best investment you can make for your business…

http://www.innovativebusinessgolf.com/business_golf/cb_order.html

When Is Time Worth Saving!

Lets start the New Year off with this though… I am going to make better use of my time and I am going to require anyone I do business with to do the same…

Now what does this exactly mean and how the heck does this effect you?

Well, it is obvious by this statement that it means that I am going to respect others time and expect anyone I do business with to respect my time…

So you say, OK, but what does this have to do with you…

Well, if you are in business you are out to make money and, yes, if you are going to business with me you are going to have to respect my time before I spend any money.

Perfect economic sense, Right?

But back to why I made the New Years statement.

Lets say you made an appointment with me at 1PM. There is nothing in the way of making the 1PM appointment but you show up at 1:15PM.

What was the reason? No reason, ‘that’s just the way I am’…If your rationale for showing up 15 minutes after the appointment time is ‘nobody takes the appointment time seriously, why should I?’ Or, ‘it is acceptable to be 15 minutes late’ you probably have adapted this from someone else who has that attitude.

Sounds crazy to me that anyone would set an appointment and then be late to the appointment because ‘ nobody expected me to be there on time’.

Again, if you are in business you probably have run into at least one of these people who were raised on the attitude ‘to do what they want and make others do it on your time’. Yes, I said raised on this attitude because I have met a few of the parents of the people I am dealing with in the business world today and they came from the 60’s when ‘time is all relevant, man!’.

Hopefully you agree. I am sure you have had to deal with this type of attitude more frequently that you want to. If you are in business, the time you spend doing business is precious.

I would say that if you take your time seriously then you are wanting to become successful and those are the people I want to do business with.

But how do you deal with the person who is chronic tardiness.? As I mention in my book, How To Play Business Golf, you have to understand how the problem is created before you can find the solutions.

It is not just engineers who understand that statement of understanding the problem before it can be solved, golfers deal with this statement after almost every shot they take…

The same goes for business people who make appointment with prospective clients or employees and they show up late. So why do they do this???

It is one of two things that cause this behavior. The first deals with lack of respect of TIME and its importance. The other deals with people who lack of respect for others and their time.

Some people literally think there is an unlimited amount of time to spend during a work day. And if they are not working until midnight then they will be look upon by their superiors as not being committed and not worthy of their position and that big salary...

These unfortunate people usually are working for a company or a boss that sees no need in managing time because if his employees do not do what he wants when he wants he gets rid of them and hires someone else he can misuse.. Sound familiar?

Yes, there are still a few businesses out there who do not understand the concept of time and how to manage it. There is absolutely no reason why any business cannot manage their time. And as soon as more businesses take control of their time by demanding their clients and employees respect the business’ time the sooner the business world will start to produce more.

So, back to my original statement…it boils down to this. I will not do business with someone who does not respect my time, and I hope you will consider doing the same. Because if I do business with you and we respect each others time then we probably will want to do more business because it does not waste either of our limited time…

Think about it and I will get back to you on this

Duke

President

Innovative Business Golf Solutions, LLC.

scot.duke@innovativebusinessgolf.com

www.innovativebusinessgolf.com

‘My Blog’ http://businessgolf.blogspot.com

Author of: ‘How To Play Business Golf’, From The Boardroom To The Fairways…

The best investment you can make for your business…

http://www.innovativebusinessgolf.com/business_golf/cb_order.html

Watery eggs, Rubber Chicken and Vegetable Medley.

The business networking circuit is a great place to get the word out about your business, but when is it too much networking.

Yes you would think that once you are not getting any work done because of all of the networking you are doing then you are doing too much networking. But I think that once you start gaining 20 pounds from all of the breakfasts, luncheons and dinners these groups have then that is too much networking…

It wouldn’t be so bad if they would serve something that is dietetic like salads and light portions. But everyone of the meetings I have attended in the last year has had the ‘watery eggs’ for breakfast, the ‘rubber chicken’ buffet lunch and the ‘side of beef’ dinners with a infamous ‘vegetable medley’.

What is up with this? OH, well, I guess it is about the business networking, not the food…right? WRONG? Let me tell you, at my Networking Group it will be all about the food and wine since when you come off the golf course at the IBGS Golf Networking Outing, the networking doesn’t stop when you finish the scoring, the main event is when you get into the clubhouse and you have something to eat and drink to finish what you were talking about during your Business Golf…

Stay tuned for more on the IBGS Golf Networking and find out why you will never want to go back to Watery eggs, rubber chicken and the vegetable medley…

Duke

About The Author: As President of Innovative Business Golf Solutions, Scot Duke provides over 31 years of corporate management experience to helping small businesses secure their client and custoemr base while growing soild business relationships. Learn more about Busienss Golf in…

How To Play Business Golf http://www.innovativebusinessgolf.com/business_golf/cb_order.html

visit www.innovativebusinessgolf.com or Scot can be reached by info@innovativebusinessgolf.com or 214 549-0306.

Blog To Be Blogging

Have you every wondered why you are Blogging? I have been blogging for just a couple of months, but I have read several hundred blogs. Most on subjects I am interested in hearing what others have to say, and a few who have not clue on what they are talking about.

I have run into thousands of blogs that come up on the search only to find that they are an advertisement and have not content what so ever to offer unless you buy their product…what a shame.

I am sure you feel the same that Blogging was set up as a way for people to express their feelings on a subject in hopes that it would produce a conversation, not a sale.

Now, I am not going to hid the fact that I advertise on the internet and I will add reference to my products in my Blogs, but only after I have told a story or shared some of my life’s experiences. I am a firm believer in providing value to life as well as to business.

But, back to wondering why I blog. The way it works is when reading what others have to say it will confirm or change a person’s opinion on the subject. I hope that when someone reads what I have to say the reaction is the same. When I read a blog from a person who obviously does not have a clue on the subject for which I have experience in, I am going to comment in hopes to learn why they feel they way they do. Wouldn’t you do the same?

Come on, let’s get the blogging back to subject matter discussions and not advertising… See, I have no idea what I am talking about and this should trigger your comments…

Duke

About The Author: As President of Innovative Business Golf Solutions, Scot Duke provides over 31 years of corporate management experience to helping small businesses improve their marketing strategies. To purchase How To Play Business Golf visit www.innovativebusinessgolf.com or Scot can be reached by info@innovativebusinessgolf.com or 214 549-0306.

If You Plan On Golfing In Texas In May-Get Your OFF now!

Right Now, Today, if you are living anywhere in the South or Southwest you are probably playing golf. That is if you are not putting out fires… The weather here is more than unbelievable, it is scary. What is so scary about 80 degrees in January…the Mosquitoes that this weather will breed in May…

These pesky insects can ruin a great golf game… Usually North Texas is having freezing weather that kills the larva of the mosquitoes this time of year. That is the only thing that keeps them in check and from getting so big. I had a buddy who told me he heard that some were getting so big they started filing flight plans with DFW airport. Now that is pretty typical of a Texan to say that, but being a Texan I am not discounting it a bit.

We had a mild winter last year here in Texas and the mosquitoes took over about May. The Ducks on the golf course had eaten so many Mosquitoes their belly’s were dragging and most could not fly. I can only imagine how many skeeters we have this year.

Last May I took a few clients out for a round of Business Golf and by the time we got through we were covered with mosquitoes bites. Fortunately all the clients I was golfing with were from Texas and knew what to expect. But if they had been from Arizona they might not have been as understanding. Something like this could effect the business I was conducting after the round of golf. But, Texans are a hardy bunch and I got the deal done that I planned on doing..

I guess this year I will have to buy OFF by the gallon…I just hope OPEC doesn’t have any control over the price of OFF.

About The Author: As President of Innovative Business Golf Solutions, Scot Duke provides over 31 years of corporate management experience to helping small businesses improve their marketing strategies. To purchase How TO Play Business Golf visit http://www.innovativebusinessgolf.com/ or Scot can be reached by info@innovativebusinessgolf.com or 214 549-0306.