1.  Gauge interest
The first step is to determine the level of interest that exists.  You don’t want to invest the time and energy required to get a corporate golf league rolling before you are sure that there is sufficient interest to sustain a golf league.  That being said once started, corporate golf leagues tend to take on a life of there own.  They gain momentum from year to year due to the many benefits that they bring to a company and its employees (e.g., increased communication and trust at work). 

Finding out whether or not there is sufficient interest can be harder than it sounds.  Oftentimes, individuals are hesitant to show interest in joining something until they know that others are also interested.  They don’t want to spend their time on something that does not have the potential for actually amounting to anything.  This makes a broadcast announcement to gather interest (e.g., using email) an ineffective method on its own to getting people behind the idea.  If, however, you can personally convince a small group of people to become ambassadors for forming the golf league and use that in conjunction with some sort of broadcast message, you have a better chance of succeeding

2. Pick a time and place

There are several factors you should consider when deciding which course or courses that your  corporate golf league will use.

• location, location, location – make sure that the course or courses that you select are well located and are relatively close to work.

• cost – depending on who and how many co-workers you want to ultimately take part in your golf league, you will want to use that as a factor in picking the course or courses that you pick.  Golf can be expensive especially if you play on a regular basis and you don’t want to limit the success of your golf league by choosing a course that is prohibitively expensive.

• availability – you will need to call around to make sure that any courses you are interested in have time slots that are open that your golf league can reserve.

• policies -  do they require an upfront payment or deposit.  What is their cancellation policy.  What is their refund policy. Do they require payment in full for all tee times.

As for picking a time to play, it is best to try and determine this when gauging interest above.  Find out when most people are available and when most people would be able to make it to a course.  Make sure to reserve a day and time early enough so that you are not locked out for the season.

3.  Decide on golf league administration

If you are the one responsible for setting up the golf league, you are probably the first candidate for the job.  If so, you will certainly want to make it as painless as possible.  You could go analog and do everything by hand, but that can quickly become a burden that would make you rethink why could wanted to start the league to begin with.  The league administrator wears many hats – they are responsible for setting up the schedule, league rules, posting scores, keeping track of handicaps, and more…

There are easier ways to handle the administration of a golf league – use an online golf league administration tool such as http://www.netgolfleague.com.

4.  Setting the ground rules

This can be a tedious process if you let it.  Try to keep it simple to begin with.  You can always inquire from other leagues as to the types of policies they use for such things as refunds, greens fees/fee payments, substitute policy, etc.  It is important to make sure that everyone is on the same page and understands or has easy access to league rules from the beginning to decrease the possibility for conflict in the future.

Setting the ground rules also means deciding on how handicap calculation and utilization, individual and team scoring methods, and no show rules, among other things.  Coming up with the ground rules for your golf league gives you the perfect opportunity to get members involved and invested which will make them more eager to see the league succeed.

5.  Keep people informed and involved

The key to kick starting a corporate golf league and maintaining momentum is communication and involvement.  You need to responsive to questions and prepared to provide members with quick and accurate information about the league, including individual/team standings, rules and upcoming events.  Again, this can be made much easier by using an online solution to manage you golf league.  Online golf league management give members instant, 24/7 access and, in turn, gratification.  This can only be good when it comes to the health of the league.  The most important thing is to keep it fun, something people are looking forward to all week.

How is this relevant for golfers? It is relevant because the main objective of golfing is to use various types of clubs to strike a golf ball and make it travel in a desired direction. The way a golf club reacts when it strikes that golf ball can affect the distance, trajectory and direction it takes. The MOI might not matter as much when you hit the ball square with the center of the clubface, but it can make a considerable difference if the ball is struck off-center.

Since a club with a higher MOI does a better job of resisting the natural tendency of the clubhead to twist on an off-center hit, the distance and accuracy of the ball’s path is less affected. This is especially the case for drivers, where a minor change in the direction that a ball is traveling can greatly affect a ball’s final resting point, since drivers are designed to cover the greatest distances. As a consequence, a higher MOI = greater forgiveness when a ball is mis-hit.

How can club design affect its MOI?

The way in which a clubhead is designed directly affects its MOI and its corresponding forgiveness factor. One early trend that major golf manufacturers incorporated into their drivers was to increase the size of the clubhead face. This lead to a bigger sweet spot and some distribution of weight away from the center of the clubhead which affects the center of gravity and leads to a higher MOI.

A more recent trend has been to move away from the traditional shape of a driver’s clubhead toward a square design which moves more weight toward the perimeter of the clubhead giving it a boosted MOI. Nike was the first major manufacturer to put a square driver on the market with its Sasquatch Sumo2. Calloway has followed with its new FT-I drivers that sport the same square design. Given the excitement generated over these new style drivers, you can be sure that other manufacturers will soon follow with square-headed drivers of their own.

                                        
Nike SasQuatch Sumo²                 Callaway FT-i Draw Driver

You decide how many points to award for each score relative to par. Below is an example of how Stableford can be set up. It is the standard used by a majority of golfers who use the Stableford scoring method. Of course, you can customize the Stableford system however your golf league deems necessary. One popular modified version is called “The International” and it is geared more towards penalizing golfers for scoring worse than par on a hole by doling out negative points for such scores.

Here is an example of how the points are calculated for ‘PlayerF’. This golfer is getting a stroke per hole because of his handicap.

(Screen shots courtesy of netGolfLeague.com)

Why golf? Golf is a unique activity in that it combines so many benefits. In addition to answering why you might consider golf to be a useful corporate tool, let’s also look at the Who, Where, What, When and How aspects of golf.

• Who can play golf? In my mind, one of the best things about golf is that it is inclusive in nature. It’s for everyone. In the corporate context, that means that corporate golf leagues can easily be made up of males and females, pros and amateurs, and can include workers from every rung of the corporate ladder. Golf lends itself to big groups, as well as small. Furthermore, even if a particular corporate golf league is rather large, you still play and interact with a small group of people as you play your round. A golf league can also be structured so that those pairings change and rotate from round to round which encourages a wider interaction among co-workers. Golf is the great equalizer. Status means little when you tee it up.

• Where – the great outdoors. Since most corporate workers spend their days couped up indoors, what could be better than to get outside to enjoy a round of golf. Golf courses are often some of the most scenic outdoor locations with beautiful landscaping, as well as groomed fairways and putting greens. While carts are always an option, I prefer walking since I, like many others, sit on my rump for most of the day.

• What - the mysterious game of golf. Just when you think you’ve mastered it, the joke’s on you. How many times have you shot a wonderful round of golf (or even just a couple of good holes) and started to think to yourself – this isn’t so difficult just to turn around the next time out and seemly hit every tree on the course. Even though golf can be maddening at times, it is a game that requires focus, strategy and lots of practice to become even an average player. That being said, it does not preclude those of us hackers (me included) from having a blast even if that means hitting more trees than fairways. There are also so many different variations of golf that it can be tailored to best meet the requirements of any particular league. For example, leagues with a wide range of skill levels may want to play a version such as Scramble or Best Ball which focuses more on the team than on the play of each individual golfer.

• When – Needless to say, golf can be played from dusk till dawn and, in some places, even at night. Some golfers are even crazy enough to play polar golf during the winter months. Even if you’re not that crazy, you can enjoy a round of golf during the colder months by using simulators that have become popular at numerous indoor locations.

• How do you go about creating and managing a corporate golf league. This first place to go would be to the U.S. Golf Association’s website (www.usga.org). Managing a golf league can be a lot of work and can take some of the fun out of playing golf. There are services online that can do most of the heavy lifting for you. One such service that attracts many corporate, as well as other golf leagues is netGolfLeague (www.netgolfleague.com).

What benefits can this unique activity bring to the corporate world?

• Breaks down barriers and builds trust and communication – Being inclusive, golf gives co-workers a context in which to level the field. Workers (men and women) from top management down can share in the golf experience which promises to include much fun, laughter, and inevitable heartache. Shared emotional experiences can lead to greater and better communication among co-workers; they aren’t as hesitant to contact each other to work issues out. Greater communication and cooperation can lead to tremendous gains in productivity, especially as it can often affect the greater corporate culture by increasing energy and team building across the company. The other important factor that is strengthened is the trust factor. As Charles Handy stated in The Hungry Spirit, “There is no such thing as blind trust. You tend to trust those whom you know well” (The Hungry Spirit).

• Greater Job Retention – Based on research done by the Gallup organization, people are less likely to leave a job where they have lots of friends. According to Susan Heathfield, a management consultant, “People leave managers and supervisors more often than they leave companies or jobs” (The Bottom Line for Employee Retention <http://humanresources.about.com/od/retention/a/manager_role.htm>). The conclusion is that relationships matter whether they are between employees and managers or among employees. Better relationships lead to happier employees. Happy employees are more productive and creative and can ultimately lead to a boost in the bottom line.
• Health benefits – Being an activity that takes place outdoors over long distances, golfing encourages exercise. Of course, the benefits are much greater if you walk instead of using a cart. It has been proved that walking is a great and low impact way of staying in shape and maintaining one’s health. Beyond the physical benefits, getting out of the office/cubicle and into a beautiful outdoor setting can help you re-energize mentally. Moreover, the strengthening of relationships at work can lower stress levels during the day. Needless to say, healthier employees mean less sick days and lower health care costs for both employees and their company.
• Knowledge sharing and problem-solving - The golf course is an environment that is conducive to solving workplace issues. Leaving the stressful environment of the office and getting outside to do some physical activity can get the creative and problem-solving juices flowing. Just as people have some of their best ideas in the shower or on the road, the golf course can also be fertile ground for the germination of ideas. The act of focusing on something other than work can oftentimes allow the mind to counter-intuitively work on work.
• Boost in the Bottom Line – Happy + Healthy + Motivated + Experienced Employees = Better Bottom Line.

Much of the success of a business rests on the quality of people that are employed there along with how well those people work with one another. The nature of golf encourages relationship building which leads to a myriad of benefits at work – greater communication, trust and motivation along with healthier employees both physically and mentally. By taking the lead in creating a corporate golf league, a company can create a situation that is beneficial to everyone involved. The company ends up with happier, healthier and more productive employees that work better together, are less likely to leave and feel like they are part of a team. Employees that participate have a chance to get to know their co-workers better in a less stressful and fun environment that can make daily work more rewarding and enjoyable.

Course Handicap is determined by using your Handicap Index and the Slope Rating of the golf course. You can calculate your Course Handicap using one of these methods:

You can try calculating your Course Handicap by using this handicap calculator:
www.netgolfleague.com/HandicapCalculator.aspx

Formula:
Handicap Index multiplied by Slope Rating of tees played, divided by Standard Slope Rating (113) = Answer (rounded to nearest whole number, .4 rounds down and .5 rounds up)

Example: 8.6 Handicap Index x 134 Slope Rating / 113 Standard Slope Rating = 10.2 = 10 Course Handicap