Putting On A Golf Major – A Peek Behind The Scenes And What You Can Learn

Professional golf is defined by its major championships. These are the most significant events in the sport and the ones players dream of winning. They draw large galleries and the broadest TV audience in the sport. When we watch a major on TV, everything appears to play out without a hitch, but behind the scenes, a lot goes on to ensure that the players’, the fans,’ and the sponsors’ experience is flawless. While fans may not realize it, major championship golf constantly innovates, trying new ideas to ensure continual improvements in player experience, fan experience, and community development.

Putting on a Major is like Organizing a Rock Concert

Beyond the obvious elements like venue selection, course preparation, and logistics, many other elements go into putting on a major championship. Each detail is essential, as nothing can go wrong during the event. Hosting a major championship is a genuine team effort, but with a loosely assembled team. It is much like putting up a Taylor Swift concert, where each city puts together its own team to manage the countless details that ensure a flawless performance.

One of golf’s major championships, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, is being played this week at the Sahalee Country Club just outside Seattle. Jackie Endsley, the tournament director, is responsible for the event’s success. Endsley, who is camped in a trailer on the grounds of Sahalee from 5 am to 10 pm every day, is an anomaly in the world of championship golf, where few women tournament directors exist. She is likely the only woman overseeing a major championship this year. She has her hands full this week.

Endsley oversees the countless moving parts that go into running a successful championship. Organizing a golf major requires infrastructure coordination, including numerous tents, grandstands, concession stands, first aid stations, parking, etc. Major championships also require onboarding and working with over a thousand volunteers and hundreds of workers and vendors hired to manage different jobs around the venue.

Tournament directors also need to work with the event sponsors and ensure they get value for their investment; they work with local police departments, emergency medical care providers, and scores of other groups required for the event’s success. And finally, they work with over 150 players, their caddies, and all the other people who are part of the players’ support system, like their coaches, their families, trainers, managers, and others, who almost all invariably show up simultaneously on player registration day. Every one of the thousands of disparate people involved needs the correct access to different parts of the premises and clubhouse, as the security of players, workers, and fans is a top issue in golf tournaments.

Overall, Endsley is responsible for building a temporary city on the golf course grounds designed to support thousands of people for a week and then disappearing as if it never existed.

Then there are the other elements, such as marketing and PR for the event, selling tickets, and coordinating with the TV broadcasters, who bring in hundreds of miles of cables, cameras, drones, and equipment to give home viewers high-quality broadcasts. Today’s golf broadcasts require cutting-edge technology for broadcasting and on-course analytics. Everything that goes into hosting an event requires a backup plan because Endsley has learned to always expect the unexpected.

Tournament Golf Innovates like other Organizations

Like innovation elsewhere, major championships innovate by experimenting with new ideas continually and refining the ones that show the most promise. One area of innovation is in technology. For the first time this year, women’s golf has introduced shot-level data and analytics for every player in the field, using AI to predict how each player will fare in the upcoming rounds and where they are likely to place in the tournament.

In an age where data becomes the primary force driving athlete actions, this championship has introduced KPMG Performance Insights, an enhanced level of analytics, making this the most statistically advanced tournament in women’s golf. The players get personalized dashboards with live performance updates and real-time data and insights to enhance their game, allowing them to make post-round adjustments and fix flaws for the next day. Players can compare their play in this championship to historical data for themselves and their peers for the first time at an LPGA event. And fans and media will have access to the same real-time data.

If your role requires you to operate with high efficiency and a zero margin for error, spend a day at a major golf event and see how the various moving parts work in unison. Every disparate operation and every one of the thousands of individuals who come together to create a virtual team works in perfect harmony and unison – resulting in a week of flawless operations and enjoyment for millions of fans.