Organising an AM-AM

jj72

Hey folks, just looking for some advice here. Myself and my family are running an Am Am in May of this year in aid of a charity that helped us out a bit in the last year. Anyways the reason im posting is although ive played golf for yearsl, ive never organised anything like this. So im just lookin for some pointers on what we need to do.
We have a full day on the course so its goin to be a long day and hopin things run smoothly. So who has any tips on what we need to do to make the day enjoyable for ourselves but more importantly the players!

So far we have just started to put together advertising posters and are just begninning to look for sponsors. Any advice greatly appreciated, thanks!

f22

Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly is an "AM-AM"?

spacecoyote

not sure if this is the kind of advice you are looking for but I was at a couple of charity events that worked a shotgun start.

It depends on numbers of course. Basically if you have up to 18 teams (although I've heard courses say they can run one with 21 teams) every team starts on a different hole. That way all teams are in at roughly the same time so you can have everyone sitting down for a meal together.

neckedit

f22 wrote: »

Excuse my ignorance, but what exactly is an "AM-AM"?

Its like a Pro Am, without the Pro, Amateur with Amateur, or you can have a Celeb Am, Celebrity with an amateur, and so on.

curly from cork

a bar b -que or sandwich bar turning goes down well. nearest the pin and longest drive comp ( separate ones for ladies and gents ) also add a bit of fun on the day.

Sandwlch

neckedit wrote: »

Its like a Pro Am, without the Pro, Amateur with Amateur, or you can have a Celeb Am, Celebrity with an amateur, and so on.

Isnt that just a fourball then ?

f22

First piece of advise I will give you is to lose the AM-AM tag, nobody will have a bloody clue what you're on about. As Sandwich pointed out it's a simple charity fourball, so say it as it is.

The burger/hotdog thing at the halfway mark is a good suggestion, aswell as that I would have some decent prizes that people want.

If you are allowing non GUI players (no official handicap) split the prizes as you will probably piss people off with some guy off a society handicap winning with 50 points or something.

jj72

f22 wrote: »

First piece of advise I will give you is to lose the AM-AM tag, nobody will have a bloody clue what you're on about. As Sandwich pointed out it's a simple charity fourball, so say it as it is.

The burger/hotdog thing at the halfway mark is a good suggestion, aswell as that I would have some decent prizes that people want.

If you are allowing non GUI players (no official handicap) split the prizes as you will probably piss people off with some guy off a society handicap winning with 50 points or something.

Thanks for your advice but to be honest ive never met a golfer who doesnt know what an 'Am-Am' is. im shocked you haven played or heard of one. A fourball normally tends to suggest 2 opposite 2. This is a team of 4 players together. All other suggesions been taken on board though thanks

ShriekingSheet

jj72 wrote: »

Thanks for your advice but to be honest ive never met a golfer who doesnt know what an 'Am-Am' is. im shocked you haven played or heard of one. A fourball normally tends to suggest 2 opposite 2. This is a team of 4 players together. All other suggesions been taken on board though thanks

I have to second the AmAm point. I've never heard of it either.

My first guess was it was a thing where top Amateurs (as good as most local pros) were put out with your normal Ams. But that doesn't seem to be the case.

"Four Person Team" is a much more common tag for the event. It's common in corporate and charity golf, which I've played alot of.

jj72

Jees im shocked that the am am thing isnt country wide. maybe its just a west of ire thing. do your local clubs not all run an annual am am??? Every club around here runs one. As do all the schools, political parties etc. So for advertising in this part of the country i will be sticking to the am am tag for now. Mad how things like that vary

f22

jj72 wrote: »

Thanks for your advice but to be honest ive never met a golfer who doesnt know what an 'Am-Am' is. im shocked you haven played or heard of one. A fourball normally tends to suggest 2 opposite 2. This is a team of 4 players together. All other suggesions been taken on board though thanks

Have to agree with Sheet here, I've played in a hell of alot of pro-ams and every type of charity event you can think of and never heard of it.

As Sheet said it's either a fourball or four man team, one or the other.

Am-Am just sounds plain silly, why confuse things?

jj72

f22 wrote: »

Have to agree with Sheet here, I've played on a hell of alot of pro-ams and evrry type of charity event you can think of and never heard of it.

As Sheet said it's either a fourball or four man team, one or the other.

Am-Am just sounds plain silly, why confuse things?

Like i said maybe its just the West of Ireland so it wont be confusing to people in this part of the country so im happy to keep it as an Am - Am.

PhilipMarlowe

Didn't know the Am-Am thing either....
Round these parts they are called a "Classic" (or 4 person team). Often run as fundraisers by the Club itself, charities, GAA clubs etc.

spacecoyote

also if you are looking to raise extra cash, offer local business etc... the choice to sponsor a hole each for a set price...€100 per hole or something like that?

conno16

€100 quid a hole - too expensive for most local businesses these days

Riskymove

I had not heard of an Am-Am either but a quick google search threw up a few and they do generally seem to be in the West!!

learn something new every day

jj72

conno16 wrote: »

€100 quid a hole - too expensive for most local businesses these days

What does everyone else think? id have no problem in askin my local businesses for 100 quid....but like id take anything they would give. Does askin for a hundred seem cheeky?

soundsham

Am-Am sounds a bit pretentious rather than friendly to me:o

hadn't a clue by the way what it was by the way,

any how good luck and fair play to you

+1 on non gui h'cap and genuine golfers having to play for different prizes too

ShriekingSheet

soundsham wrote: »

+1 on non gui h'cap and genuine golfers having to play for different prizes too

**takes cover under desk**

conno16

jj72 wrote: »

What does everyone else think? id have no problem in askin my local businesses for 100 quid....but like id take anything they would give. Does askin for a hundred seem cheeky?

depends on the cause/charity i suppose

stumpypeeps

Definition: An Am-Am tournament is one in which two amateurs are paired - "amateur-amateur," get it? Or, as we once saw an am-am described on the Web site of a tournament organizer: "You've heard of a pro-am, right? Well, we ain't got no pros."
When a tournament is labeled as an am-am, it might imply one of the following:

• That golfers who sign up to play in the tournament will be paired with a so-called celebrity (as opposed to a professional golfer)
• Or that the tournament is a big-time amateur event in which low-handicappers are competiting

It doesn't have to imply either one of those things, of course. A designation of "am-am" often just means that if you sign up to play, you'll be paired with another amateur such as yourself on a 2-person team

curly from cork

my club in cork city play am am - am every year, as do alot of the clubs in the city !

Sandwlch

stumpypeeps wrote: »

• That golfers who sign up to play in the tournament will be paired with a so-called celebrity (as opposed to a professional golfer)

Thats a Celeb-Am.

So you learn something everyday : Am-Am is what you call a Classic or Four Person Team event in the West.

In Classics round here there is usually a Nearest then Pin, and a Longest Drive competition. Best if a mens and ladies on different holes rather than both competing on the same hole where one or other sex will whinge that it favoured the other. Another novelty one in the same vein I have only come across a couple of times is straightest drive - a whitewash line down the centre of the fairway and you measured who got closest or on to it.

They add some interest and fun if placed late in a round for those who may know they are well off the pace of the overall comp.

meath4sam

i clicked into this to find out what a am am is, where im from its a golf classic anyway back to the point i once played in one where the local garage put a car up for a hole in one on the toughest par 3 on course and had the car on the tee box and as far as i know it was insured that if the car was won insurance payed for the car maybe a bit over the top but was the talk of the day even if lads found it hard enough to hit the green.

spacecoyote

jj72 wrote: »

What does everyone else think? id have no problem in askin my local businesses for 100 quid....but like id take anything they would give. Does askin for a hundred seem cheeky?

Well if you think €100 is too steep, then ask for €50 a hole, its still €900 extra into the charities pocket!

If you are going to allow people with non-gui handicaps to play I would probably cap the unofficial handicaps, as sad as it is to say it, you'll always get a couple of teams who will inflate their handicaps and come in with ridiculous scores just to get their hands on a prize

Riskymove

Sandwlch wrote: »

Thats a Celeb-Am.

just to throw another spanner in here, would that make gigs like the Dunhill Links a Pro-Celeb rather than a Pro-AM?