Practical guides from GolfTracker.ai for the people who actually run charity and corporate golf tournaments. Every guide below is written for organizers planning a real event: what to lock down first, what each piece costs, how to price and sell sponsorships, which formats keep a mixed-ability field moving, and how the day itself runs from check-in through the awards. Most are worth reading start to finish before you commit to a date, then keeping open as checklists while you plan. If this is your first event, begin with the seven-step guide to running a charity golf tournament and the cost breakdown, which together tell you what you are signing up for financially. If the date and the course are already booked, the sponsorship and format guides are the ones that change the outcome: sponsorship is where the money is actually made, and the format decides whether a field of mixed abilities finishes on time and enjoys the day.
The classic par-3 and designated-hole pots. Simple to run, universally understood, and the two contests that always end up on the trip board. .
Greenies, sandies, barkies, polies — the little pots for great and lucky shots. The side game that rewards the one good thing that happened to you all day. .
Three-putt and you are holding the snake, and the pot, until somebody else does. The cheapest game to run and the most fun to watch on the last green. .
First on, closest once on, first in. Three points on every hole, handicap-proof and genuinely kind to the worst player in the group. .
Team scores pair into two-digit numbers and you play the difference. Big swings, bigger comebacks — and the one game where a 9 can cost real money. .
A rotating captain picks a partner after the tee shots — or goes it alone for triple. The best four-player game in golf, and the one with the most decisions in it. .
Three bets in one: front nine, back nine, and the overall eighteen. Add presses and a comfortable round can get expensive very quickly. .
Win the hole outright, win the skin — and every tie stacks the pot onto the next one. The side game that makes the 17th worth more than the first nine. .
Your best score on each hole across every round, combined into one dream card. The board that gives everybody one thing to be proud of by Sunday. .
Day one scramble, day two four-ball, day three singles — three different games, one trip leaderboard. The hardest thing to do on a spreadsheet, and the whole point of a trip. .
Points against your handicap. Rewards aggression, forgives disasters, and gets your group round in noticeably less time. .
Handicaps applied hole by hole using the stroke index, so the 18 and the 4 are both still in it on Sunday. The board that decides most trips. .
Total strokes, no help, no adjustments. The purist's board and the one the trip champion's name goes on. .
Head-to-head by holes, any pairing size, closed out the moment it is mathematically over. The backbone of every cup trip ever run. .
Points per hole, added across the team. A blow-up costs you one hole instead of the round — which is why it is the format that keeps a slow starter in the weekend. .
Own ball all the way, team's best score counts each hole. The simplest team format there is — no special rules, no alternating, nothing to explain on the first tee. .
Best drive, then everyone plays their own ball in. Half scramble, half real golf — and the format most trips settle on once they have tried both. .
Everyone hits, you take the best ball, everyone plays again from there. The great equalizer — and the only format where a 28 handicap can genuinely carry a hole. .
One against one, scored by holes rather than strokes. The Sunday session that decides most cup trips — and the format where being nine over par can still win. .
One ball per side, partners alternating every shot. The shortest round of the weekend and the most pressure per swing — and the format that needs its rules agreed in advance. .
Two against two, everyone plays their own ball, the better score of each pair counts. The classic Friday-morning Ryder Cup session — and the friendliest team format for mixed abilities. .
A field-tested playbook for the person who actually organizes the golf trip — headcount and deposits, money collection, tee times, pairings rotation, formats and the trip-long leaderboard. .
The rules, the payouts and the etiquette for golf's classic money games — skins, Nassau, wolf, Vegas, bingo bango bongo, snake and the junk — plus how to keep the books straight on a multi-round trip. .
Session-by-session Ryder Cup setups for 8, 12 and 16 players — points math that keeps the cup alive to Sunday, pairing rules, handicap allowances and tiebreakers. .
The complete menu of golf trip formats — team games, individual boards, and how to combine them across a 2–4 round weekend so every player is still in it on Sunday. .
GolfTracker was built by the team behind the Arizona Golf Classic — nine tournaments, 61 sponsors, 216+ golfers, and the spreadsheet that finally broke. The origin story, with the real numbers. .
A practical seven-step guide to running a charity golf tournament — from setting a goal and booking a course to sponsors, registration, day-of logistics, and follow-up. .
A plain-English cost breakdown of hosting a golf tournament — course and cart fees, food, prizes, marketing, and software — plus how to spot hidden platform take-rates before they eat your fundraising. .
The real sponsorship deck from the Arizona Golf Classic: 18 tiers, published prices, 61 sponsors sold — and why 32 of them bought the cheapest tier on the board. .
The common golf tournament formats — scramble, best ball, shamble, Stableford, and stroke play — explained in plain English, with a quick guide to picking the right one for your event. .
A practical playbook for landing golf tournament sponsors: build a target list from your existing network, craft the ask around visibility and cause alignment, run a simple outreach sequence, and retain sponsors with clean post-event reporting. .
GolfTracker.ai is the software behind these events: registration and payments, sponsor management, QR check-in, live scoring and leaderboards, and a branded event website for each tournament.