IOS #1

#1 volunteer, Becky Brakel, blog posted about IOS #1 so I thought I would too. Becky is the #1 volunteer because she runs the registration table and does it error-free most of the time.

I played like crap. I threw two recreational rated rounds. I just could not hit the lines in the woods. I played well at my last two tournaments so I think it is the stress of playing a tournament you're running.

The half-in thing was well received and far more complicated than anticipated. All of the cashing half-ins on Saturday tied with full-ins. We forgot to reimburse me for the prizes the ams-playing-pro-playing-half-ins took in lieu of cash. Still, one of the half-ins told me otherwise he would not have played. He appreciated the reduced entry fee option and thought it was better than trophy-only. That's all I need.

[_] We need to add the half-in ams taking prizes to the expense sheet and it will work out fine.

The color coded leaderboard cards worked great. I cannot see that many colors but they all were different shades of tan and grey, so I could distinguish them pretty good.

I've learned this and forgotten it and need to remember it: whereever feasible, tournament central needs to be on the main route from the parking lot to hole one. We did it by accident this time and it made intercepting the casuals so much easier. And it has a huge psychological effect on them too. I've noticed that wearing "authority clothes" also has a huge psych effect on the casuals.

The casuals were great this weekend. They showed up in large numbers with large amounts of discretionary cash. They bought up all the eye candy. I stayed up late last night making more. We barely broke even on the tournament but did fine on casual sales.

The Skyway costs $10 at night and there is no one on it. The parallel portion of I-94 must be a traffic nightmare. It was the most pleasant part of driving through Chicago. I know, its in Indiana, but its part of the general Chicago traffic mess. I think it is worth the $10.