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Member-guest formats that don’t die on Sunday
Saturday can survive a sloppy format. Sunday cannot. The week ends when the last match still means something.
Most member-guest formats die the same way: Saturday is a better-ball shootout, the net leaders are out of reach by dinner, and Sunday is a walk for half the field. The chair calls it “fun.” The guests call it a long ride home.
What holds
A format holds when Sunday still has a number that can move. Cumulative better-ball with a Sunday single or a shamble that still uses both balls will do that. A two-day better-ball with no carryover will not. If you want a Sunday individual, say so on the entry — do not surprise a 12-handicap guest with medal play after two days of four-ball.
Flights have to match the field, not the chair’s handicap. Four flights of eight is cleaner than two flights of twenty. Publish the flight method with the invite. Changing it after pairings is how you get a protest that is really about a dinner seat.
Length is a format decision
Annual 3-Day Member-Guest at Merion Golf Club and Annual 2-Day Member-Guest at Merion Golf Club are not the same week with an extra night. A three-day asks for a format that compounds. A one-day like 9 Holer Member-Guest at Brooklawn Country Club should not pretend to be a championship. It should be over before the field is tired of it. That is a different product — see guest day vs member-guest.
A name is a container
Weeks that last — 62nd Annual Member-Guest at Chartwell Golf & Country Club, The Red Feather at Vestavia Country Club — survive because the name is the container. The format can evolve; the name cannot get cute every year. If you are on year two, pick a name you can still say on year twenty. If you are on year sixty-two, do not relaunch the brand. Tighten the golf.
Lock the format on the six-month line. If the chair is still “thinking about a scramble” at sixty days, the week is already late.
From the field
- 62nd Annual Member-Guest Chartwell Golf & Country Club
- Annual 3-Day Member-Guest Merion Golf Club
- The Red Feather Vestavia Country Club
- 9 Holer Member-Guest Brooklawn Country Club
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