Poor Economy Leads to Mixed Results for the St. Louis Area Fundraising Golf Tournament Community

Online, November 2, 2009 (Newswire.com) - ST. LOUIS, MO (October 28, 2009) - Greg Busch of LTS LeaderBoard of St. Louis (LTSSTL) announces that based on research from a recent survey, the 2009 fundraising golf tournament season produced mixed results for both area organizers and golf courses, but was not decidedly down compared to 2008 as had been expected.

A survey of area golf courses and tournament organizers produced the following information when compared to 2008:

Golf Courses
• Overall revenues were down at over 70% of golf courses.
• Tournament event bookings were down at slightly more than half the courses surveyed. A select number experienced the same number of bookings and a few saw increases.
• Nearly 50% of courses experiencing a decline in bookings cited the economy as a contributing factor.

Tournament Organizers
• Overall revenues increased at nearly 50% of fundraising golf tournaments.
• Sponsorship revenue was up at more than 50% of events.
• More than 60% of events saw fewer golfers participating.
• Nearly 90% of organizers said that their event raised more money than expected.

Based on these results, it is apparent that while the individual golfer did not play in as many fundraising golf tournaments, sponsorship dollars were still available in the community despite the poor economy.

Compiled as part of LTSSTL's consulting services, the results are the product of confidential conversations with representatives at 15 area golf courses and with organizers of 18 area fundraising golf tournaments.