Introduction

I’m mainly playing around with the idea and having fun with the concept. I’m not necessarily asking if this is feasible, in fact, I’m pretty sure this is completely unfeasible without one or more sponsorships. Anyhow, I’m based in the Greater Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada, and I was doing a little research into potentially starting a Mini Golf League (Tour).

The League

The Tour would consist of 10 Tournaments at 10 unique courses across the GTA. Points are awarded based on placing which goes towards an overall standings for the League. (Top 8 scores are counted, worst 2 scores are dropped.) Tournaments will be held once a week, followed by the Finals, for a total of 11 weeks of play.

Each tournament is held at an 18 hole mini golf course, consists of 2 rounds, and winners are awarded a Challenge Coin. Points are awarded for finishes 1-8.

The Top 6* finishes (in total points) qualify for the Tour Finals, which will consist of 2 rounds being played at the most well maintained/challenging course, with the winner receiving a trophy. As a reward for finishing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the Tour Standings, these players will receive Handicaps of -3, -2, and -1, respectively, going into the Tour Finals, with places 4-6 starting at 0.
*Number subject to change

Ideally, we’d have a camera with a backdrop at the end of each course to allow each golfer the chance to say a few words on their day, like an pro interview, for social media posts.

(Another idea is to have Tournament Winners automatically qualify for the Tour Finals and use the point system to determine the handicaps and supplement the spots, if needed; this would help sell smaller packages as someone who is signed up for 6 courses realistically wouldn’t have a fair chance at making the Finals)

The Market

I figure the best way to advertise this would be towards whole families as a way to spend time together in the sun in a non-strenuous activity. Probably a good way to help get the little ones interested in golf. Yes, pro mini golf exists, and I would hope to attract some people that take it seriously as well, but the courses aren’t exactly world class, and I think it would work against me to promote this as a high profile league as opposed to a family friendly league. Parents and children, families of 3-4 would theoretically be the bread and butter of this league.

Immediate Concerns

1. Distance:

Issue: Sports like basketball, rugby, bowling, even 8-ball, are typically held at a static location for games and practices, with a little travel for away games and tournaments. The furthest points of travel between 2 tournament locations is approximately an 1h30min drive. Is this too far to travel?

Solution: Most sign ups would ideally live within these two points so the travel isn’t too hard either direction (hopefully a max of 45min). I was also considering different sign up packages; 6 course, 8 course, and 10 course. Purchasing a smaller package would allow the golfer to avoid the most inconvenient courses. Any other ideas?

2. Costs:

Issue: The courses average a player costs of $20/tournament for 2 rounds of play. Over the course of 10 tournaments, plus surcharges for time and hardware, I fear the most expensive package would cost over $220 for 11 weeks. This worries me because I used to play summer rugby ~10 years ago, and the fees were around $220 for 2 practices/week, 8 games, 1 T-shirt, and playoffs. Is $200+ too much for ~3 months of mini golf?

Solution: Offering different packages could help tremendously with costs. At an average player cost of $20/tournament, there could be potential savings of $40 for the 8 course packages and potential savings of $80 for the 6 course package. Another means of curbing costs would be to find sponsors, but where does one begin to look? Taylormade? Calloway? Local golf shops and retailers? I also don’t know what sponsorships entail.

3. Gear:

Issue: Someone just paid $X for a league and they don’t even have a T-shirt to show for it. Not cool.

Solution: Gear and branding is a genuine hurdle. I can’t imagine getting over this without a sponsorship. That would allow each sign up a T-shirt or a Golf Polo with the logo of the League and the Sponsor.

4. Scorekeeping:

Issue: I’m only one guy, and can realistically only keep tabs on 2-3 golfers and their scores at a time. The difficulty of this challenge will vary with the number of competitors, but outside of getting sentient golf balls that can tell me the score on each hole, I’m going to need more people in order to streamline the tournaments and get everyone through with as little downtime as possible. With costs being a worry as they are, I wouldn’t be able to hire help to keep golf scores for a couple of hours/day. How can I keep track of everyone’s scores with as little help as possible?

Solution: I would need to rely on volunteers (maybe parents or grandparents of the players), highschoolers needing community service hours, or help from the staff of the mini golf courses. Staff may be willing to help if we have the entire place rented out for a couple of hours, but if we don’t have the numbers to do that, then we won’t be able to take them away from their job.

I’m sure I missed a few, any other roadblocks that I failed to list?

Conclusion

To recap, I’m not strictly looking for feasibility, as I believe I’d need at minimum one sponsor to make it work, but in an ideal world where money isn’t an issue, does this make sense? What can I add/change to make it more desirable? What other demographics should I target? Does the market even exist?

Please feel free to share your thoughts, ideas, and concerns.

Google Sheet

For a visual understanding, here is a link to a Google Sheet with potential costs on Sheet 1 and a Mock Season on Sheet 2:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1L8dnY08SN-HOOO21YP0LloT0XCMtnB8FQ34rPe2xG5o/edit?usp=sharing

Course names and websites have been removed from Sheet 1 for security reasons, but the prices are true.
Assumptions for the Mock Season are posted on Sheet 2.
The Point System is posted on Sheet 2
Additional Questions (in context) are posted on Sheet 2.

Thank you for making it this far, I look forwards to all comments, positive, negative, and constructive 🙂

Tl;Dr: Read the Introduction, The League, and skip to the Google Sheet.