Another major golf tournament is coming to the Sheboygan area, providing another corporate hospitality option for Wisconsin golf-loving business executives. On July 5-8, Whistling Straits Golf Club, located along Lake Michigan just north of Sheboygan, will host the United States Golf Association’s (USGA) annual U.S. Senior Open Championship.
About 150 senior golf greats, both amateur and professional, will play in the tournament. Owned by Kohler Co., the Straits Course of Whistling Straits also hosted the record breaking Professional Golf Association (PGA) Championship in 2004.
The 2004 PGA Championship was a big success for Kohler Co. and had a thrilling ending. After 72 holes, Vijay Singh, Justin Leonard and Chris DiMarco were tied for the lead. In the playoff, Singh went on to take the coveted PGA Championship title for the second time in his career. Later in 2004, he was named PGA Player of the Year and PGA Tour Player of the Year.
Now just three years later, the U.S. Senior Open is ready to bring more great moments to Whistling Straits. The passion for golf and once in a lifetime experience will bring thousands of people together this summer not just for the tournament itself, but also to experience the unique golf course and the amenities offered by Kohler’s additional venues: Blackwolf Run, The American Club, The Inn at Woodlake, Kohler Waters Spa and the Kohler Design Center.
The corporate draw of golf and golf championships is plentiful, with numerous sponsorship and hospitality opportunities, said Barry Deach, tournament director of golf for Kohler.
“Golf has really become part of business,” Deach said. “Golf has become the language of business.”
Typically at major pro championship golf tournaments, multi-national corporations purchase packages for Village Suites and Village Chalets located at the Whistling Straits Championship Village. The suites and chalets range in base price from $24,000 to $85,000 and accommodate up to 50 people.
All rentals in Championship Village are open to any group or company, but are currently all reserved by corporate groups, said Garrett Mersberger, corporate hospitality sales executive for Whistling Straits.
The corporate hospitality packages and rental spaces are already close to selling out. So this year, Kohler is creating additional opportunities for companies that did not reserve in time or have smaller groups or budgets.
For example, the Table Pavilion in Championship Village has space available in the price range of $4,000 to $12,000. Instead of a private 12-person suite, smaller groups can rent a six-person table in the Table Pavilion, sharing the space with other groups of the same size.
“We want to accommodate the needs of all companies to experience the 2007 U.S. Senior Open,” Deach said.
The Table Pavilion is set up like a sports bar and provides groups access to air-conditioned and open-air portions of the tent, flat screen televisions, the same food and beverage services as at the other rentals, VIP parking passes, access to promotional opportunities and invitations to exclusive preview offers for future Kohler Championships, including the 2010 PGA Championship.
“One of the greatest things about bringing clients to a championship event is that you may be a very small fish, but you come to this event and you are treated the same as a customer who is spending $200,000 with us,” Mersberger said.
Packages are available in one, two and four day options and include access to the entire week of activities, from practice rounds to the championship rounds. The Table Pavilion access is limited to the tournament days from Thursday, July 5 through Sunday, July 8, Mersberger said.
Packages include six guest tickets per day, one complimentary daily corporate staff ticket per day; three daily VIP parking passes; on-site corporate hospitality shuttle service; the opportunity to purchase two additional Table Pavilion tickets for Thursday through Sunday; the opportunity to purchase official championship merchandise with a personalized company logo; six tickets to the Independence Club per day for practice rounds Monday through Wednesday; three complimentary Season Grounds tickets; a company listing in the official championship journal and corporate hospitality patron privileges to additional Kohler benefits.
“At the end of the day, every salesperson wants this unique experience with a customer,” Deach said. “It can extend a contract and it can raise the level of trust.”
Part of Kohler’s mission is to offer an experience to guests that will make them want to come back, Deach said. With the U.S. Senior Open, Kohler also wants companies to have the opportunity to create many special memories with clients.
“This is not a private club,” Mersberger said. “People can come and watch the U.S. Senior Open and then come back a week later and play the same course.”
The natural beauty of Whistling Straits, from the greens, the clubhouse or Championship Village provides similar experiences for companies with or without a championship in play.
Whistling Straits, Blackwolf Run and the Golf Academy learning offering cater to many business groups throughout the golf season, said Dirk Willis, head golf professional at Whistling Straits.
Prices to play the courses range from $226 per person for the 18-hole River course at Blackwolf Run (including a cart) to $375 per person for the 18-hole Straits course, which requires a caddy because players walk the traditional Irish links course, Willis said.
“When you are out, from a business perspective, to spend four to five interrupted hours between myself and my customers is invaluable,” Deach said. “And it is a close knit opportunity to be able to walk an event with a client.”
Every time Deach sits in the clubhouse for lunch or provides speaking engagements about the importance of golf in business and the excitement of the championships, he comes across people who were emotionally moved by Whistling Straits, he said.
“There are very few places in the world where you can have an ‘Aha’ moment like that,” Deach said. “And when you can build a unique customer experience and relationship, it is a pretty easy decision.”
