It takes more than a village

The population of French Lick, Indiana, is only 1,800. It took far more people than that to plan and carry out the successful Senior PGA Championship presented by Kitchen Aid on the Pete Dye Course at French Lick last week. More than 1,500 volunteers from around the country were recruited to help the PGA (Professional Golfers Association of America), and the French Lick Resort’s own 1,500 associates all had a hand in prepping for the event and taking care of the 30,000 event attendees.

Dave Harner, director of golf operations for the resort, said, “This is a proud moment in our history at French Lick.” The golf maintenance crew was out mowing greens and setting cups at 4:30 am each day, then had to clean up the course after the last player finished each evening.

During the weeks leading up to the event, Russ Apple, Pete Dye Course superintendent, even borrowed his parents’ motorhome so he could stay onsite and not have an hour commute to work each day. He had 23 members of his own grounds team working on the course, and 25 volunteer superintendents from other golf course also came to tend the greens.

Collaboration was key

Besides getting the golf course ready for its big week, organizing the entire event was a case study in collaboration. The PGA, the French Lick Resort, the local chamber of commerce, convention and visitors bureau, and town councils all worked together closely for more than a year to make sure things went smoothly. Harner, who is also a town council member, helped coordinate with local government, the street department, and police agencies. Traffic, parking, shuttles, and wayfinding signage all worked in synch during the event week.

Championship director Bryan Karns and a core team of PGA staff responsible for marketing, hospitality, and volunteers started arriving to work full-time in French Lick more than a year ago. Closer to the event, more than 100 PGA staff were renting apartments and houses in and around French Lick.

Recently, the resort held employee appreciation days to thank the staff for their hard work, offering a special “food day” at each location, displaying the Alfred S. Bourne trophy that is coveted by the senior PGA players, and giving away prizes, including golf shirts and spiffy Kitchen Aid toasters.

Lasting impact

“This event puts French Lick on the map,” said Kim Gray, director of marketing at the resort. “The global television coverage, reaching more than 250 million viewers in 117 countries, is a first for us.”

Another first was having a television ad promoting the Pete Dye Course at French Lick Resort that aired internationally. The convention and visitors bureau paid for the air time and we had our video production team and a producer film on location to create the commercial. You can view the spot on YouTube. You can also watch a behind the scenes video explaining how the spot was filmed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11y-yisdx7E&feature=youtu.be

On the second day of the championship, Brian Marsh, vice president of casino operations at French Lick, said that “the radios have been quiet” all day, a good sign. Things were going smoothly. In the evenings he visited the casinos and saw more people playing than usual, playing higher-stakes games than usual. He overheard many people say things like, “I didn’t know this was here” in reference to the resort. “They’ll come back now that they know about us,” Marsh said.

Harner said that the Pete Dye course has had a 30% increase in group golf sales since the announcement that the 2015 Senior PGA event would be held in French Lick. When asked if he was going to take a vacation after the crowds left, he said, “No, the first focus is to get back to normal operations. We’ll be closed for three days to get all this infrastructure taken down, then it will be back to normal.”

Jan Tellstrom, golf professional emeritus, explained how this event was one giant step in the right direction to fulfilling the dreams that built the Pete Dye Course at French Lick on the second-highest point in Indiana. “In 1924, the PGA championship was at the Donald Ross course here in French Lick. Wouldn’t it be perfect if they came back in 2024?”

And not just the resorts benefited from the visitors and media exposure. Gray said, “We worked very closely with the community on this. Town volunteers, in coordination with the convention and visitors bureau, pulled together a wonderful array of afternoon and evening events. Friday through Sunday, they staged a ‘Roll into Summer Festival’ on the French Lick Town Green, with nightly concerts, craft booths, and food vendors. The festival brought together guests and community members in an entertaining, relaxed setting after a long day up at the course.”

The hard work paid off

Thank you to everyone at French Lick Resort, the French Lick/West Baden communities and convention and visitors bureau, the PGA, and all the volunteers for all the hard work you put into this event. It really took more than a village to make it happen, and we look forward to similar opportunities in the future.

French Lick associates pose with the Alfred S. Bourne trophy