By Vinnie Manginelli, PGA
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Benjamin Franklin knew this a few centuries ago, and it didn’t take an unhappy member or late dinner serving to prove the validity of the statement.
Food and beverage is an integral facet of almost every golf facility. And when it comes time for big member events, huge outside outings or that lucky couple’s big wedding day, preparation, communication, collaboration and evaluation are the keys to a successful event and many satisfied customers. The Member-Guest Tournament is often the hallmark event of most golf clubs’ annual schedule. This showcase of one’s facility is literally run with an all-hands-on-deck philosophy.
At Wiltwyck Golf Club in Kingston, New York, Food and Beverage Manager Valerie Nekos and her staff recently hosted 96 players (members and guests) for a three-day affair that included a practice round, 45 holes of tournament play and a shootout to determine a winner. For Nekos and her staff, they ensured that food and drink were available before, during and after the competition. It was three days of executing a plan after extensive planning with her staff and collaboration with her GM, club ownership and Wiltwyck’s golf staff.
“We host between 100-120 events each year, ranging from a small baby shower to a 250-person affair in our ballroom,” Nekos explains. “The Member-Guest is our biggest golf event of the season,” Nekos adds. “It’s the one that allows all of us to shine. We used to be terrified of it, but now it’s the one we look forward to the most. It’s the huge event of the year for us.”
With most events etched on the calendar well in advance, Nekos and her team can plan accordingly, which is an extensive task in itself and the foundation upon which all events are facilitated. She says she actually starts the planning process months in advance, often at the previous year’s tournament. Identifying what works and what doesn’t is key to making the next event a bigger success than before.
“The initial planning involves our GM, two of our club’s owners from the F&B side and our head chef,” Nekos details. “We sit together to talk about the menu, what worked last year and what we can do differently this year to make it more exciting. With our owners also playing in the event, we discuss what they want to see when they come in at this time and what should be offered at that time.”
Nekos described for us the potpourri of meals and food options she and her team prepared for their lucky members and guests. Using a Banquet Event Order (BEO) that lays out the who, what, when, how and how many of every aspect of her responsibilities during this vital weekend for her club, she is on top of what she has to do every step of the way.
After the practice round on day one of the weekend-long party, participants are treated to a cocktail reception and a main dinner – lobster tail and prime rib this year.
The first day of the official competition (day two) starts with a full breakfast at 7:00 AM. Nekos and her staff are on the job at 5:30 setting up and preparing. Pancakes, scrambled eggs and a Bloody Mary bar get the players fueled for a full day of golf, camaraderie and FOOD AND DRINK!
The shotgun start is at 8:30 and there are coolers all over the course, placed out there by F&B staff not on breakfast duty. Delegation of duties is absolutely huge to make this work.
“There are snacks and coolers literally everywhere on the course, but the big attraction is the full bar and pig roast on the 8th tee,” she boasts.
She says the pig roast was a successful new addition this year, and they’re already considering ways to top it during the 2025 Member-Guest Tournament.
With the event being shotgunned, the players finished their first 18 holes around the same time, meaning communication between the golf shop and Val’s team was very important. After all, she has to know where the golfers are so she can plan accordingly. Lunch on the patio is being prepared.
Input from the preliminary meetings determined that a light lunch would be best; so a large salad station with scallops, cajun chicken and grilled shrimp re-energize the competitors for their afternoon play, nine more holes for a total of 27 on the day. She says players really enjoyed this feature, and it’s already a keeper for next year.
Welcoming the golfers at the turn all day are hot dogs and a stand-alone fridge with chicken salad, potato salad, fruit and granola bars to keep them going under the sweltering summer sun. There’s also an ice cream freezer to satisfy their sweet tooth and hopefully cool them down a bit as they turn from the 9th green to the 10th tee. “We try to spoil them!” she says.
Dinner is a major affair on this Saturday night – a seafood station and raw bar with oysters, clams and shrimp cocktail. There’s also a street taco bar, which was popular because they wanted to be able to walk around with their food. Rather than a formal sit-down dinner, this gathering is a social extravaganza. People catching up with others they may not have seen since last year. Others sharing tales of the good and bad of a long day of golf. Those still in contention might head home to rest for the night, but others whose scores that day were higher than desired stick around for pizzas that are served at about 10:30, following a putting contest and long drive competition that require one last gasp of their competitive juices for the day.
As far as staffing is concerned, Nekos throws everyone into the mix. No one is idle and the only answer to every question asked by participants and guests is YES!
After a quick clean-up and a few hours of sleep, the F&B team is back at it at 5:30 the next morning (day three) preparing the 7:00 breakfast. After the 18-hole shotgun, a full lunch BBQ is served on the outside patio and the revelry continues.
The final part of the golf tournament is the shootout. Members, participants out of contention, golf staff and the F&B team (minus one bartender who mans the bar at the clubhouse) pile into golf carts to share in the championship experience.
While the participants have a ball for three days, every member of Nekos’ team knows precisely where he or she should be and what they should be doing with every 10-15 minute increment. Everything is planned and nothing is left to chance…unless of course, it rains like it did on Saturday and they have to pull the players off the course for a couple of hours. That’s when food and beverage and hospitality professionals like Valerie Nekos lean on their experience and expertise to shine the brightest.
When it’s all said and done, every member of the Wiltwyck Golf Club team is integral in creating a memorable event for their members and guests. It took planning and preparation before the event (including final meetings just a few days before the first chaffing dish was lit and the first tee was put in the ground), communication and collaboration during the festivities using walkie-talkies to ensure everyone was on the same page and an evaluation of the weekend’s events to make all future events even better.
