Booking on-course entertainment is becoming a tricky issue.
On one hand, men who make a living driving balls off a 10-foot tee or levitating a woman above a particular hole on the course claim business in 2006 is booming. Peter Johncke, a trick-shot master based in Jupiter, Fla., has booked more than 100 shows so far this year, with the world as his oyster. Bagpiper Don Shannon also stays well booked playing just within his Dallas-Fort Worth stomping grounds.
At the same time, both third-party and golf club event managers indicate the days of "stand •em up at a hole and the crowd will love it" have had their day and are now fading into the sunset. "After a while, people who have been to a lot of events have seen virtually everything there is to see. And they not only find it distracting but also kind of annoying," says Rick Pipal, events director at Ruffled Feathers Golf Club in Lemont, Ill., just outside Chicago. "The trend I see is people getting back to basics as opposed to trying to turn a golf event into a carnival-type environment." Drama at Ruffled Feathers lately amounts to company representatives doing a giveaway to reinforce their sponsor signs on a hole. Read more here.