NORTON, Massachusetts – Registration for all 2018 Mass Golf Championships and Women’s Championships got underway on Thursday morning, and as expected, the first 24 hours were extremely successful, as nearly 600 people began the process of piecing together their upcoming golf season by registering for at least one of the 20 events that became active starting at 10 a.m. on February 1. Thursday’s registration start date was significant in the fact that it was also the first time that all Bay State golfers could register for Championship events on the same day.
“We are very happy with the number of sign ups we received for our Championship and Women’s Championship events in the first 24 hours,” said Kevin Eldridge, Mass Golf Director of Rules & Competitions. “With this being the first time that we’ve managed registration for both men and women’s events, we had no precedent to base our numbers off of. As a result, we put extra effort into communicating what events were open for signs ups and how one could register, and we feel that the first day was a solid platform to build upon going forward.”
As part of its rebranding campaign that was associated with the historic merger between the former Massachusetts Golf Association and Women’s Golf Association of Massachusetts, Mass Golf also updated its software to streamline the registration process and make it extremely user friendly. As a result, it was of top priority by the staff to detail the many changes so everyone knew what they could expect when registration began.
Through a series of email notifications, social media postings and information posted to the front page of MassGolf.org, both first time visitors and season veterans alike were provided important information and instruction on how to sign up for desired events in a timely fashion. Additionally, Championship Department staff remained on-call at Mass Golf Headquarters throughout the day to monitor the registration process and answer any questions that arose.
As of 10 a.m. on Friday, February 2 – exactly 24 hours after registration went live for all individuals with an active handicap index, Mass Golf is happy to report that every single Championship and Women’s Championship event saw individuals register. Among the most popular events, the Amateur Championship, celebrating its 110th anniversary in 2018, was by far the most popular with 21% of all registrations going towards that event. The Mid-Amateur Championship, being contested at Plymouth Country Club this September, saw 11% of all registrations in the first 24 hours while the Open Championship that will take place at Hampden’s GreatHorse in June saw exactly 10% of the total Championship registration.
Additionally, there were five Women’s Championships events (Edith Noblit Baker Trophy, NEWGA Championship, Women’s Amateur, Grace Keyes Cup and the Endicott Cup and Tri-State Matches) where competitors apply and entry is based on handicap index. Of those five, the Edith Noblit Baker Trophy, which is being contested at Bass River GC, saw the highest response with 10% of overall registrations, followed by the Women’s Amateur Championships and the Grace Keyes Cup.
For those who have not registered yet, Mass Golf recommends all interested competitors sign up as soon as possible. Registration close dates can be found under each respective event at MassGolf.org while registration for all team tournaments, women’s tournaments and member days goes live on March 1 at 10 a.m.
Instruction on how to register can be found in the infographic below.
