The Lafayette Hill, Pa. club saw interest in table tennis rise during the long, cold winters, so the staff turned the grand ballroom into a makeshift arena for a tournament. What began with one table in the pro shop has quickly grown into a popular way for members to quench their competitive thirst when it’s too cold to play golf.
Winters at Green Valley Country Club in Lafayette Hill, Pa. can get a little long and cold. With that in mind, Head Golf Professional John Cooper purchased a ping pong table to create some excitement in the offseason for members to visit and play with the staff or with each other. Along with Golf Shop Manager Jackie Coll, the team quickly learned that there was a large part of the membership that was pretty good at ping pong.
“We found that everyone who came to play had fun,” Coll says. “Our weekend mornings during the off season were quickly filled in with ping pong all day and it was a great way to create a little camaraderie in the offseason.”
In the first off season, the club had more than 100 members come to play ping pong. The golf professionals and shop staff would play with the members and host singles and doubles matches. After a season of playing, someone joked about having a tournament … which started the ball rolling.
The golf staff took the idea to the Assistant General Manager, who was immediately on board. His feeling was if the members want something, the club should at least try it once. The General Manager was also quickly in favor of the event.
The first tournament featured a double elimination bracket—three games to 21 in each match, changing serve after five points. That was changed to five games to 11 in each match for the most recent tournament.
To have a winners and losers bracket, the club needed to have at least four tables. In addition to Cooper’s table, they borrowed one from the indoor tennis facility, and two from members.
Green Valley’s grand ballroom seats 500 and—when not being used for a wedding, mitzvah, gala or charity event—proved to be the perfect place to have a ping pong tournament.
The staff created a bracket on Excel and had it up on a projector. After a match, players would report to the scoring table. Then the players are told what table to go to for the next match.
To keep members hydrated and nourished, the club offered happy-hour-style hors d’oeuvres available to the player for $15.00 and a signature bar, though most of the players just wanted water as they were running around so much. Participation has ranged between 16-32 members—between the ages of 15-75—with assistant professionals hopping in if numbers are needed.
Michael Berkman, a member of Green Valley Country Club and past champion, has embraced the events.
“Ping pong at the club is great,” he says. “Everyone seems to think they are good, but in reality, most people are about the same, which makes this a really fun club event.”
Fellow member Tyler Joseph agrees.
“The pro shop has done a tremendous job of managing these tournaments and making sure they continue each and every year,” he says.
The Goal: Give members a reason to visit the club during the “offseason.”
The Plan: Set up ping pong tables in the grand ballroom and host double-elimination tournaments.
The Payoff: What began with one table in the pro shop has quickly grown into a popular way for members to quench their competitive thirst when it’s too cold to play golf.
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