The Ridge at Castle Pines leads corporate tournament venues: corporate tournaments differ from charity events; take that into account.

• Author: DuBay, Keith

Just as with professional athletics, it's not good enough for a golf club to have talent alone to succeed. As the cliche goes: You've got to "execute."

And when it comes to hosting corporate golf outings, The Ridge at Castle Pines is all about execution.

Despite a popular conception that having a first-class golf course is the most important draw in attracting corporate tournaments, golf-course operators insist that a host of performance factors on the part of course employees play just as much a role.

For the third year in a row, The Ridge was named No. 1 on the ColoradoBiz Top 10 golf courses for company events. Our judge, Michael Marston, president of Colorado Resort Net, cited great course conditioning, a friendly helpful staff and a great patio with stunning views of the Front Range.

Darrell Fuston, director of golf at The Ridge, said success in the corporate game goes "beyond the obvious: the facility and the golf course--although that's a big part of it. It's the total experience, from the first contact with the sales manager to the handling of the tournament coordinator."

Fuston said The Ridge is unofficially second in the number of corporate events hosted year in and year out, behind Arrowhead Golf Course, which is blessed with spectacular natural beauty and a new clubhouse (although its course conditioning historically hasn't won many awards). Fuston's estimate is based on his own count of 8,000 corporate or group-event rounds per year and his own industry intelligence.

"Corporate business is the most important thing we do. We fill in around it, but in many ways we're geared to do group business," Fuston told ColoradoBiz. "We're not perfect, but we care and I think that shows through."

At least in the mind of one customer, the perception is different from Fuston's.

I participated in a Hein & Associates customer appreciation golf tournament at The Ridge. It was one of those wonderful freebies, dinner and drinks included after the round. Jim Brendel, a partner in the well-known Denver accounting firm, said he chose The Ridge for seven years running for one reason: design, conditioning and reputation. The course was routed and built by the Redstone Group of Denver and designed by internationally known golfer Tom Weiskopf.

"There's a little bit of prestige involved. When (clients) see the name, it gets them excited," Brendel said. "It's the course. They want to play a great course."

But what about all the things that Fuston and others stress: the planning, the service with a smile, the traffic-flow routing, the cart arrangement, the food, the clubhouse?

"The rest of it you assume will be there. You might not come back if those aren't there," Brendel replied.

Corporate events are a totally different animal than charity events, and to be successful, you should do some homework when choosing a venue. The corporate golfer, unlike the charity event golfer, is much more likely to be serious about his or her game. Therefore, the course conditions, pace of play and tournament rules will be paramount. Charity golfers are usually just filling a foursome, and the contest is more likely to be a social or fun event.

The corporate golfer also has to...