Tour Staff Contest Wrap-Up

Winners Announced!

Last week we wrapped up the Rosie O’Donnell leaving an all-you-can eat buffet HUGE MyGolfSpy Tour Staff Contest. How huge was this contest?  Well let’s just say tens of thousands of golfers that had never heard about MyGolfSpy now have it tattooed on their foreheads.  When you give away over $10,000 in prizes and offer up a once in a lifetime Grand Prize the forehead tattoos came free of charge.

No, seriously the point of this contest and this site is all about the consumer.  And also spreading the word about what we are trying to do…the contest accomplished both.  We gave back to our readers who continue to be the most loyal followers in the industry and we got them to spread the word about MyGolfSpy to their friends and well….lots of other people.

By nearly any measure (other than the number of people whining about Facebook), the contest was a tremendous success. Tens of thousands of visitors actively participated in the contest itself (Facebook didn’t turn out to be so bad after-all). We increased our Facebook following by 35% in just one month, and most importantly for you guys, we were able to give away nearly 3 bags full of what truly is some of our favorite golf equipment and accessories from the 2012 season.

Let’s not forget that…we didn’t simply call up a bunch of golf companies and ask “what can you give us”. We looked at this contest category by category and put together a list of what had tested well for us, or was popular with the MyGolfSpy staff.  We sent emails and made phone calls. We said, “look, we love what you guys are doing with <insert category here>, and we’d love to have you sponsor that category”. Fortunately for our winners, they did.

So without any further tardiness, how about a big round of virtual applause for our 3 winners?

The Winners

• Grand Prize: Matt R. of Owensboro, Kentucky
• 2nd Place: Kevin L. of Pinellas Park, FL
• 3rd Place (Random Draw): Eric K. of Belton, Missouri

These luckier-than-they-ought-to-be ,sons of bitches have been hammering my mailbox harder than a old Top-Flite to get their prizes squared away. Hey, I get it…they’re excited. And they should be, but damn…I got work to do.

Seriously though….congrats guys. 2 of you did an amazing job of getting the word out, and getting votes in. You deserve it. Eric…did you get lucky or what?

The Losers Guys Who Didn’t Win

While Eric basically proved that you don’t have to have a good idea, or even a lot of votes to come out ahead, the guys who made the finals had some pretty solid ideas, but let’s take a moment out to specifically talk about what I think should have been the winning entry (Yes…I’m biased, this was the staff pick I personally sent through to the final round).

Drew S., who incidentally, received only 22 votes in the final round came up with this gem:

The way to improve (bcs i am a genius) would be to get some shameless plugs  in the mass media. Maybe pay some poor sap a couple bucks to yell “MYGOLFSPY.COM!!!!” right after someone tee’s off at televised tournaments. Think of how many hits you would get  if yelled after Tiger hit his shot! NO paying for national advertising and every golf fan would hear your website every weekend if a few guys yelled it out a couple times per tournament. A GREAT and FUN way to plug the website!

Seriously, how did this not win? It’s absolutely, positively brilliant. With 22 noteable exceptions, everyone who voted in this contest deserves a nasty case of RocketBallz (that’s a medical condition right…burning down there or something). You’re all idiots.

“MyGolfSpy.com” – Replaces “Get In The Hole” At Tournaments

So…I’m throwing this out there right now. The next time you’re at a PGA event, or an LPGA event, or really any event (including Sunday Mass or that annoying bounce-house birthday party for your neighbor’s obnoxious kid), do us a solid, and scream out MyGolfSpy.com!!! It makes a hell of a lot more sense than get in the hole, or mashed potatoes.  And if you do be sure to let us know so we can post your shout out on the site.

Almost Total, and Nearly Complete Corruption

Opportunities to win big contests, apparently not unlike Presidential Elections seem to bring out a certain deceitful craftiness in people. While clearly our Grand Prize winner took the most effective approach (quietly corralling votes, while nearly everyone else wasted precious time trying to manipulate the count), a few of the other guys were cunning, though not exactly impactful in their methods to pick up votes.

• Dan M. basically created the Golf Yeti, and then dressed him head to toe in Sub70. He got nothing for his efforts, but Sub70 should really thinking about taking the Yeti on as their official mascot.
• Our 2nd Place Winner (Reverend Kevin) leveraged his congregation, his entire personal network, and anybody who happened to see his “Vote For Kevin L.” van to wrap up 2nd place.
• Jason B. gave it his best shot, which included a mock-up, Napoleon Dynamite inspired Vote For Jason B. T-shirt, and a 23rd hour push that nearly moved him into 2nd place. Instead, he’s the guy who finished with the 3rd highest vote total, which sadly means he ended up with no more than the guys who got all worked about Facebook vowed to never come back to the site, and less than Eric K. whose name basically got pulled out of a hat. That’s gotta hurt, right?
• Will D. offered up one of his prizes (a fairway wood) to a random voter should he actually win. He didn’t.
• Will P. tried the high road. He didn’t invent any silly characters, write any ridiculous storylines, or offer up a single bribe. It got him nowhere. Late in the contest he thought about offering $1 for every vote. That got him nowhere too. I suspect there’s a lesson in that.
• 3rd Place Winner, Eric K. offered to be bought. His price? One SCOR wedge. As proof that the universe has a sense of humor, he won 2 instead.

Our Totally (expletive deleted) Awesome Sponsors

Any time you do a big contest like this, somebody gives you a gentle elbow to the rib cage and whispers be sure to thank the sponsors. It’s all but obligatory. It’s how you show your gratitude, and hopefully entice them to sponsor you the next time you feel like you’re missing out the giant headache that comes from putting on one of these things and dealing with the ungrateful and generally miserable portion of your readership. The problem is, those kind of thank yous can ring a little hollow and mostly insincere.

Hopefully this won’t come across that way as several of our awesome sponsors (and let’s face it, they’re all kind of awesome) have gone Gabby Douglas on our winners. They are bending over backwards, and doing back-flips at a Gold Medal level to go far above and beyond to make this contest as truly special as it can be for the 3 guys who won (even Eric…who just got stupid lucky). Here’s what I’m talking about:

// Mizuno arranged to send Kevin L. to Bob VanSweden (Brittany Lincicome’s fitter) to get fit for his new irons (Kevin is doing a combo set of MP Fli-Hi, JPX-825, and JPX-825 Pro) . They’re working on similar arrangements for the Grand Prize winner.

// The Team at TaylorMade is going to have all 3 winners (even Eric) visit the nearest TaylorMade Performance Lab to get fit for their drivers and fairway woods.

// Bettinardi shipped Kevin’s SS10 Putter within minutes (or so it seems), and has been amazing as they work with Matt on what will be a 100% custom-milled, and I’m happy to say, custom-fit putter. Matt will be visiting the Bettinardi studio in November for that fitting, and to see his putter in person for the first time.

// Sub70 tossed in belts and caps to make sure our winners look their absolute best. Side Note: I’m personally disappointed that our winners chose relatively conservative outfits (the Henrik pant was a popular choice). I had really hoped to see pics of Kevin saying Sunday mass while decked out in pink plaid.

// Custom Golf Bags Online was insanely quick in putting together the proof for Matt’s MyGolfSpy Bag. TRUE linkswear was so fast, the guys are already wearing the shoes. Adams has the hybrids on the way. The same is true of SCOR wedges and the Bushnell NEO+ watches.

// Finally, I’d be remiss not to mention Bridgestone. You may have missed it in the details, but they offered up an astounding 21 dozen golf balls total (or as I like to call it, a 3 week supply). Kevin chose the B330-RX. Eric went with the B330-S, and Matt selected the Tour B330, which as it happens, is my personal favorite in the Bridgestone lineup, and the very same ball I used to win the Match Play Championship over the weekend.

Until Next Time

Once again, congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our 10 amazing sponsors, and all of you who participated in the MyGolfSpy Tour Staff Contest. We’re already kicking around ideas for the next big contest, but don’t get too excited just yet. It won’t start until at least February, and while it’s certainly going to be great fun, fewer of you still are going to be able to play. Think on that for a while.