PGA works to fill, plan corporate hospitality space one year ahead of Ryder Cup

Now that registration for the 2020 Ryder Cup‘s ticket lottery has closed, the PGA of America has shifted focus to another major item on its to-do list: on-course hospitality.

The biennial golf competition between teams from Europe and the U.S. is set to take place Sept. 22 to 27, 2020 at the Kohler-operated Whistling Straits in Sheboygan County.

Exactly one year ahead of the tournament, the PGA this week is putting on its “Taste of the Ryder Cup” event to give its corporate clients a preview of what to expect and to formally kickoff the corporate hospitality planning process.

During the week-long event, the course will have several premium hospitality “villages” housing a number of private chalets for groups ranging from 50 to 150 people.

The majority of those villages are already sold out, but a “limited number” of chalets remain available, according to the PGA of America. The Ryder Cup’s website indicates private chalets are still available at the hole 10 tee village and hole 17 village.

Companies pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to reserve a chalet for the week– those located at the hole 17 village start at $450,000. That purchase includes grounds access, daily parking passes, food service, open bar and the ability to customize and upgrade the chalet’s menu and interior decor.

“One of the benefits of purchasing your own chalet is bringing your brand to life however you see fit,” said Jason Mengel, 2020 Ryder Cup Tournament director. 

As part of this week’s Taste event, corporate clients will visit Whistling Straits to meet with PGA staff and tournament vendors to discuss customization options, Mengel said.

“Imagination and budget are the only limitations,” he said.

On the food and beverage front, corporate clients can expect to see a number of Wisconsin-inspired menu items such as summer sausage, short ribs, Black Angus Tomahawk Ribeye and a variety of desserts and pastries such as kringle, said Robert Flowers, the tournament’s executive chef. 

Mengel said the Ryder Cup will create an anticipated 1,300 temporary jobs before, during and after the event, including positions in food and beverage service, security, transportation, maintenance and construction of the more than one million square feet of temporary structure that will be built on the course.

The PGA of America is also working to recruit both locally and nationally based suppliers and vendors, particular those owned by diverse populations, that will benefit from the event’s estimated $135 million of total economic impact.

“We believe if business and individuals are benefitting from the economics of golf, that their interest in participating in the sport is going to blossom, so vendor or supplier inclusion is a driver for growing participation in the sport,” said Sandy Cross, chief people officer at PGA of America. “If we grow participation in golf, our PGA members are going to benefit.”

Hiring and contracting efforts will be fully underway by January, but in the meantime interested businesses can find more information and register as a potential supplier at PGAImpact.org, Cross said.

The 2020 Ryder Cup will be the first time the biennial men’s golf competition between teams from Europe and the U.S. is held in Wisconsin, which has become a destination for championship golf competition in recent years.

Learn more about the impact of the tournament and Wisconsin’s golf culture from a recent Q&A with David Kohler, CEO of Kohler Co.