Mini Golf Team-Building: Why It’s a Great Idea!
While mini golf is a fun and entertaining way to spend time with friends and family, it can also be a great team-building activity, as it encourages teamwork, communication, and problem-solving.
Organizing a mini golf team building session may seem like a daunting task, but with a proper plan, the right resources, and some creative ideas, you’ll be able to pull this off easily.
In this guide, we’ll tell you why organizing or hosting a team-building event centered around mini golf is a great idea and a step-by-step guide that you can follow to plan your next event!
Why You Should Organize a Mini Golf Team Building Event
There are many benefits to organizing mini golf team-building events. Not only will team members or colleagues get to know each other better, but it also encourages people to work together, promotes friendly competition, and relieves stress.
It Enables People to Get to Know Each Other
Playing mini golf helps to connect people, as it’s a fun and challenging activity that breaks down social barriers and creates a very relaxed, yet comfortable atmosphere for team players to bond with each other.
This also means having casual conversations, getting to know one another, and even finding out their personal interests. Moreover, it can also build trust among teams and further strengthen cohesion.
It Encourages Teamwork
Mini golf team-building events also promote teamwork when played in different groups, as players teach each other putting techniques, help each other out on challenging holes and work together toward a common goal.
In essence, it improves communication and collaboration within a team, as it encourages individuals to work together as a team and strategize together.
It Breaks Down Hierarchies
The informal atmosphere of mini golf promotes team members and colleagues to bond more easily. Moreover, it encourages individuals to build relationships on a more personal level, regardless of their job titles or positions within the organization.
It Relieves Stress
Besides being a fun activity, mini golf also helps to relieve stress. The fun-filled and relaxed atmosphere takes the focus off of work-related stress and gives people a chance to let loose and have a good time.
This ultimately leads to a more motivated and productive team, as it helps to create a harmonious and cohesive working environment in the office.
It Promotes Friendly Competition
Mini golf is known to boost morale and create a sense of unity within a team. Besides that, it also allows the team to compete against one another in a lighthearted and fun way that can help to build camaraderie and motivate everyone to perform at their best.
Friendly competition can also boost productivity, increase motivation and encourage engagement between individuals and teams within an organization.
Planning a Mini Golf Team-Building Event
Attending any type of event is relatively easy as it usually requires little more than showing up, but organizing one can be a complex and time-consuming task if you aren’t sure how and where to start.
Organizing a mini golf team-building event requires careful planning, coordination, and attention to detail. Therefore, it’s important that you create a checklist that includes the budget, venue, list of attendees, and all of the details.
1. Set a Budget
Like planning for any event, setting a budget is important so that you’re able to ensure that all expenses are accounted for and that all of the planned details and activities can be included.
The budget should factor in items such as the mini golf session, food catering, and other overheads and expenses. To make the budgeting process more effective, it’s best to set a budget for each participant, instead of the entire team.
This is because most activities, such as the mini golf session, food catering, and other expenses are typically charged per person.
Here’s a list of details you should budget for when planning a mini golf team-building event:
- Mini golf session: The cost paid to the course operator for playing a round of mini golf. These costs are typically charged per person unless the entire course is booked.
- Food & Beverages: The cost of providing or catering meals, snacks, and beverages for players.
- Transportation: The cost of transportation for participants to and from the venue.
- Prizes: The cost of purchasing prizes for the winning teams. Prizes can make the mini golf team-building event more fun and engaging.
- Additional Expenses: Any additional expenses that incur. These can include printing location maps and flyers, hiring a photographer or audio-visual equipment, and reserving meeting rooms, among many others.
2. Select a Venue
An important aspect of making the event successful is selecting the right venue. The most important factors that you should consider include weather conditions, parking availability, and distance from the office.
Depending on the above-mentioned factors, you’ll have the option to organize the event at an indoor or an outdoor mini golf course. It’s important to consider if the selected venue has food options, a private meeting room for other team-building activities, and a mini golf course that is large enough and accommodates reservations.
3. Plan the Details
Next, you’ll need to start planning the details of the event. These details include the format of the mini gold session, food and beverage options, fun challenges or games, and more.
Additionally, you should also plan ahead if you’re planning any other type of activities with the mini golf team-building session. It’s always a good idea to create an agenda and schedule for all of the attendees.
If there are any special requests that such as accessibility requirements or dietary restrictions, make sure to consider them. Here are some things you should consider:
- Mini golf format
- Food & beverage options
- Accessibility requirements
- Special dietary requirements
- Team sizes
- Rules & challenges
- Other activities
- Agenda & schedule
4. Organize Prizes
To make the mini golf team-building event memorable for everyone, you should consider organizing prizes. This gesture acknowledges everyone’s participation and efforts during the event.
They can also add a competitive element to the team-building sessions, making it more exciting for everyone involved. There is a wide variety of prizes to choose from, including vouchers, gift cards, trophies, awards, and much more.
You can also give out prizes for various types of achievements such as the team who completed the mini golf course with the least amount of strokes or the player who hit the most hole-in-ones. This is the time to get really creative!
How to Make the Team-Building Session More Fun
Organizing a mini golf team-building session is just one part of the process. It is equally important to make it engaging, fun, and inclusive for all participants. Below, you’ll find some tips and tricks on how to make your mini golf team-building sessions more fun and memorable.
Take Plenty of Photos
Taking pictures throughout the mini golf team-building event helps to create memories and also gives recognition to team members. It’s also a useful tool to make the entire event more entertaining and exciting!
You can set up a photo booth and arrange props for participants to make the photo sessions more interesting. You could also hire a photographer and encourage participants to share their pictures on social media or within the organization.
Create Teams
To foster a sense of competition and camaraderie among participants, you should consider creating teams. You can either let them form teams on their own or have them assigned randomly.
To make the event even more fun, you can also have each team assign team leaders and even have them come up with fun and wacky team names.
Introduce Fun Challenges
Introducing fun challenges, such as a point system or handicaps (for example playing with one leg or one hand) adds to the fun by providing an extra layer of excitement and competition. You can also let players come up with their own challenges before they start their session.
Have Great Food & Beverage Options
What’s better than having good food and drinks alongside a fun team-building event? To ensure that all participants remain focused and engaged throughout the mini golf event, it’s important to give them great food options.
You can even consider on-site catering, providing vouchers for nearby restaurants, or even better, having a food truck or a BBQ set up for delicious and satisfying meals to enjoy during the event. Also, don’t forget snacks!
It goes without saying that eating together can provide a great opportunity for colleagues and team members to strategize and socialize outside of work.
Select a Fun Theme
You can also select a mini golf course with a theme that is fun and matches the event. Jungles, adventure, glow-in-the-dark, medieval, and sci-fi themes are some of the most popular ones to choose from.
Things to Consider Before the Event
To ensure the mini golf team-building session runs as smoothly and successfully as possible, you’ll need to factor in several important aspects that we will discuss in more detail below.
- Weather Conditions – Don’t forget to factor in the weather conditions before organizing the event. Weather conditions not only affect the event’s location but also the guest’s safety and comfort. Check the weather forecast before deciding on an outdoor or indoor mini golf course.
- Other Activities – When planning the event, you should also decide on any additional activities that can make the mini golf team-building sessions more fun and enjoyable.
- Organizing Committee – Setting up a team to plan and facilitate the event is important. An organizing committee ensures that workloads are evenly distributed that keeps all members accountable. The size of the committee should depend on the number of participants and the overall budget. During the planning process, it’s vital to have defined roles and tasks for each member of the organizing committee.