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"Excellent arrangements and a high profile event. Impressed with the commitments from the main sponsors. Many thanks to organizers - first class preparations and arrangements! "
Statement from a Swedish participant
"It was my first time to participate in this tournament. It is the best organized tournament which I have ever joined. I would like to thank you all of your effort and will join again next year. "
Statement from a Japanese NA Team participant
"This event was extremely well organized, not just the day on the course but also the communication in the weeks and months before. Congratulations on arranging for superb weather. "
Statement from a German participant
Winners of the drawing
Among those who participated in the survey we we have drawn the following winners for:
One night weekend stay with dinner and golf for two at the Windsor Park G&CC
Winner: Mr. Eero Tammila, Finnair
One night weekend stay with dinner and golf for two at the Windsor Park G&CC
Winner: Mr. Carl-Gustav Eklund, Hoganas
a Special Gourmet Dinner with wine for two at the City Club of Tokyo
Winner: Mr. Eiji Takagi, Biacore
Sunday Brunch with wine for two at the Tokyo Capital Club
Winner: Mr. Takashi Watanabe, Stoll Japan
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To be able to further develope this event, we made a survey among the participants. The survey was conducted between 3 and 14 October.
We would like to thank all those who participated in this survey. Your feedback, and especially
all the comments we received are very useful guidelines for planning and implementing next years event!
SURVEY RESPONSES
The survey was announced to 132 participants (we did not have email addresses to some of the guests and the organizers were excluded form the total 143).
We received 105 valid responses after removing multiple and incomplete entries.
Thus the response rate is 79.5%, which can be considered very good and gives a high statistical significance to the results.
SURVEY RESULTS
The numbers and graphs below speak for themselves. To see the comments from respondents, scroll down or click here.
1. General opinion about the event?
Information
Number of responses: 105
| Arrangements
Number of responses: 105
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2. The Course
Interesting/Challenging course
Number of responses: 105
| Course condition
Number of responses: 105
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4. Food & Beverage Service
On the course
Number of responses: 105
| At the party
Number of responses: 104
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3. Play format
Number of responses: 105
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3. Pace of play
Number of responses: 103
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5. Main reason why I participated
Number of responses: 105
| 6. Cost of participation
Number of responses: 105
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7. Would you like to play next years event again at Atsugi Kokusai C.C.
Number of responses: 105
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9. If we move the event to another course, what is your view?
Number of responses: 99
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COMMENTS FROM RESPONDENTS
81 respondents also gave some comments. Below are almost all of them, only with minor editing.
General Comments
- A great day very well done to the organisers, and a big thank you to the sponsors , the prizes were fantastic ............I am only sorry I did not win one of them.
- A great day. Thank you to the task force for arranging so much so well, and to the sponsors for some great prizes.
- A great event which required many people's time who I really want to thank!
- A great event, very well organized. Privileged to be a part of it.
- Again a marvelous and well organized event.
- As a beginner I appreciated the opportunity to play a round of Golf with experienced players. One of these unforgettable days. A big THANK YOU to the team of organizers
- As usual and expected, the organisation was top-notch.
- Best organised event I`ve played in and held in the right spirit.
- Congratulation to the organizers of the Chambers and DaimlerChrysler, it was well done and unforgettable.
- Congratulations on an excellent organisation ! ( again )
- Congratulations to the organizers on a great event again this year. The organizers do a nice job of putting this event together. It has a very informative website that is well designed.
- Congratulations! Again a perfect & excellent event! Keep the good work up!
- Due to urgent business reason I had to leave after the 10th hole. What a pitty!!! I enjoyed very much and look forward to participating next year. Thanks a lot
- Excellent arrangements,thanks to all involved!
- Excellent day out - one of the best organized events I know of. You should all be very proud of the fun and excitement you provide each year!
- Excellent event, very professionally organised. BIG thank you to the organisers,
- DCC golf tournament was well organized and thank you very much for nice arrangement. I really enjoyed a nice golf day.
- Great event all around! Well done and many thanks!
- Great event and great organization. Spending time with friends from the international biz com while enjoying a day together on the golf course should be the prevailing theme of the event. All other aspects should follow this theme, like play format, selection of course, cost and/or level of players.
- Great job folks. You put on another stellar event.
- I am pleased that I could be a part of this great event.
- I and my wife really enjoyed ! Thank you very much for all of your support and efforts during the event.
- I enjoyed to have good communication and play golf with other players due to excellent work by the organizers. THANK YOU !!!
- I enjoyed very much. I would like to join it in the next year. Thank you very much.
- I really enjoy this event, but feel the location of the course really caters to participants who live in Tokyo. A course more central would be much better (IMHO) - possibly the Shizuoka area. This would allow people from Kanto and Chubu about the same travel distance and would make it much closer for participants from Osaka.
- I really enjoyed participating in the event and the whole set up was very professional. Thanks
- I was really impressed with your thorough preparation and warm hospitality for the participants. The efforts of the taskforce should be much appreciated. Thank you so much.
- It was a nice and well organized outing and thank you very much for your good arrangements.
- Nice event! Wonderful prizes!
- Organization of the event was great. I felt the information supplied on the web site and in emails was excellent.
- Overall another excellently organised day.
- Starting time is an issue if a particpant can only afford a single day.
- Thank you for organizing this event. I really enjoyed it.
- Thank you so much for such a great arrangement and managemnt. I enjoyed playing golf with other three players. It was a great fun!
- Thanks for a wonderful day. All played in great spirit with a lovely group of friends. Make it twice a year!
- Thanks for the arrangement. Great Event with good people and prizes!
- Thanks to everyone who generously dontated their time and energy to organize a great event. Very much appreciated. Everyone had a great time. Thanks again for a organizing a great event.
- It was a great arrangement again!
- The event management was excellent. Thank you very much.
- The event was as usual excellent. I would recommend that we add a fee per persons of JPY1000 to be given as a donation to a relief project somewhere in Asia.
- The organizers did an outstanding job! Too bad Joe was not able to attend but should be given an honorary par.
- The task force is doing an excellent job. Thank you!
- Then I found that there were to little time for socializing with other players than the players in the ball. Too little time to make connections, talk etc. I would have liked to have more time from the end of the ceremony to the closing of the bar and bus departure. Most of us was in a hurry from the end of the game. Having a shower, dressing, dining etc. Any way, whatever you do, I will be back next year.
- There has been a lot of effort put in bu the task force. Congratulations
- This 3rd event was as good as the two previous ones. The organizers have done a great job in planning and the practical set up. Well done.
- This is my second time participation and truly enjoy the event. Thanks for organizing the event and will look forward to do it again next year.
- This was a very enjoyable event and would love to come back again if invited. You all did an outstanding job.
- This was my third time to participate in the game which was wonderfully well arranged. I thank you sponsors and management team who have done such an excellent job. Nex year I shall not fail to join it again trying to contribute to the continued victory for North American Team!
- Tournament was so organized with great sponsors. I was very impressed. Please continue this !!! I look fordward this next year!!!
- Very nice and friendly event with well organized logistics and with fantastic prizes. Congratulations!
- Very professioinally organised tournament, thank you!
- Why don't you ask each team leader to ask their members to where the same color of the shirt. One white and one red as we are playing in Japan. Signed by a Swede
- Wonderful event but missed Joe...
- You put on a truly outstanding event. I was very happy to be a part. I look forward to playing next year. If I had one comment it would be start the event 30 minutes to an hour earlier. Golfers don't mind starting early...
Comments about the course
- Atsugi is a well maintained course but the layout is a bit oldish with blind holes. This causes an extra delay.
- I think it would be good to change the venue for next year's event but I also know it is not so easy to find a course willing to open the entire course to an "outside" event. If a good course could be found, then it would be interesting to have the change but if not, Atsugi is a very nice course. Any chance to play the other 18, though, since I believe all 3 years we not only played at Atsugi, but also the same 18 holes?
- It would be good to try the West course next year, staying at Atsugi, if possible. Otherwise I still prefer to stay at Atsugi.
- Less than Y25,000 on a weekday should be do-able with all the amenities included. 45 mins to get to Camelia on Aqualine. I am sure there are others that also are about 1 hour in varying directions that could be negotiated with.
- The Fuji Ichihara club, 1.25 hrs is a good one, Now run by Orix and likely could do a similar event at same cost.
- The course is a bit easy, but I think that is what is really required with players who are 90% 10-30 handicaps. If they play a bit better than normal, then they will be rewarded with good scores. If we go to too hard of a course with the typ e of golfer that plays in this event I don't think people would enjoy the golf as much. (You do need to change the long drive hole though as with good conditions you could drive through the fairway and be penalized for hitting to good of a drive)
- The course is a bit hilly for my tast, but otherwise fine. Just for experience it would be nice to play a different course.
- The event was always the excellent. Atusgi Kokusai C.C. is ideal location but I would prefer West course.(longer and wider course).
- If we look into it I am sure we could find venue with equally good condition but a little longer would help speed up play as well. 6100 yrds and all the narrow atypical golf holes is not really a good golf course
- The couse is fine. Cost a just a bit high compared to other courses nearby. If you need help to arrange at Taiheyo course such as Gotenba West on weekday w/caddy can be less thatn 20000 yens all inclusive.
Comments about food and drinks
- Food was good on the course but would like to have some in the morning before start.
- It's a small thing, but I think the quality of the food could have been a little better.
- Loved the Beer! Please make sure they supply us next year too.
- Plenty of food and drink around the course which was appreciated.
- The water and beer along the way was a good touch.
Comments about play format and system
- If the current handicap system is used in the future, I would suggest that the handicaps submitted for persons who competed in the past be compared with their past results to make sure that they seem accurate (and manditorily adjust them if necessary). For example, any player that shot a net of 5 (for example) or more shots below par should be required to reduce their handicap accordingly at next year's event.
- Even though any scoring system is actually fine, I feel whichever one is used needs to allow all competitors to be placed against each other as a whole group. Awarding the top three places to NET and also GROSS allowed the better players to place only against each other and the handicapped players to place against each other. This creates two different events- it should be one way or the other. Last year's scoring worked well as it put everyone against each other and took into account handicaps (other than the professional golfers qualifying for prizes). If the new peoria system is used then the handicaps will change based on the selected holes. If handicaps are going to be used, then they need to be verified somehow. Though this may not be possible.
- Beginners are downgrading the overall impression. Handicaps needs to be verified (I think the scores from the last five rounds could be enough).
- Can`t believe the winning scores with such a tight course and tricky greens but you can never fully get handicaps right if so many people are unoffical.
- How can guys, who are shooting bellow 90, be playing with handicaps over 25? Or guys scoring bellow 80, are allowed to play off handicaps at mid-teens?? Shin peria is not fair, but at least we'll all be playing the same game.
- When we play with handicaps, it is difficult to understand there are so many under pars by almost like 10 under and all of them are just lucky. Disqualification score level can be easily avoided by counting players' own scores. Players should know their own level better than anybody. Anyway, it was not a big deal and I really appreciate efforts by Taskforce members.
- I also like you to encourage players to observe and play in accordance the rules of R&A. As a trained referee I oversaw some breakings of the rules that players were not too much concerned about. Also I found that the local rule (green sticks with black marks), one stroke penalty - no loos of distance - very special. In my knowledges you are either out of bound and play a new ball accordingly or you are not out of bound and play the ball as it lies. R&A would never accept that local rule - I believe. And if the turnament director accept the local rule, it should be stated very specificly where on the "in bound" side of the sticks the ball should be dropped. In my flight no one was very particular about this. Some drops where made on the fairway, some in the semi rough, no one dropped one or two club lenghts from the "in bound" line. I liked our caddie, but she didn't have a clue about the rules of golf and gave players instructions strictly agains the R&A rules. All her instructions were very favorable to the golfers scoring possibilities. I'm not a rule fanatic, but if we are not observing the same rules, how can we secure a fair game and find the "rightly" winner? And finally, I like you to consider to divide the players into 3 categories. For example 0 - 9, 10 - 18, over 18 and give individual prices for each group. I believe you can recon the reason for this. Also in the team competition, it should be possible to take into consideration the brutto score, and not only the net score.
- Looking at the results, it is obvious that we have to go back to Shin-peria. Golfers with handicaps of 24, 26 and 30 were playing in the 80s & low 90s and were the majority in the top 10. Even with my own handicap of 25, I have never broken 90 yet !
- Main problem remaining is the difference between the hcp systems in USA , Japan and Europe/Sweden. It is clear that one main reason for USA to win so clearly is the different hcp systems and how the Players actually follow up their hcp's. Otherwise a Great Event!
- Prize winners should be able to validate handicaps.
- Stableford plus more scrutiny of handicaps
- For next year's event you should make it mandatory to submit either (A) an official HCP or (B) your best estimate plus five most recent scores including the courses/tees that they were obtained. You should also take into account DCC 2005 results for returning players. Changing the DQ limit may not work as someone could easily calculate their score and play the last hole in exactly the number required to avoid disqualification.
- Stroke play without official handicap cards to verify the participants' declerations just does NOT work.
- Swedish hcp system is to severe so Swedes should have additional +2 added to their hcp, or bring in more Japanese in the European team and reduce the number of Swedes!
- The handicap system absolutely needs improving, that is what the scorecards tell!
- Would prefer strokeplay with handicap, but with this many players the accuracy of the present handicap seems to vary greatly. Having two hc groups, e.g. 0-15 and 16-30, would even out the players better, but could cause too much administrative hazle.
Comments about pace of play
- I was teamed with a player who was a complete novice. Did not even know how to count strokes let alone the rules. Manners were poor particularly on the greens and the time of play was too slow. It was very difficult to enjoy golf. There should be some restriction against those people who have virtually no experience otherwise it just becomes a strenuous day.
- In an event like this, a long round is expected but it should not exceed 5 hours; 6 hours is simply not reasonable. Participant number is the driver for slow play.
- I played with the person who was the first time to play on the course.
- Maximum score of Trible bogey can increase the speed of the game.
- There are simply to many players on the course. Numbers need further restriction.
too slow, too many groups, maybe Max 24 handicap and better marshalling with penalties for slow play. no excuse
- Quite slow play but gives time to talk with new contacts and make friends.
- Allowing complete beginners to play slows down the game and is tedious for those who play in the same flight.
- Maybe lower the qualifying level of handicap in order to keep better pace on the cource?
- Is there any scope to use both courses at Atsugi to speed up the pace of play? Lower handicaps on one course and higher handicaps and beginners on the one we have used to date.
Comments about prizes and prize ceremony
- I was surprised at the much lesser number of prizes awarded and also in our lockers compared to the inaugural DCC, but will continue to participate as long as it is held.
- Fantastic prizes and closing ceremony speeches were just right length. Sign me up for next year !!
- As a suggestion for next time I recommend an auction for a Smart or other cars in order to support the main sponsor. Some of the income could be donated to social organizations.
- It seems to me that the prizes are getting a bit thinner every year (Just commenting not complaining). The first year saw a lot more prizes per person, and even last year nearly everyone got something. The i-pod shuffles etc.. were great prizes and I think everyone really enjoyed the drawings. Daimler is a great title sponsor, and I hope that they continue to lead in the future. The last small suggestion I would make from a selfish point of view is what about a Gross Score Trophy!!
- I don't know what to do with all speeches -but perhaps some can be avoided.
- Since this is an amateur tournament, I would like to see the less skilled players win more of the prizes. This year and last year, some skilled players won many of the skill prizes, as well as the lottery draw. Once someone wins a skill prize, his/her name should be removed from the lottery draw. Let's face it - the good players will always be in the running for the good stuff. But, the odd-chance that the less skilled player can win something of value is better for the spirit of the game and for the tourney.
- Next year, if possible, best gross for ladies would be also honored, my wife says...
- I like you to consider to get rid of most of the prices and let the sponsors or turnament management donate the value of the prices for charity. No one of the players needs the big prices and no one should be motivated to participate because of big prices.
- I liked the fact that a significant number of the prizes are given as a result of a blind draw rather than the result of play. Although, I thought that it was a little unfair that the gentleman from United that won the airline tickets from the other airline did not receive any prize. In the future, it would be better for a substitute prize to be given (or at least offer the lowest net scoring person the option to trade prizes or something like that).
- Nice prizes, but number of prizes way too few. Is the problem too few sponsors or is the problem too little prize solicitation by the committee? Even the "goody" bags were not worth the time & effort this year - after all - just how many bottle of tabasco sauce can one household use (considering most players probably have the majority of last year's supply left over). What has happened? If you are going to use stated handicaps then you need to go to the "A" "B" "C" flight system.
- For the ceremony at the end, I'd leave out the sponsor recognition (there are other ways to do this like putting a sign by each tea box with the name of a sponsor) and the speeches. The ceremony at the end should be fun and entertaining. I'd also have wine available.
- Please consider giving away "tournament specific" prizes for closest to pin, longest drive as well winners (net and gross). Nothing too costly, a trophey or plaque with the events name, date, course, and prize won.
Prize giving could be better presented. More prizes.
Comments on another course
- Atsugi US Military base
- Camelia Hills
- Longer course
- Manna/ Gary Player
- Nanso in Chiba
- Somewhere more central - like Shizuoka - would be nice.
- Taiheiyo Gotemba West
- The same C.C but West Course.
- Use both courses at Atsugi Kokusai
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