Filming a Golf Tournament: What Courses Actually Need
Events · July 24, 2026 · 6 min read · Brick Road Media
A tournament is one of the few days a year your course is full, dressed up, and full of people having a good time. It is the best footage you will get all season — if someone is there to catch it.
Most courses treat tournament video as a nice-to-have: something to post the following week if anyone happened to take a good clip. That is a missed opportunity, because a tournament produces three things simultaneously that are hard to get any other way — a full course in perfect condition, real people genuinely enjoying it, and sponsors who paid to be visible.
Here is what is actually worth capturing, and how the footage keeps working long after the last group comes in.
The four assets worth walking away with
- The recap film. Ninety seconds that make the day look like an event worth attending. This is what goes out to every player, every sponsor, and every person who did not come this year.
- Same-week social clips. Short vertical cuts posted while people still remember playing. Momentum matters more than polish here.
- Sponsor-visible coverage. Banner placement, hole signage, and the presentation moment — deliberately framed, not accidentally in the background.
- Evergreen course footage. The course itself, shot properly, on the one day it looks its absolute best. This footage has nothing to do with the tournament and everything to do with selling outings, memberships, and weddings for the next two years.
That last one is the sleeper. Most courses are marketing themselves with photos taken on a phone in flat light. A tournament day gives you a reason to have a camera on property when the grounds crew has already made everything perfect.
How the video pays for itself
The sponsorship math is the easiest case to make. Sponsors are buying visibility, and a banner seen by the eighty people who played is worth less than a banner seen by everyone who watches the recap — which usually includes a much larger audience of members, families, and local businesses. Video coverage is a legitimate reason to raise a sponsorship tier, and it gives you something concrete to hand sponsors afterward.
The second return is registration. Nothing sells next year like showing this year. A recap film released with the save-the-date does more than any flyer, because it answers the only real question a prospective player has: does this look fun?
Planning a shoot around live play
Filming a tournament is not like filming a conference. The event does not pause for you, the light changes across the round, and eighteen holes is a lot of ground. A few things matter more than they sound:
- Pace of play is sacred. A crew that slows down a group will be remembered for exactly that. Good tournament coverage is planned around where players will be, not in front of them.
- Shamble and scramble formats are your friend. Groups bunch up, which means more people in frame and more natural reactions per hole.
- Pick your holes deliberately. A signature hole, a par three with a crowd, and wherever the food and drink is will out-produce trying to cover all eighteen.
- Aerials give the course scale. Drone videography is what turns a nice green into a property people want to book — the one shot a phone genuinely cannot replicate.
- Get the presentation. Winners, the check, the handshake. It is the emotional close of the recap and it happens once.
Yes, last minute is possible
More lead time is always better — it buys a proper shot list and a conversation with sponsors about what they need to see. But tournaments come together fast, and a good crew can work on short notice.
I contacted him last week — very last minute — and asked about coming out and shooting something for the tournament. He absolutely delivered.
Brittney Taylor, Timber Creek Golf Course · Lincoln Highway Tournament
If your event is close, it is still worth asking. You can read the rest of that note and others from clients across the region.
Beyond the tournament
Courses are one of the ten industries we work with regularly, and tournament coverage tends to be the front door rather than the whole relationship. The same day of footage supports outing sales, membership drives, and the wedding and banquet side of the business, which is often where the real margin lives.
We cover courses across Illinois, the Quad Cities, and southern Wisconsin — including the Sauk Valley, Rockford, and the Illinois Valley. If you have a tournament on the calendar, tell us the date and we will tell you what is realistic.
Common questions
What should be filmed at a golf tournament?
A short recap film, same-week vertical social clips, deliberate sponsor visibility including signage and the presentation, and evergreen footage of the course itself while it is in peak condition.
Will a video crew slow down play?
It should not. Tournament coverage is planned around where groups will be rather than in front of them, and pace of play takes priority over any individual shot.
Is drone footage worth it for a golf course?
For a course, aerials are usually the highest-value shot available — they show scale and layout in a way ground-level footage and phone photos cannot, and the footage keeps selling outings and events long after the tournament.
How far in advance should we book tournament video?
Earlier is better because it allows a proper shot list and a conversation with sponsors, but short-notice bookings are often possible. It is always worth asking.