Fireworks displays filled the night skies around the world, the ball dropped in Times Square, and over 400,000 descended on the Las Vegas Strip to bid farewell to last year and hello to the New Year. Welcome to 2024, Welcome to Las Vegas!
Each year, we call upon ourselves, our friends, and our communities to make resolutions for the new year with hope for the promise of the unseen horizon ahead.
This year, I have (along with my family) dedicated time, energy, and investment to collaborate with local nonprofits, businesses, American FootGolf Federation and Chimera Golf Club to create a weekend of FootGolf for the entire Southern Nevada community.
We, in collaboration with CARE Coalition, Chimera Golf Club, FEAT of Southern Nevada, Nevada Housing Coalition, AFGL Tour and American FootGolf Federation have been working tirelessly to get the word out across the Vegas Valley and the initial responses have been incredible. The event is FREE to the general public and we hope to have people from around Southern Nevada come to engage with our players, our partners, our vendors, and our sport, "The best game ever invented!"
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Just a few highlights on the Community Outreach...
CARE Coalition held a partnership meeting and distributed a newsletter about the 3rd Battle of the Border and Las Vegas Open 2024. They are currently signing up partners and vendors for various tables for the Chimera Golf Club Pavilion area and they have already sold 40 concert tickets and we already have confirmed 15 partner or vendor tables.
We will be starting the FEAT FootGolf Academy focused on FootGolf programming for children and families with Autism.
We have interest from Veterans and Military organizations to create FootGolf leagues, teams, or camps to support our veteran and military service members and families.
We have had initial discussions with the Police Athletic League about the potential to add FootGolf to their youth sports program.
We have interest from people of all ages and abilities about joining a local league with opportunities to play on a more regular basis.
One of our tournament sponsors, FotoFun TV, which will be hosting a live photo booth at the event each day connected us to Bumpr, a company that creates mobile advertisements on a fleet of personal vehicles similar to Lyft, DoorDash, Uber, GrubHub, and others.
The BUMPR co-founder gave us an incredible sponsorship and we now have an 8-second video playing on 100+ vehicles in Las Vegas with an expected reach of MILLIONS during the month of January. FotoFun TV will also have a live virtual interaction photo green-screen so your family and friends who can't make it can still get a picture with you at the event.
The Spazmatics will be performing LIVE at Chimera Golf Club at 6:00pm on Saturday January 27th. The concert has a few ticket options, for footgolfers, you only need to consider the $10 or $15 ticket options as you should have already received your 1-year VIP membership to Travel Set Go! and 3-day/2-night stay in Las Vegas or Orlando as part of your tournament registration. I would highly suggest you consider the $15 ticket option as we will be giving away as many as 150 5-day/4-night stays in CANCUN, MEXICO (valued at $795) courtesy of Cancun Cards.
Yes, you read that correctly, we are giving away 150 vacations to CANCUN, MEXICO at the concert to concert goers ONLY!
For footgolfers there will be a FootGolf Putting Challenge beginning at 5:15pm on the driving range, if you would like to participate, let us know.
FOOTGOLF ACTION!
The action begins at 12-noon on Friday, January 26th with the 3rd Battle of the Border and continues beginning at 10-am on Saturday and Sunday, January 27th-28th with the Las Vegas Open.
The course at Chimera Golf Club will be completely redesigned with an 18-hole competitive FootGolf course with 7 holes that have FootGolf cups on the golf green fringes and 11 holes with cups installed on the fairways. There will be a water crossing and booming tee shots, technical approaches and fast putting surfaces, there will be scoring chances and holes to just survive.
Share with your friends and family who can't be there, the weekend festivities are designed for participation no matter where you are, from the FotoFun TV photo booth to the auction to live scoring updates - everything, everywhere, all at once at the Las Vegas Open!
All three days will include a nonprofit sponsor, vendor, and community engagement fan zone in the Pavilion at Chimera as well as spectator galleries around the tee boxes or greens of several holes around the Chimera Pro Shop and Slice 19 Grill & Bar. The event is FREE to the public, bring your own chairs or picnic blankets, Chimera Golf Club and Slice 19 Grill & Bar will have food and beverage tables or carts in the spectator gallery areas to create a fun and festive FootGolf tournament experience.
OTHER WEEKEND HIGHLIGHTS
The Las Vegas Open Auction site is open and will remain active throughout the weekend, you don't have to be present to bid, buy, or participate, so share the information with anyone and everyone!
There are several FootGolf challenges and activities that require a ticket and are designed for community engagement:
FootGolf Putting Challenge - $5 gets you 3-putts, a raffle ticket, and a chance for a prize (make a putt - pick a prize!)
FootGolf Long Drive Challenge - $5 get you 3-kicks, a raffle ticket, and a chance for a prize (prizes for longest drive in the air and longest overall drive)
FootGolf Pro-Am - 9 hole Challenge - $60 for a 4-person team and get paired up with a Las Vegas Open player -- compete against friends other groups or just play for fun! Lowest round of the day gets the team a surprise!
Las Vegas FootGolf Open is a qualifying tournament for the Road to Great Britain 2024
There are raffle tickets for sale, from 1 to 5 to 25 - pick your price and select the raffle to try your luck! If you're not at the event, we'll make sure to connect with you to make sure your raffle tickets end up in the drawing(s) of your choice.
There are currently 33 auction items, which include signed movie, music, and sports memorabilia as well as once-in-a-lifetime travel opportunities and experiences -- and we're still working to add a few more.
We'll have QR codes at the event or you can always log in HERE and select your favorites now!
VEGAS IS WAITING... WHAT'S YOUR MOVE?!?
As we start a new year, a new season, a new journey... Let us start by coming together, building our communities, and growing our game together.
Our journey starts now, it starts with us, it starts in Vegas... Stay tuned, get ready, and see you on the course!
Dr. Justin S. Gardner, PhD
Innovative Research & Analysis LLC
AFGF Nevada Chapter - AFGL Tour
