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Hole In One Insurance News - Foresite Sports

Thursday, April 3, 2008

Closest to the Pin Coverage?

From time to time we have customers call us up inquiring about hole in one insurance and then ask whether we also offer coverage for closest to the pin prizes. When we inform them that, yes we do offer hole in one coverage but do not cover closest to the pin or longest drive prizes, they often times are confused. Today, we explain why.

The simple answer is that with hole in one insurance, we are covering the possibility of a hole in one occurring. There is no guarantee that a golfer is going to hit a hole in one at your event, so we can offer coverage that is much less expensive than the prize itself. The concept is quite similar to car insurance. There is no guarantee that you are going to total your brand new car so your car insurance rates are much less expensive than the cost of a new automobile.

Now, for closest to the pin prizes, the story is entirely different. Inherent in the contest is the reality that someone at your event is going to be closest to the pin with their tee shot. As every golfer is making an attempt by hitting their tee shot, there will inevitably be someone who is 'closest' to the pin. Consequently, it is guaranteed that someone will win your closest to the pin prize. This guaranteed giveaway is the reason nobody sells closest to the pin coverage. If your closest to the pin prize is a $100 gift certificate, we would charge you over $100 to cover the prize because we know for a fact that it is going to be awarded.

One exception to this idea is the existence of closest to the pin ring coverage. For these types of contests, you only offer a prize if the golfers are able to hit their tee shots into a 3 foot circle around the pin. If they successfully get their ball this close to the hole, then they win the prize. For these types of contests, we can certainly provide coverage for you as there is no guarantee that someone will hit it to within 3 feet.

If you have questions about hole in one insurance or closest to the pin prize coverage, please call us up and let us know!

Hole In One Insurance for Multiple Aces

Imagine, if you will, that you are hosting a golf outing and have a hole in one contest set up for a $50,000 prize on one of your par 3 holes. Shortly after everyone tees off, you receive word that a lucky golfer successfully made a hole in one on the contest hole. Hooray!!! You get to hand over a giant check for fifty grand! An hour later, you receive word that another lucky golfer did the same thing, making a hole in one for the grand prize. What happens now!?!

With some hole in one insurance packages, golfer #2 would have been out of luck. While golfer #1 would have walked away with a cool $50,000, golfer #2 would not have been so fortuitous as some hole in one insurance coverages only allow for one grand prize to be claimed. As tournament organizer, you'd be in quite a bind, right?

Well, thankfully, Foresite Sports, along with a handful of other hole in one insurance providers, protect against this type of nightmare by offering prize packages that cover multiple holes in one. If you purchase hole in one coverage from Foresite Sports and end up with 5 holes in one, 5 prizes will be awarded. It's as simple as that.

However, one caveat to this coverage is the treatment of hole in one prizes valued above $100,000. If you offer a hole in one prize of this great value, then only one prize will be awarded. For those few tournament organizers who elect to offer such glamorous prizes, there are several options to deal with the possibility of having multiple winners. The first option is to declare that only the first hole in one wins the prize. Doing so prevents golfer #2 in the example above from being too bummed out that he didn't win by letting him and the other golfers know ahead of time that the hole in one prize had already been claimed, nullifying their attempts to win it. Additionally, you can have the prize split amongst the multiple winners. If you have a $200,000 hole in one prize and end up with two winners, each can have $100,000. I don't know of many people who would complain about returning home with that kind of cash at the end of a round of golf.

If you have any questions at all about the treatment of multiple holes in one for any of our hole in one insurance offerings, please don't hesitate to contact one of our knowledgeable tournament consultants for further information.

Hole In One Insurance & Car Dealerships

As car dealerships are by far the most prolific purchasers of hole in one insurance, we thought we'd take this opportunity to share some valuable ideas with our favorite group of customers. Even if you are not a car dealership, some of these suggestions may be worthwhile to remember when you approach a car dealership about sponsoring a hole in one contest at your upcoming event.

Understandably, price is usually the very most important consideration when car dealerships are deciding on a hole in one insurance package. After all, as most dealers are solicited as sponsors for dozens of events each year, they want to keep their costs to an absolute minimum. That being said, there are three very important considerations to make when choosing a hole in one insurance prize package.

First of all, when deciding what value to have covered for your prize vehicle, you'll want to pick a number that you would be comfortable accepting as payment for the car. For example, many times we are asked whether to cover the cost of tax, title and tags. The simple answer is that it is entirely up to you. In the event that a golfer successfully makes a hole in one, hole in one insurance providers will be cutting a check for the exact value that was covered by the coverage. So, if $20,000 was the value stipulated in the application, a $20,000 check will be sent to the winner. If that $20,000 fails to cover the entire cost of the vehicle, then someone other than the hole in one insurance provider will be responsible for making up the difference. That said, do you really want a potential future service customer coming into your showroom and finding out that to get the car your dealership was supposedly offering he or she now has to pay an extra amount? That decision is your, but we'd suggest that to avoid such problems, you have the entire cost of the vehicle covered. That way, the winner can walk into your showroom and walk out with the keys, no questions asked. Additionally, the extra cost to cover tax, title and tags is going to be minimal. We're talking an extra $25 or so for most coverages.

Secondly, if your are trying to minimize the cost of your hole in one insurance, opt for sponsoring a lease rather than the outright sale of the car. Today, more and more dealerships are opting for sponsoring a two or three year lease rather than the full value of the car. Without a doubt, this is a surefire way to reduce the cost of your hole in one coverage. For example, if you are asked to sponsor an event with 100 golfers (and we'll assume that they are playing on a par 3 hole measuring only 165 yards) and you are deciding between a lease or outright sale of a $25,000 car, the coverage for the full cost would be roughly $475. However, if you did a two-year lease on that car (estimated payments of $425/month or $10,200 total) your hole in one insurance fee would only be $220. That's almost 54% less! Needless to say, we'd recommend covering leases if you're a high volume dealership that gets bombarded with sponsorship requests each year; you can save a bundle.

Finally, we extend a word of caution when searching for the lowest price out there. Unfortunately, there exist a few less than reputable firms in our industry that offer unbelievably low prices on hole in one coverage, but actually self-insure the prize. This means that in the event of a hole in one, their ability to pay out is dictated by how much money is currently in their bank account. If they don't have enough to cover the cost of your prize, you're out of luck and will have to drag them into court to claim your prize. Thankfully, most hole in one insurance providers are backed by the full financial strength of an underwriter, effectively eliminating any potential for not paying out. Foresite Sports, for example, is backed by an insurance company that is rated 'A+' by A.M. Best and boasts over 2 billion dollars in assets. If we have a winner, you're getting your prize. It's as simple as that.

Each of things are very important to keep in mind as your shopping for hole in one insurance. If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to give us a call. Foresite Sports proudly works with car dealerships from across the country. In the last year we have worked with dealers of every major brand, including, Acura, Aston Martin, Audi, BMW, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, Ferrari, Ford, GMC, Honda, HUMMER, Hyundai, Infiniti, Isuzu, Jaguar, Jeep, Kia, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln, Maserati, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mercury, MINI, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Pontiac, Porsche, Saab, Saturn, Scion, Subaru, Suzuki, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Hole In One Prize Splitting

It seems like a simple enough proposition: host a hole in one contest at your upcoming golf outing, and should a golfer successfully hit a hole in one, have half of the prize money go to the golfer, and half the prize money go to a charitable foundation. However, unfortunately, most hole in one insurance packages do not allow for this type of prize-splitting. The reason lies in the tax implications of winning a hole in one prize. Just as you are responsible for paying taxes if your happen to win the lottery, you also must pay Uncle Sam if you take home a hole in one prize of any value. This simple rule severely limits the potential for prize-splitting because no matter what the circumstances, if a lucky golfer makes a hole in one and accepts the accompanying prize, he or she is responsible for the full tax burden. If they were to immediately donate half of that to charity per the prize-splitting agreement, they would still have to pay tax on the half they gave away. Because of this important distinction, many hole in one insurance providers will not permit prize-splitting in their agreements.

One potential solution to the prize-splitting issue that we have heard various tournaments use in the past is to make golfers sign waivers before participating in hole in one contests that stipulate should they win, they agree to donate half their winnings to charity. Though a bit unwieldy and difficult to do out on the golf course, this is a possible alternative to investigate further if you are interested in prize-splitting. Of course as with any legal questions, Foresite Sports strongly recommends consulting with your legal counsel before attempting to enforce a prize-splitting arrangement. Should you have any further questions regarding the terms and conditions governing hole in one insurance agreements, do not hesitate to call us up and let us know.

No Hole In One Prize at The Kraft

This week marks the first major championship of the season on the LPGA Tour at the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Ahead of the tournament, Kraft, in association with Toyota, hosted the Toyota/Kraft Nabisco Hole-in-One Contest at the Palmer Course at Mission Hills. The contestants, 10 amateur qualifiers paired with 10 LPGA Tour pros, were set up from 135 yards on the 18th hole at the Palmer Course. At stake was a $1,000,000 grand prize for any golfer lucky enough to make a hole in one, along with a brand-new Toyota Corolla automobile for whichever amateur was closest to the pin.

Unfortunately, no golfers were able to sink a hole in one during the competition, nevertheless, Doug Montgomery from Cathedral City walked away with the keys to a new Toyota by leaving his shot a mere 9 feet, 7 inches from the cup. Who gets the car? Well, Doug is giving the Corolla to his wife as an early anniversary gift. Also competing in the event were defending Kraft Nabisco champion Morgan Pressel, past Kraft winners Patricia Meunier-Lebouc and Pat Hurst and LPGA players Louise Friberg, Brittany Lincicome, Mhairi McKay Jeong Jang, Janice Moody, Jimin Kang and Christina Kim.

The Kraft Nabisco Championship, the LPGA Tour's first major of the 2008 season, kicks off on Thursday at Mission Hills where Morgan Pressel will defend.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Hole In One Insurance & Junior Golfers

With the growing popularity of the game, and Tiger Woods' emergence as a sporting icon, more and more golf outings these days are finding themselves with junior golfers participating in their events. Consequently, a question we are frequently asked is whether or not junior golfers are allowed to compete in hole in one contests for which hole in one insurance was purchased.

The simple answer is yes, anyone, no matter their age, can compete for prizes covered by hole in one insurance. However, there are two important things to keep in mind when permitting junior golfers to compete for prizes. First of all, they must play from the same tee box as their peers. That means all males must play from the mens' tee and all females must play from the ladies' tee. No exceptions. (Coincidentally, the same rule applies to seniors.) Secondly, should a junior golfer successfully make a hole in one during your event and choose to claim their prize, they, like everyone else, will be responsible for paying taxes on their winnings. Simply because they are a minor does not exclude them from paying Uncle Sam his due share.

If you have any further questions regarding hole in one insurance and junior golfers in your upcoming tournament, don't hesitate to call us up and speak to one of our knowledgeable tournament consultants for more information.