Hole-in-one for Entrepreneur

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Law grad blends business and charity in idea for golf-contest monitoring system

Provided by the Plain Dealer
Written by Mary Vanac

When Mike Burkons was in college, he got together with his buddies every week to play golf. Their favorite course offered a sport utility vehicle to golfers who got a hole-in-one.

He was never so lucky, but someone else was. The next year, the SUV was gone and so was the hole-in-one contest. And the golf course's business dropped off.

Burkons, now 29, never forgot the contest's popularity and how it had given the golf course a leg up on its competition. Over the years, his curiosity turned to conviction: Technology could solve the contests' limitations so that every golfer could participate.

His solution - tested last year at a Willoughby Hills course - was to install surveillance cameras to monitor golfers' shots and an ATM-like kiosk that keeps track of players and charges them for the chance to win prizes ranging from cash to a Hummer.

This year, his enterprise will expand to four local golf courses and two in Las Vegas.

Between undergraduate school at Connecticut College and law school at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law, Burkons went to work installing surveillance cameras for a bar management company.

He continued playing golf and stumbled on yet another hole-in-one contest, this time offering players a shot at winning a BMW.

That's when he connected his growing surveillance expertise with the commercial possibilities of hole-in-one contests.

Burkons believed he could overcome the contests' need for a person to monitor the contest hole. He knew surveillance cameras could replace human monitors, and kiosks could do some of the work of sales clerks.

"I could create a system for every golfer and every round, not just for outings and events," he remembered thinking.

During his last year in law school, Burkons began networking with other entrepreneurs. In December 2003, his business plan for Charitee Golf Hole-In-One Monitoring System won second prize in the start-up category of a Council of Smaller Enterprises competition. Part of the revenue generated by the system would go to a charity, hence "Charitee Golf."

Burkons used the $3,000 prize and money from investors to assemble and test his system, which was installed last July at the seventh hole of the Cleveland Metroparks' Manakiki Golf Course in Willoughby Hills.

Every golfer who paid for a round automatically got a shot at Manakiki's $1,000 cash prize. The more adventuresome paid $1 to $5 extra for a chance at better prizes.

Golfers checked in at a kiosk at the contest hole, punching in a four-digit authentication number from their receipts. Surveillance cameras "watched" the tee and hole.

On their first day of operation, the cameras caught a hole-in-one. The winner called a telephone number to claim his prize, which was $1,000. Burkons verified the win by viewing surveillance footage on the Internet.

Burkons expects to average about three holes-in-one per course per season. "If I have one a day, that completely ruins my business model," he said.

Charitee Golf takes care of everything itself - from getting insurance to finding prizes to verifying winners. Its contest was popular among leagues and outings at Manakiki.

As of December, the course's revenues were up nearly 4 percent for the year, the second-highest increase among Cleveland Metroparks' six courses, said Jane Christyson, the park district's director of marketing and golf clubhouse services.

While it's tough to say how many more golfers the hole-in-one contest brought to the course, Christyson is heavily promoting a revised contest to groups this summer.

"Everybody's looking for an edge," she said.

Burkons, too, is looking to sharpen his system. He found Sam Gerace, entrepreneur-in-residence at JumpStart Inc., a Cleveland-based nonprofit economic development organization.

"I've been helping him tell his story, which is very compelling, with the right jargon for each audience," Gerace said.

With coaching from Gerace, Burkons raised an unspecified but "substantial" amount of money from investors over the winter.

"We've raised enough capital that growing and expanding is not an issue anymore," he said.

For this golfing season, Burkons' expansion includes adding touch-screen and wireless technology to his kiosks. And he simplified his contest, offering three upgrade options instead of five, and adding a cash prize for each option.

This year, a $1 upgrade wins a 42-inch Hitachi plasma television or $2,500 in cash. A $3 upgrade wins a 2005 Harley Davidson XL 883 Sportster from Southeast Harley or $5,000. And a $5 upgrade wins a three-year lease on a 2006 H2 Hummer from Central Cadillac or $10,000.

Burkons also plans to give between $500 and $2,000 to charity for each prize won, or 10 percent of the money golfers pay to upgrade to better prizes, whichever is greater.

For golf courses added this year, the money will go to the Gail Bash Foundation for a Cure for Ovarian Cancer. Manakiki is sticking with First Tee of Cleveland, which teaches golf to urban youths who otherwise might not be exposed to the game.

One of Burkons' systems is going in at the ninth hole at Briarwood Golf Club in Broadview Heights. It should be operational by mid-May. "I thought it was interesting and fun," said course owner Gus Shimrak, who tried it out last fall at Manakiki.

Golf courses pay nothing for the contest, although that might change in the future. Burkons shares with the courses the money made from golfers who pay for upgrades. Charitee Golf also gets a small portion of every round played at the courses.

As his business grows, he expects to hire technology, installation, call center and management employees. He also expects to begin assembling the systems, once it becomes cost-effective.

"This is a great example of using city resources, such as the Metroparks and JumpStart, to find potential growth companies and nurture them so they stay in Cleveland," Burkons said.

Return to other news stories