When Carol Faulkner first decided to use a professional golfer to add some glitz to one of her golf events, the process seemed pretty straightforward: Make sure that the budget could handle the appearance fee and then decide on a golfer.

So Faulkner, now executive director of CIBC World Markets in Toronto, chose to book an up-and-coming pro — a golfer who was beginning to make his mark on the professional tour but who was not yet a premier name on the corporate event circuit.

“So we negotiated the contract,” recalls Faulkner, “and then, all of a sudden, he started winning tournaments. His representative wanted to up his fee dramatically, and everything started falling apart. We never did work with that golfer.”

In the years since, Faulkner, with the help of a trusted speaker's bureau, has booked top names in the world of golf, ranging from four-time major championship winner Ray Floyd to top golf instructor David Leadbetter. And while these golf celebrities have helped to make her events tremendously successful, the booking process remains akin to solving a puzzle.

Which pro is comfortable with public speaking? Which one prefers interacting with people in small groups, or one-on-one? Who is entertaining? Who is informative? Who can teach? Who can do all three? Even more basic, who is available?

And, perhaps most important of all: Who is affordable?

A Kind of Matchmaking

Professional golfer Peter Jacobsen has a better idea than most of how to successfully match professional golfers to events. Jacobsen, 53, turned pro in 1976 and won seven tournaments on the PGA Tour. Yet, despite being a fine golfer, he has become best known for having one of the most colorful personalities on the tour — a trait that has served him well as he carved out a successful career off the golf course.

Not only do corporations eagerly seek him out for their events — he does about 15 to 20 of them a year — but he also runs Peter Jacobsen Sports, a sports and entertainment marketing company through which he hires out other pros as well.

“The advantage I have,” says Jacobsen, “is that over a 32-year career, I've come to know all of the players. It's difficult for a corporate marketing executive or a meeting planner to really understand the ins and outs of pro golfers and know their personality traits. You want to make sure that if you have a pair of plaid slacks, you match it with a solid shirt.”

While Jacobsen has seen many a successful corporate golf event, he has known others that have not worked out because the company chose the wrong pro. “It happens all the time,” he says. “They hire a professional who, for some reason, doesn't match up, or just doesn't click with the group. And I've seen it happen with professional golfers who show up with an unenthusiastic, lackadaisical attitude.”

When Jacobsen does an event, he finds that the most important thing is to interact with the guests as much as possible. Whether it's having breakfast with the group, giving a clinic, playing a hole with a foursome, or answering questions at the awards dinner, he makes a point of getting to know each attendee.

Expect to Pay Big Bucks

So where do you go to find the perfect match? In Carol Faulkner's case, she goes to GolfPodium, a golf-specific speaker's bureau in Jupiter, Fla. GolfPodium President Eddie Smith is a former golf pro who served in management positions with the PGA Tour and Jack Nicklaus' company, Golden Bear International. He started GolfPodium in 1997, and now books professional golfers and celebrities for about 100 events a year.

With a solid background in the game, as well as a wife and two brothers-in-law who have played on professional tours, Smith says he has “a pretty strong understanding of the market.”

When a planner comes to Smith looking to book a golf professional, the process “becomes a fact-finding mission,” he says. If it's a new client, Smith will look at the event history, the audience, the location, the types of sponsorships (if any) in place, and the budget. “We basically determine what the company's goals and objectives are, and we put together a list of players who fall into that category.” The choice then could come down to who is available (depending on schedules) and again, cost.

Determining the fees that golfers charge for appearances is an inexact science, says Marc Reede, president of Nationwide Speakers Bureau of Beverly Hills, Calif. “It's obviously based on demand as well as the amount of time a golfer is willing to spend away from his home,” he says.

Getting a big name on the cheap is unlikely. “You're dealing with individuals who often fly on private jets and travel within a multimillion-dollar environment,” Reede says. “It's not going to make sense for them to do a corporate event for $10,000.”

Still, while most pros fit into certain fee ranges (two-time Masters champion Ben Crenshaw, for example, falls in Nationwide's $50,001 to $100,000 category), negotiating a lower rate is possible depending on the golfer, the event and its location, and the golfer's schedule. “If you're holding a corporate event in Scottsdale the same week the tour's going to be at the TPC Scottsdale, then it's possible you're going to find a $75,000 golfer willing to make a $35,000 to $40,000 appearance,” says Reede.

He has one client that puts on an annual golf event the same week as the British Open. That client's expectation is that at a reasonable cost, it will be able to book a professional golfer who failed to qualify for the British championship.

Mark McCumber is a 10-time winner on the PGA Tour (including the Players Championship in 1988 and the Tour Championship in 1994) who, like Jacobsen, makes 15 to 20 appearances at charitable and corporate events a year. For McCumber, schedule trumps just about everything. When he receives an appearance request, the first thing he does is check his family calendar. Years ago, his appearances might have revolved around his professional golf schedule; “Now, it's more around the births of grandchildren,” he says.

Scheduling is so problematic, Golf-Podium's Eddie Smith says, that he suggests planners book golfers at least three to six months in advance, and eight months to a year for best results.

A Packed Day

Typically, companies book pros for a full-day appearance, often starting with breakfast or brunch and some pre-golf schmoozing.

The smaller the group, the more they really get to know the pro. “Intimacy,” says golfing legend Ben Crenshaw when asked what makes for a successful corporate event. “If you have an event that's too large, you just aren't going to have an intimate experience. The more time you have for one-on-one interaction, the more I know about them [the attendees], the more they know about me, and the more successful the event is going to be.”

Once the golf portion of the day begins, a pro could motor around in a golf cart from group to group giving tips, or just interacting with attendees during their rounds. Sometimes the format requires the professional to spend the day at a par-3 hole where he or she can meet up with each of the attendees and play the hole with each group. “That puts a little bit of pressure on the pro,” jokes McCumber. “You hit one bad shot and everyone starts looking at you and wondering, ‘What happened there?’”

An instructional clinic is often part of the day as well. Jacobsen prefers that a tournament organizer schedule the clinic after the round of golf. “There's a lot of nerves and trepidation out there if the clinic is held before the golf, and people aren't going to be paying much attention,” he says. “They'll be a lot more relaxed after they've played.”

The day usually concludes with dinner and a speech, and maybe a question-and-answer period. Crenshaw says he loves these opportunities, at which he can talk about topics such as “the great players I've played with, golf course design, or golf history, which is really my passion.”

Get the Pro Involved in Planning

In most cases, the golf pro is just as determined as the planner to ensure that his or her appearance is successful.

CIBC World Markets' Carol Faulkner hired golf instructor Hank Haney (best know for his work with Tiger Woods) for her golf event in 2007. “He was an unbelievable gentleman,” she says. Like the other pros she has booked, he was totally amenable to creating a format and event schedule that worked well for Faulkner and her group of about 75 CEOs from Canadian Fortune 500 companies.

Chrisanne Buba, director of marketing, Desert Southwest Region, for RSM McGladrey, a leading accounting, tax, and business consulting firm in Phoenix, was looking for a speaker for a real estate symposium last October. She had already booked a long line of speakers, ranging from the president of the National Basketball Association's Phoenix Suns to a professor from Arizona State University, who would be talking about the subprime mortgage crisis, and wanted someone for the middle of the program to lighten the mood a bit. She went to Marc Reede for some suggestions, and he came up with former pro turned television golf commentator David Feherty.

She held a conference call with Feherty several days before her symposium. “We talked about the composition of the audience and what we were trying to accomplish,” she says. “He was very receptive to what we were saying. He came in the night before the event, arrived at the venue the next morning early, and listened to some of the other speakers to see what the audience was hearing. Then he got up and spent 45 to 50 minutes relating golf stories. It was billed as ‘Behind the Scenes on the PGA Tour.’”

Feherty's appearance was a big success, she adds. “Our goal was to get 50 to 75 land developers and homebuilders to attend. In all, we counted about 110, and he was a very large part of the draw.”

Mark McCumber likes to work with companies with which he has a history. “You get to know the people and their clients,” he says. “They've come to trust that you can successfully represent their companies and entertain their employees and their customers — and that's always a nice kind of relationship to have.”

“The enjoyment of the client and guests — that's what I'm working for,” says Peter Jacobsen. “Whether it's 12 people or 120 people, I want every person there to have a great day, and I want the client to reach its objective, whether it's putting on a successful customer event or an incentive program for its employees.”

A Great 8 for the Money

When it comes to professional golfers and the appearance fees that they command, “A lot of meeting planners' expectations are a little out of kilter regarding what the market will bring them,” says Eddie Smith, founder of GolfPodium, a golf-specific speaker's bureau in Jupiter, Fla.

In other words, if you have your heart set on getting Arnold Palmer for your next golf event, and you've got $20,000 to spend, he's not coming. Palmer's fee is north of $100,000.

But, while not everyone can afford to book a Lee Trevino or Greg Norman, there are golf pros and celebrities available who will match up with those planners with leaner budgets.

Here are eight who will give you plenty of bang for the buck:

1. Amy Alcott: A Ladies Professional Golf Association legend, Alcott has won 32 tournaments worldwide, including five major championships.

2. Ian Baker-Finch: Winner of the 1991 British Open and golf commentator for ABC Sports

3. Dan Boever: Known as one of golf's longest hitters, this long-drive champ once blasted a drive 473 yards.

4. Hank Haney: Renowned golf instructor and coach; his best-known student is Tiger Woods.

5. Jeff Maggert: Two-time winner on the PGA Tour and three-time member of the U.S. Ryder Cup Team

6. Jan Stephenson: Recognized as one of the LPGA's 50 greatest players in 2000, she has more than $3 million in career earnings and has won three of the LPGA's four modern major championships.

7. Ben Witter: Award-winning teaching professional and celebrated trick-shot performer

8. Lanny Wadkins: U.S. Ryder Cup captain and winner of 21 PGA Tour events, including the PGA Championship.

SOURCES: Nationwide Speakers Bureau, GolfPodium