Pop Up Putt Putt

Recreation Program Development

Group 5

Group Members: Gabi Perlinger, Noehly Pineda, Robby Chesnick, Joe Scherer

Date of Submission: TBD

Picture of Event:

Group Five: Part One

Organizational Information:
● Name of the organization: Main Street San Marcos
● Description of the organization: Main Street has transformed the way the San Marcos
community maintains downtown and brings entertainment to the center of the city. San
Marcos has been designated as an official Main Street City by the Texas Historical
Commission and the National Trust for Historic Preservation. It is one of the oldest Main
Street programs in the state.
● Mission, Vision,etc. of the organization: Main Street San Marcos’ vision is to “foster a
downtown that is a unique and culturally vibrant destination, where local businesses
thrive and people of all ages can connect, create and celebrate.” Their mission is to
“maintain the unique, historic nature of downtown recognizing its history and planning for
its future. We strive to provide economic stability to the heart of our community through a
comprehensive revitalization program of the National Main Street Center’s Four Points of
Main Street: design, economic restructuring, organization, and promotion.”
Organization: To building partnerships, consensus, and cooperation among community
groups, stakeholders, and individuals in the revitalization process and assemble human
and financial resources to implement revitalization efforts. Design: To improve and
preserve the downtown environment to include buildings, infill, and new development
compatibility, enhancing the visual and historic qualities and economic viability of the
commercial district. Promotion: To promote a positive image of downtown by marketing
the district’s unique characteristics to residents, investors, business owners and visitors
with an effective promotional strategy through advertising, retail promotions, and special
events. Economic Restructuring: To strengthen downtown’s existing economic assets
while expanding and diversifying its economic base to meet new and existing
opportunities and challenges.
● Community Demographics: The event will be serving people of all kinds from
throughout the community. Some of the community demographics are listed here via
areavibes.com:
Population: 51,289
Median Age: 23.4
Male/Female Ratio: .9/1
Married: 25%
English speaking: 75%
Spanish speaking: 22%
 ^^^^Found on: city-data.com
● Identification of Resources:
○ Major Sources of Funding: The main source of funding for Main Street San
Marcos is the H.O.T tax, which stands for Hotel Occupancy Tax. This is a tax that
isn’t paid by the citizens of San Marcos but by the tourists that come to San
Marcos.
○ Description of staff: The program manager of Main Street is Samantha
Armbruster. As well as the interns and program coordinator at Main Street.
○ Facilities owned or used on a regular basis: Main Street San Marcos office is
located inside the San Marcos Downtown Visitors Center on N. LBJ Drive. Most
of the events that Main Street puts on take place downtown on the square with
the local businesses or on the courthouse lawn.

Event Information:
● Create a detailed description of the event and include any information that you have so
far including:
○ Name of event: Pop Up Putt Putt (Pop-up Par-Tee)
○ Date of event: April 7th, 2017.
○ Location of event: The event will be in downtown San Marcos on the
courthouse lawn.
○ Description of the event: It is a pop up event designed to bring the community
together and allow them to play putt putt golf on a nine hole course, just steps
 away from downtown businesses. All nine holes will be designed and put
together by Texas State students in the class REC 2335. This event will provide
these Texas State Students an opportunity to learn the ropes of programming an
event as well as providing the community of San Marcos to benefit recreationally.
○ Describe the target audience for the event: The primary audience for Pop Up
Putt Putt is San Marcos’ high school students. Samantha has voiced that she
wants to reach out to that certain age population so that they can start to feel like
they have a place in the downtown area. We plan on inviting a group of San
Marcos high school students to run a concession booth inside of Pop Up Putt
Putt, as well as pushing a lot of information to the high schools.
○ Supervisor’s name: The supervisor of this event is, Main Street San Marcos’
program manager, Samantha Armbruster. Her office number is 512-393-8430,
and her office is located at 317 N. LBJ Drive San Marcos, Texas.

Program Rationale:
The Pop Up Putt Putt event allows visitors and citizens of all ages to come together for an
evening of fun, friends, community, and putt putt golf in downtown San Marcos. The event
creates an atmosphere where “local businesses thrive and people of all ages can connect,
create and celebrate”. The event is held right outside local downtown businesses, bringing
attention and customers to them. Pop Up Putt Putt aims to bring together people of all age
groups, by partnering with Swing On the Square, San Marcos High School and Texas State
University. San Marcos High School will have a concession stand selling snacks and drinks at
the event, and all profit made by San Marcos High School will go back into the school. Texas
State students are responsible for designing, budgeting, planning, and ultimately building a
portable Putt Putt hole. Students will also be promoting the event by pre selling tickets around
campus and the city of San Marcos. This event will serve the mission statement of Main Street
San Marcos by providing an “unique and culturally vibrant,” inclusive experience in historic
downtown San Marcos where all types of groups can come and participate in our Pop Up Putt
Putt event. The event represents some of Main Streets Four Points in that it is a creative
environment where students design and facilitate a 9 hole putt putt course for the community to
enjoy. In the process of developing this event, we are promoting the downtown area of San
Marcos and hopefully portraying the city in such a way that community members who are not
familiar with the city, specifically downtown, will be encouraged to return after our event. We
hope to provide the high schoolers with a flyer after the event that will highlight the other “high
school friendly” places in downtown.

Group Five: Part Two

Description of Activity (10 points)

● Our putt putt hole design was originally created by group 8 before being assigned to us,
group 5. The theme for the hole is a skee ball design just like you would see in an
arcade. We plan on constructing the hole a week before the event in Gabi’s driveway
and storing it in her garage until the day of the event. There are several youtube videos
that we will use to guide us in the construction of the hole. On the day of the event we
 will use Joe’s truck to transfer the skee ball hole from the garage to the courthouse lawn.
In terms of costs and materials needed, our group has all the necessary tools in order to
construct this hole such as hammers, power drills, power saws, and nails. The total cost
of the approved budget plan is $63.79. This consists of the materials needed to make up
the hole such as 4 1/4 (2X4) plywood, spray paint cans, a fishing net, PVC pipes, felt
cushion underlay roll, screws, and wood glue. We all plan on being at the courthouse to
help set up the hole and make sure everything is ready for the event. We have not yet
decided who has what shift but the people running the first shift will not leave the hole
until the second shift arrives in order to have a smooth transition and ensure the hole is
running properly. At the event we plan on having candy prizes for the participants after
they complete the hole and will be playing music at our hole. This will be the last hole of
the course so we will also be collecting all the balls as each participant finishes the
course. For the cleanup we plan on each group member being there to help and will plan
on donating the hole so we don't just throw it away after the event.
Equipment/Supply List (10 points)
● Create a detailed equipment & and supply list for ALL of your needs for the event.
○ List all equipment needed. We will continue to check in with Green Guy recycling
to find equipment and if we can’t find what we need we will resort to Lowes and
Hobby Lobby.
■ 4 ½ (2 ft x 4 ft) inch plywood
■ Fishing net
■ ½ inch PVC Coupling
■ ¾ inch PVC Coupling
■ 2 inch PVC Coupling
■ Green Turf
○ List all supplies needed.
■ 1 box of 3 inch wood screws
■ Wood Glue
■ 2 cans of spray paint
Venue Information (10 points)
● The location of the event is in the courthouse lawn in downtown San Marcos. 111 E San
Antonio St, San Marcos, TX 78666
Staff Management Plan (10 points)
● Create a detailed staff management plan
○ Main street staff will be at the event to help keep people moving in an organized
fashion, although, the class will be running most of the event. Our group
members will be shagging the balls that wander from our hole. As well as the
Young Life club from San Marcos High School will be running the concessions
stand.
● Include job descriptions for each of your group members
○ Gabi - Play music for participants and will be there for both shifts.
○ Noehly- assist in holding people’s items while the play. Help with setup and then
return later for second shift.
○ Robby- Working second shift. Mainly in charge of tear down after the event.
 ○ Joe- Transport the hole to the event and then work the first shift.
● Consider shifts, possible responsibilities related to broader event tasks, etc.
○ Considering this event is outside and in texas spring weather, it will be good to
do some shift swaps, including a mini break in between so the staff can stay
HYDRATED and alternate duties. Shift swaps will be good to keep the staff
energized and fun for them, so they can make it fun for the people too.
● Include information about other “staff” present - Main Street staff, high school
organization volunteers, Advance Programming students, etc.
○ There will be volunteers from Texas State University, Main Street, and students
from San Marcos High School. The volunteers from TXST will help run the booth
that will be set up at the beginning of the hole. Volunteers from Main Street will
help with setup and teardown. As stated earlier the volunteers from SMHS will be
running concessions.
Detailed Running Sheet (10 points)
● Running Sheet
○ 1:30 Group will meet at Gabi’s house to load up all the put together materials and
decorations, using Joe’s truck for the main piece of the hole.
○ 2:00 Hole will be unloaded on the courthouse lawn and last minute touch ups will
be done now.
○ 3:00 First shift for group members will stay and the other group can come back at
6:30.
○ 5:30 Event begins. Two group members will be at the hole and helping any
participants who need assistance regarding their hole.
○ 6:30 Second shift of group member arrives and relieves first shift.
○ 10:30 Participants should be gone and the cleanup process will begin. Group
members will start putting away the hole, and help clean up scattered golf balls,
and trash.
○ 11:00 Group members will be able to leave and take all left over equipment with
them.

Budget (5 points)
All the groups together were awarded a total of $688.
This hole was awarded = $63.76
This hole was budgeted initially by Group 8 and Group 5 was then assigned this hole. Group 5
has tried their best to stay close to the initial budget while also trying to save money. We did not
take into the consideration the cost of turf because we were a little confused about what the final
decision was concerning purchasing it.
4 ½ (2 ft x 4 ft) inch plywood- $9.02 Lowes
Fishing net- $4.99 plus shipping = $11.98 on orientaltrading.com
½ inch PVC Coupling - $0.35 Home Depot
¾ inch PVC Coupling - $0.35 Home Depot
2 inch PVC Coupling - $0.98 Home Depot
Green Turf ( 7.5ft x custom length- 3ft) - $24.97
1 box of 3 inch wood screws - $8.47 Home Depot
Wood Glue- $3.19 from Target
Spray paint - $3.76 each ( x2) = $7.52
GRAND ESTIMATED TOTAL w/o turf = $42.86
GRAND ESTIMATED TOTAL w/ turf = $67.83
This hole was awarded = $63.76

Goals and Objectives (15 points)

Goal 1: To provide a fun and welcoming environment for the San Marcos community.
Objectives: When asked, 100% of participants will indicate they felt welcomed and had a good
time.
When every participant arrives at the hole all present group members will welcome and interact
with 100% of participants.

Goal 2: To bring awareness to the surrounding downtown shops and businesses.

Objectives: When asked, every participant will be able to identify two businesses surrounding
the courthouse.
When asked, 70% of participants will express an interest in visiting a business within two weeks
of this event.

Goal 3: To run a smooth event without any severe issues or injuries.

Objectives: Students will show up at assigned time and have our putt putt hole set up with no
apparent risks present for the start of the event.
At the end of the event, have zero reported injuries or damage to participants and cars.

Group Five: Part Three

Contingency Plan:
● Rain: People are not going to be as willing to come to an outdoor event if it is raining or
has just rained. So if this is to occur we should attempt to either find an indoor location,
like the gyms in Jowers or see if Mainstreet would allow us to have a different night
during Swing on the Square.
● Our hole breaking: Our hole is the skeeball hole and is meant to be the last hole on the
course. If there is a situation where a part of our hole breaks we will not make a big deal
of it and try to see if it is necessary to repair it immediately. We can also bring extra tape,
glue and nails just in case.
● Not enough putters: Our class has not really been able to secure a lot of putters so far
so there is a chance we might not have a lot of putters. In this case we can try and just
keep one or two putters per hole and let the player take their balls. Or to try and prevent
this from happening we can try to motivate the class more and make people group up
and go thrift shopping for putters..
Risk Management Plan:
● Risk one: Hitting the golf balls too hard and possibly hitting other bystanders or any
passing cars. Possible solution: Remind the participant when needed that it only takes a
 small swing to make the ball travel down the course. As well as yelling out “heads up” if
a ball does go flying towards other people.
● Risk two: Large crowd and long lines near the street Possible solution: Make sure that
the people in the registration booth also have extra volunteers to do crowd control and
let the people know that they need keep the line moving.
● Risk three: Running kids. Possible solution: Anytime you observe someone running ask
them to please return their hole or to exit the course so that the people who are playing
can enjoy their time without people running around.
Inclusion Plan:
● 3 specific disability groups:
○ Deaf participants: Make sure to face the deaf participant and let them read your
lips or just have pen and paper present.
○ ADHD: Have a set of expectations, and try to keep them short and simple.
Children with ADHD have a harder time concentrating.
○ Autism Spectrum: Some kids on the spectrum have a hard time with receptive
and expressive language, so be clear with directions and if directions are not
followed make sure to express the need for directions being followed for safety
precautions.
● 2 groups that may require special accommodations:
○ Elderly: May need the swing limit adjusted due to their ability or inability to swing
hard.
○ Left Handed players: Making sure that there are left handed clubs and that they
can hit the ball from either side of the hole.

Press Release:

Contact: Main Street San Marcos For Immediate Release

Tel. (512) 393-8430
Email: mainstreet@sanmarcostx.gov
Date: 2/7/2017

Come enjoy a night of relaxation and fun in downtown San Marcos with a Pop-up Putt Putt
course put on by Texas State University Students and Main Street San Marcos.
(April 7th, 2017)
Pop-up Putt Putt is an event where participants will take part in an easy-going game of putt putt
on the courthouse lawn. Participants are also encouraged to check out some of the local shops
and restaurants surrounding the square.

The event will be held on April 7th, 2017 from 5:30 PM - 10PM. One round of this 9-hole course
cost just $5, and you can play in groups up to 8 people. Balls and clubs will be provided.
Reserve a tee time in advance to reserve your spot for the night. San Marcos High School
Young Life Club will be working the concession stand. While on the Square make sure to check
out some of the local businesses, Texas State students will be able to tell you the best places
for food and drinks. In addition, come check out the 25th annual Swing on the Square Festival
that will also be going on.

Main Street San Marcos has a vision to foster a downtown that is unique and a culturally vibrant
destination for people of all ages, where local businesses thrive and people can connect, create
and celebrate.

Please join us for the Pop-up Putt Putt event and enjoy a relaxing and fun evening in downtown
San Marcos. Once again, one round is $5 per person and you can register online or at the
event.

About Main Street San Marcos

In 1986 San Marcos was designated as an official Main Street City by the Texas Historical
Commission and the National Trust for Historic Preservation and is one of the oldest Main
Street programs in Texas. In addition, San Marcos has been named a National Main Street City
by the National Trust and the Texas Historical Commission since the recognition was
established in 1999. Only a few cities in Texas have received this honor.

Sponsorship Letter:

Hays County Young Life

102 Wonder World Dr. Suite 304-105
San Marcos, TX 78666

April 3, 2017

San Marcos Young Life,

I have spent much of my life involved with Young Life in some capacity, either as a
recipient of blessings from the Young Life family or as a volunteer in Austin and at multiple
camps in high school. Young Life has had a significant impact on my life and on the lives of so
many others.

With that said, I would like to ask for your help with something I am now involved in! I am
a recreation minor and for one of my courses it is my groups job to organize, fundraise and
facilitate a program for the city of San Marcos. This year, the program is going to be a putt-putt
course that our class will design and build.

Our class will be dividing among nine groups and each group will propose a hole design,
which will either be accepted or altered. Once a design is agreed upon, each group will come up
with a budget proposal for the cost of the hole. As soon as a budget is in place the group will
begin the hole building process. The event will take place on Thursday, April, 7 in the
courthouse lawn in downtown San Marcos.

The program will be targeting high school students in San Marcos. This would be a great
opportunity to bring your high school friends along and enjoy a night in downtown San Marcos
playing putt-putt and getting to love on your friends while simultaneously helping facilitate the
local community put on a fun event.

We would like to request your assistance in making this event an enjoyable night for
everyone who attends! Your sponsorship of a table, tent, administration, cooler and drinks
would go a long way in making this night a memorable one and would be greatly appreciated.

If you have any questions or would like additional information, please contact Sarah
Walters at swalters@txstate.edu. Thank you so much for your support in bringing together
families and high school friends of San Marcos and making this recreation experience a
memorable one for everyone involved!

Best,

Joe Scherer
Cell:832-875-8137
Jds306@txstate.edu

PART 4 – Evaluation & Reflection (30 points)

Evaluation (15 points)

Answer the following prompts related to evaluation:

● Select and describe 3 ways that you could evaluate (or could have evaluated) this
event (evaluation tools) and how you would implement (or could have
implemented) them;
○ Feasibility Study - We took the time to figure out what resources we needed to
accomplish the task before jumping into it. Also, now we know roughly how much
it costs and make improvements for next time.
○ Formative Evaluation - We monitored the event to see how many people were
coming and going, we looked for facial expressions and body language to see
how participants were enjoying the event. It was enjoyable but there weren’t
many people. We could advertise better next year.
○ Summative Evaluation - What we could have done is put a short survey on the
back of score cards asking people questions on satisfaction, favorite hole, and
likelihood to come again, and collected them at the last hole so we had hard data
to go keep for future records. However, for our first, last minute pop putt event, I
would say it was an overall success.
● Design and attach a participant evaluation form; attached after the pictures of the
event.
● Report how well goals and objectives were attained (you must write each one out
and describe how each was or was not met);
○ Goal 1: To provide a fun and welcoming environment for the San Marcos
community.
○ Objectives: 1. When asked, 100% of participants will indicate they felt welcomed
and had a good time. 2. When every participant arrives at the hole, welcome and
interact with 100% of participants.
■ This goal was easy to attain. Participants were willing to listen and learn
and even when it got difficult, they were good sports.
○ Goal 2: To bring awareness to the surrounding downtown shops and
businesses.
○ Objectives: 1. When asked, every participant will be able to identify two
businesses surrounding the courthouse. 2. When asked, 70% of participants will
express an interest in visiting a business within two weeks of this event.
■ If any awareness to specific businesses were present, it was simply due
to our location at the square. Our putt putt holes were San Marcos
themed but no businesses were in the spotlight. However, if asked,
participants should be able to name at least 2 businesses on the square.
○ Goal 3: To run a smooth event without any severe issues or injuries.
 ○ Objectives: 1. Students will show up at assigned time and properly have our
station set up for the start of the event. 2. At the end of the event, have zero
reported injuries or damage to participants and cars.
■ Every group did a great job in attaining this goal. We were 2 and a half
hours early, we set up, and had extra time before the event started. There
were no injuries, or damaged cars. We did a good job at keeping up with
the balls to avoid people running after them on the street, no one horse
played with the putters, and overall it was a safe environment.

● Address how you evaluated each of the 5 P’s of evaluation (Participants, Personnel,
Place, Policies/Administration, Program) and identify HOW they were evaluated
throughout the project.
○ Place: The lighting proved to be an issue whenever the sun went down. We
should’ve set up a more reliable lighting system throughout the course.
○ Personnel: During the event we didn’t have a steady flow of participants which
led the people who were supervising the holes to get bored and wander and
become unfocused.
○ Participant Satisfaction: When observing the participants interacting with the
Texas State students and their putt putt holes the participants had a positive
demeanor. The participants seemed to enjoy their time playing the course and
there were no complaints of the price vs the quality.
○ Policies and Procedures: Keeping the putters at each hole and allowing the
players to take their balls with them worked smoothly. Providing a scorecard and
pencil helped with organization of the program.
○ Program: The program overall had a decent turn out but did not meet some of
the class set goals.

Reflection (10 points)

● One improvement that I would make to this event is doing a better job of getting the word
out. It was a good event but I think a lot more people would have showed up if they had
known about it. A good way to attract more people is to go to the surrounding
businesses and tell them about the event. As for improvements on our hole, we could
have constructed a better hole but for the circumstances that we had I would say that it
went very well.
● I think the event as an overall went very well. Of course we would have liked more
people to show up to the event but considering it was the first year, it ran very well. Our
group (and each group) did a great job interacting with the participants and made sure
that they were having fun. For the most part each member of our group completed
separate tasks in order for us to build and run our putt putt hole.
● I do think that it is a good idea to continue this event, and I would continue to partner
with the Programming class. I think that with another year to plan and workout the
mistakes that the pop-up putt putt event will continue to improve each year. While at
times it was frustrating working in a group with people who have completely different
schedules I think that this event/project was a good hands on experience for us. One key
improvement that I would make to the event is hosting it at an earlier time in the day. A
problem that we ran into later in the event was lighting. If the event was earlier in the day
lighting would not be an issue and I think attendance would be much better if the event
was earlier in the day.