Wild World of Sports Pumping up pro-ams
By Adam Barr
The thrill of the pro-am. The agony of the pro-am dinner.Howard (Howdy) Letzring's job is to pump up the latter by reliving the former. Letzring's company, Wild World of Sports, specializes in showing pro-am players the fun they had during the day by producing a video to be shown that night.
"We're the ABC Sports of corporate America," said Letzring, 51. "People pay five grand (to play in the pro-am), and we make them look like stars."
Letzring became a video believer while he was a tennis instructor in the mid-1970s. He ran tournaments and videotaped players' swings for a modest fee. Letzring noticed how much people laughed and enjoyed the show. In 1979, Letzring figured the idea would transfer to golf. His theory: The typical bundle of pro-am gifts is nothing compared with the chance to be a star, and to see it all on film.
So Letzring, a cameraman and a tape editor started haunting pro-ams at tournaments, looking for distinctive swings among the distinctive company. By 1980 Letzring, who does his own interviews and voice-overs, was up to 75 events per year, enough to leave his tennis job. He has recently scaled back to 30-50 events annually, covering the country from offices in Belleair Beach, Fla., and Palm Springs, Calif.
About 15 minutes of golf interspersed with interviews and plenty of camera time with famous pros, all set to music, is Wild World's final product. After the tournament, every participant gets a copy, courtesy of the happy, often-recalled sponsor.
"We try to show a guy like Mickelson mixing with (GTE chief executive officer) Chuck Lee," Letzring said.
The serious work comes after the golf, when Letzring and his crew cut hours of videotape down to the snappiest quarter hour. At last year's GTE Byron Nelson Classic near Fort Worth, Texas, Letzring's crew shot a Wednesday pro-am until 3 p.m., then edited until midnight. Starting early the next day, Letzring and crew filmed all 30 foursomes in GTE's customer appreciation outing. Along the way, they were lucky enough to catch and extra action scene: Nick Price making a hole-in-one at the TPC at Las Colinas' second hole.
More editing, and by 5 p.m., the tape was ready for the GTE gala. Letzring's video was the centerpiece of a show that included Peter Jacobsen as emcee and Louise Mandrell as musical headliner.
The sponsors pay about $18,500 for the service, Letzring said, but he has been paid as much as $30,000. Most find the cost worthwhile.
"Howdy has a nice touch with people," said Dick Windom of Burlington Industries. Burlington, whose headquarters are in Greensboro, N.C., hired Letzring to film its outing before the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic. "He can get away with sort of gently rubbing people about their golf games and make them laugh at it."
One feature of the tape is that players get to see how friends in other foursomes played. And a copy of the tape to take home helps cement Burlington's relationship with its customers.
"It's just a way of extending the fun of the day," Window said, "the same way you'd make videos of a family vacation."
Better than another golf shirt, and it never needs washing.
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