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Cruise control

Tournament organizer Jim Caspio hopes to make a splash with golf travelers by adding a new option to his company’s offerings.

BY CATHERINE RISLINGPublished: July, 2010

Jim Caspio will add a cruise option for his clients this fall (PHOTO: Eddie Meeks).
For more than two decades, Jim Caspio has been organizing corporate golf tournaments. He’s also helped nonprofits raise money for charities, organized golf clinics and set up awards banquets.
   
This fall, Caspio is adding another service to Caspio Merrick Corporate Golf Tournaments — golf cruises.
   
“Our motto is: You get the players and we do the rest,” said Caspio, a certified teaching pro since 1980 who started organizing tournaments 24 years ago. “We do it all. It’s a win-win for everyone.”
   
Caspio’s enthusiasm for the game started with his grandfather, who was inducted into the Northern Ohio Golf Association’s Hall of Fame in Cleveland in the early 1950s, and then his father, a PGA professional who played with close friend Chi Chi Rodriguez.
   
Along with partner and executive account manager Jeff Merrick, Caspio handles everything from location and prizes to promotions and activities. Recently, Caspio Merrick Corporate Golf Tournaments expanded its business outside of Orange County with tournaments in Las Vegas and Arizona.
   
Caspio Merrick also has partnered with O’Donnell Travel in Fullerton to arrange three- and seven-day tournament excursions to Hawaii and Mexico. Together, they offer the West Coast’s only golf tournament cruise, Caspio said.
   
“A lot of people love to cruise and this is a great way to visit more than one destination and one golf course without wasting time packing and unpacking,” said Barbara Riordan, owner of O’Donnell Travel. “We can plan three destinations and three courses and not have to take a plane or long drive between.”
   
Packages are customized for groups of 100 to 400, and can include golfers and their families. Every detail is handled, from flights and hotel reservations to cruise activities and tournament play.
   
“We’ll have other events planned during the day, like tennis lessons and sightseeing excursions for the spouses who don’t golf,” said Caspio, who serves as director of operations on every cruise.
   
Costs are determined by the type of cabin, time of year, number of travel days and which cruise line is chosen. A typical seven-day cruise to Hawaii aboard Norwegian Cruise Line, for example, would include a luau, play at four courses on four islands, a teaching clinic, cocktail party and an awards ceremony.


For more information, visit caspiomerrickgolf.com.