5 WAYS TO EXCEED MEMBER AND GUEST EXPECTATIONS ON THE COURSE

Each member that sets foot on the course, whether frequently or infrequently, should be viewed as a walking spokesperson for the club.

Now, more than ever, social media has amplified the reach people have, and they can instantly broadcast their experience to hundreds of like-minded people with a Facebook or Instagram post.

The same is true of the members that walk your course, who can either become advocates for marketing the club on your behalf, or a disgruntled customer that drives potential new members away.

When a club does a better job of retaining customers, especially newcomers, they put themselves in a powerful position, with improved player experience resulting in higher participation levels.

Here are five ways that private courses can ensure members and guests are having their on-course expectations met, and exceeded:

Understand what really matters to the members

If you don’t know what it is that your members value, you cannot set clear goals. For example, 76% of players say the flow on the course, the pace of play, and respecting their time is crucial to their enjoyment of a round.

With Tagmarshal’s golf course optimization platform, marshals can constantly monitor the pace of play and the consistency of field flow, and intervene before bottlenecks occur and the problem spirals.

When members see a proactive approach by the club, they immediately feel like they are prioritized, and they also see more value in the membership fees and course fees that they fork out.

Innovate with technology and utilize modern opportunities

Advancements in golf management systems have not only created an enhanced member experience, but it’s also created additional revenue stream opportunities.

In a 2016 USGA survey, results showed that golfers under the age of 40 would pay 14.2% more for a better pace of play and shorter round times. With golfers between the ages of 40 and 59 willing to pay over 11.5%.

Using that information, and combining it with the available golf management software, clubs have figured out how to maximize their revenue potential.

To cater to those who place greater importance on pace of play, many private courses are now charging players premium rates for a guarantee that they won’t be held back by slower groups up ahead on the course.

Offering members and guests the chance to play through at earlier tee times, provided they finish their round within a stipulated time, reduces the on-course strain during peak capacity hours, and provides a superior experience to those who place emphasis on pace of play.

Empower your staff to walk in the shoes of the members

Members want to know that the staff, from top to bottom, can place themselves in their shoes, and that they understand what it takes to provide a consistently exceptional level of service.

Each member of staff is important but, on the course, it is the marshals who are of vital importance.

Using Tagmarshal’s systems, marshals can offer a golf experience tailored to each member. The golf course optimization software enables marshals to personalize conversations, remember players’ names, and better understand the expectations members have of the club.

Create positive on-course dialogue

Engaging with members regarding their pace of play is never easy. When on-course issues do arise, the wealth of data Tagmarshal provides allows marshals to handle them immediately, offering members positive, data-driven assistance.

This helps solve issues like poor pace of play in a positive and adaptive manner.

Marshals can also alert other staff members to follow up upon the completion of the round, which creates an environment of excellence that continues right through to the clubhouse.

Set clear goals and continually identify areas of improvement

A club should never rest on its laurels, and staff should know exactly what is expected from them in each aspect of their duties.

Once a member steps onto the course, Tagmarshal’s golf management systems allows management to send staff real-time notifications. These are assigned to a specific staff member, giving management a degree of staff performance tracking that many country clubs and private clubs currently lack.

Management can use this data to hold staff accountable for achieving maximum operational efficiencies, and to reward members and caddies who regularly achieve the pace of play targets set.

By following these five steps and incorporating Tagmarshal’s golf management software into the day to day running of your club, you can assure that members enjoy an exceptional experience, turning them into your most powerful marketing asset at the same time.

Continuous improvement via the Tagmarshal system improves staff effectiveness, scheduling, and reduces operational costs. In addition, those staff hours freed up can be in ways that open additional avenues of revenue.

Using Tagmarshal’s smart data and intuitive technology, clubs can now confidently promote and provide a consistent pace of play. Given that we know exactly how important members consider the pace of play and on-course flow to their overall experience, it’s no wonder that leading courses are prioritizing investing in golf club management software ahead of the new season.

About the author:

Bodo Sieber, CEO and Co-Founder of Tagmarshal

Bodo is a dynamic leader and brings a wealth of business intelligence and corporate software applications experience to the golf industry. A German national with an extensive understanding of management and process optimization, Bodo has honed his applied data science expertise during more than a decade in the field.

HOW GOLF COURSE INTELLIGENCE SOFTWARE IS CHANGING THE ROLE OF THE MODERN GOLF MARSHAL 

They want to know that the staff, from top to bottom, can place themselves in the members’ shoes, and thus understand what it takes to provide a consistently exceptional level of service.

Each member of staff is important to keep things running smoothly, but when it comes to on-course interaction, it is the marshals who become the face of the club. Therefore, it is crucially important to ensure that marshals are trained to handle issues that arise, such as bad pace of play and flow challenges, in an adaptive and positive manner.

Clubs can train their marshals to think on their feet, but there is no substitute for the real-time, on the go data that golf club management software provides.

Tagmarshal, the industry leader in golf course intelligent software, provides clubs with the ability to offer an exceptional level of service. Marshals can establish a positive, non-confrontational approach to enforcing course rules and regulations, backed by intuitive data and analytics.

Better still, they can offer a golf experience tailored to the individual, as the golf tracking software enables marshals to personalize conversations, remember players’ names, and better get a feel of the kind of expectations members have of the course.

When on-course issues do arise, the wealth of data allows marshals to handle them immediately, offer members assistance, and follow up upon the completion of the round, all of which ensures an exceptional experience.

In the case of Wisconsin Club, Tagmarshal’s golf management software has empowered marshals to regularly beat pace of play challenges, and the course is now a four-hour round course, a fact that they can proudly promote based on the consistency of round times.

In addition, the club has since hit its capacity of 350 members, with the greatly reduced churn rate attributed to positive and reliable on-course experiences.

To put it simply, Tagmarshal’s pace tracking system means marshals can pursue an improved pace of play, based on a positive and data-driven approach in dealing with members. This creates an environment of excellence that continues right through to the clubhouse, in turn maximizing revenue for the club.

Given how competitive the market has become, and how much of a premium golfers place on pace of play, it’s clear that golf management systems like Tagmarshal are set to further revolutionize the game in the years to come.

5 PACE OF PLAY TIPS EVERY CLUB NEEDS TO FOLLOW

Time and time again, golfers have expressed the importance of field flow and the on-course pace of play. For many, it’s up there with the most vital aspects of an enjoyable golfing experience.

A recent USGA survey saw 74% of respondents agree that pace is “critical” to the enjoyment of their round. When clubs fail to deliver on this front, members are often quick to complain, and a club can gain a bad reputation that proves very tough to turn around.

Each member of staff are an important part of keeping things running smoothly, but when it comes to on-course interactions, it is the marshals who become the face to the members and guests of the club. That means, it is crucially important to ensure that marshals have the tools to handle issues that arise, such as a slow pace of play and flow challenges, in an adaptive and positive manner.

Ensuring a consistent field flow and a steady pace of play also has a massive impact on a club’s bottom line, influencing everything from the number of members who tee off through to the amount of time they spend at the pro shop and clubhouse.

To both maximize revenue opportunity and improve the members’ on-course playing experience, here are five pace of play tips clubs need to bear in mind.

Consistency

When it comes to field flow and pace of play, consistency is king.

The club can start by providing a consistent product, beginning with the course layout and conditioning. Once those boxes have been ticked, it needs to look at ensuring that each member of staff is up to speed with pace of play protocol.

With the data provided by golf club management software such as Tagmarshal, not only can management monitor member performance on the course, but they can also use the data gathered to inform and educate staff in the correct pace of play procedures.

Management can oversee all on-course operations in real time, ensuring processes work efficiently and correctly, with staff performance then analyzed and streamlined to make the most of staff hours.

Smarter starter

Pace of play starts right from the tee box, and the starter needs to hold members accountable. Teeing off at the prescribed time sets the right tone and makes keeping the intervals true throughout the rest of the day far easier.

Starters should also pay attention to factors that consistently affect pace of play, such as age, handicap, and mobility.

Once these groups are out on the course, Tagmarshal’s real-time data and golf cart GPS tracking software can keep tabs on each grouping’s pace of play and adjust accordingly.

Field flow

One of the fundamentals of pace of play is measuring how on-course flow directly impacts the members’ golfing experience.

Some clubs tend to think that when members are out on the course on time, their job is done. This reactive, rather than proactive, approach results in problems like bottlenecks, and a jammed field eventually leads to groups missing their tee times.

Clubs who tackle pace of play problems and on-course operations proactively and in real-time can offer pre-emptive support to members.

In turn, members will always react positively to a club that values their time, and readily adopt the club’s field flow and pace of play processes. The data Tagmarshal provides allows for fact-based discussions, ensuring that the occasional uncomfortable conversation with a slow-playing member can be handled tactfully.

Prioritize spending

Ultimately, money spent needs to be done so in a way that can influence the club’s bottom line.

Club management needs to illustrate the return on investment opportunities that golf management software provides, which is something that Tagmarshal has consistently shown.

At the Country Club at Castle Pines in Colorado, for example, groups playing on pace increased from 52% to 70%, even with the volume of rounds increasing by more than 500% during peak season.

In addition, round times decreased from 4:09 to 4:04, improving on the set goal time by 11 minutes. This allows clubs to increase the number of members playing through, in such a way that the quality of the experience is not compromised.

Tagmarshal’s system then offers the reporting functionalities needed to produce detailed reports, which are invaluable when developing budgets and making management decisions.

Which brings us to our final tip…

Time equals money

Many clubs often feel like they don’t have enough time or money, but they aren’t making effective use of either.

Given the wealth of data and intuitive technology now available, poor staff management is an entirely unnecessary drain on a club’s time and budgetary resources.

Continuous improvement via the Tagmarshal system improves staff effectiveness, scheduling, and reduces operational costs. In addition, those staff hours freed up can be in ways that open additional avenues of revenue.

Using Tagmarshal’s smart data and intuitive technology, clubs can now confidently promote and provide a consistent pace of play. Given that we know exactly how important members consider the pace of play and on-course flow to their overall experience, it’s no wonder that leading courses are prioritizing investing in golf club management software ahead of the new season.

About the author:

Daniela Viotti, Key Accounts Manager of Tagmarshal

Rich with golf industry experience, Daniela brings fresh, forward-thinking ideas to her account management role. Armed with a passion for the game, she holds an MBA and is a former athlete and golf coach of the women’s golf team at the University of Missouri – St Louis. Daniela plays an integral role in supporting Tagmarshal’s partner courses.

PROOF THAT TODAY’S GOLFERS WILL PAY PREMIUM PRICES FOR QUICKER ROUNDS

Successfully run daily fee and resort courses are ones that can strike a balance between maximizing revenue and maintaining a consistently satisfying golfing experience.

Patience might be a virtue, but when it comes to field flow and pace of play on the course, it’s not a virtue that golfers are especially known for. Because of this, clubs straddle a fine line, and an error made in either direction can, ultimately, have far-reaching consequences.

Without the proper tools for complete oversight, golf course operators lose out on the opportunity to optimize the flow of the field, gain invaluable, real-time information, and provide an exceptional experience with an improved pace of play.

In a 2016 USGA survey, results showed that golfers under the age of 40 would pay 14.2% more for a better pace of play and shorter round times. With golfers between the ages of 40 and 59 willing to pay over 11.5%.

With this ever-increasing demand to fit in a round of golf in the morning, before having to be in the office, courses are realizing the need to better manage peak period demands by freeing up capacity.

To cater to those who place greater importance on pace of play, many daily fee and resort courses have started charging players a premium rate to guarantee that they won’t be held back by slower groups up ahead on the course.

Those golfers who play the course regularly, or those who like to play more dynamic golf without being held up, are happy to make and pay for this commitment.

Using Tagmarshal’s intelligent golf club management software, and the real-time data it provides to manage on-course field flow, operators can make use of variable goal times for different times of the day.

If courses can get player commitment to finish with a 3:50 round time, and then use the Tagmarshal course optimization system to ensure this happens, they can free up capacity for peak periods of the day.

The Ocean Course at Kiawah, the site of the 2021 and 2012 PGA Championships, 2007 Senior PGA Championship, and 1991 Ryder Cup, run their early rounds at a 4:15 target time, rather than the usual 4:45 target time.

Data shows that around 14% of groups play at 30 minutes or more over per round, which is due in large parts to delays in earlier groups. Encouraging players who enjoy a faster pace of play to tee off earlier sets a course up for smoother operations throughout the rest of the day.

The return on investment when it comes to an increased pace of play is obvious. Just two ‘Fast Track Golf’ mornings a week, charging $10 extra through the five tee times generates an extra $11 200 through a seven-month season.

At the same time, a well-balanced flow adds to player satisfaction, which leads to a greater chance of them returning. With the experience enhanced by great field flow, the value perception improves tremendously, especially for any groups that would otherwise be held up or delayed.

Ultimately, successful courses are coming to realize that for many of their golfers, the value lies not in how much the round costs. Rather, they want a course that guarantees a consistent pace of play, and one that shows a proactive approach to on-course flow.

Deliver on these fronts, and deliver consistently, and courses will find more and more golfers returning for another round.

MICHAEL WILLIAMS TALKS WITH BODO SIEBER ON GOLF CLUB MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

Tagmarshal’s CEO and co-founder, Bodo Sieber, was featured on The 19th Hole with Michael Williams, discussing golf club management software and how Tagmarshal is optimizing operational efficiencies and player experiences at courses worldwide.

Michael Williams is savvy broadcaster and writer, producing critically acclaimed shows on Fox Radio network and Newschannel8. A keen golfer, Williams has produced publications covering the game of golf and the golf lifestyle around the world. Williams is a member of the USGA and the Golf Writers Association of America.

Listen to the full conversation here:

HOW GOLF COURSE MANAGEMENT AND A GOOD ROUND OF GOLF MIRRORS THE SUCCESSFUL RUNNING OF A GOLF CLUB

We have all heard the adage that ‘golf is a good walk spoiled’. Anyone who has ever had to hunt down a wild tee shot can relate, but private courses understand that they need to do everything in their power to create a unique and memorable experience for each golfer.

In the same way that a golfer needs to master a range of skills to shoot a solid round, so too does course management need to understand each aspect of the club’s smooth running.

To ensure maximum operational efficiencies, you need to be a strong visionary, a good manager who understands the nuances of what makes the course tick, and an improver of business processes.

Tagmarshal’s revolutionary golf management systems empowers managers and staff with the knowledge and tools to tick these boxes, providing real-time data to produce detailed reports that are invaluable when making critical management decisions.

Much like how improving accuracy off the tee can inexplicably lead to a wonky iron game, implementing new systems will often come with some frustrations, and as one problem is solved, another invariably arises. Getting the most out of a tool as powerful as Tagmarshal takes time and training, and a course’s needs may shift and change, but sticking with it is key.

After all, as a rather famous golfer once said, “The harder I practise, the luckier I get.”

In business, as in golf, it’s a game of inches. A gust of wind here, a putt that lips out to a few yards there, and you’re walking into the clubhouse with a very different-looking scorecard.

Private clubs operate in the same way. If you underinvest in something critical like golf course optimization, your club can still fail, even if you’ve done everything else masterfully.

Too often courses think that once the golfer is out on the course, the quality of their experience is in their own hands, when they should be thinking of ways to optimize every aspect, no matter how small the detail.

The average round of golf takes somewhere around four hours, and it’s during this time that a club can really set itself apart.

Something as simple as the marshals greeting each group by name can have a huge bearing on how people perceive their day on the course. Showing players that you’re proactively tackling pace-of-play issues using on-the-go data is an invaluable asset, and is just one example of the lengths the club will go to make up those all-powerful inches.

A successful round is a sum of all its parts, and the same is true for a for a private club. Utilizing Tagmarshal’s industry-leading golf course optimization platform, management can keep their eye on the ball, ultimately increasing their chances of making each player’s walk a little less spoiled.