Navesink Country Club sits on a gently rolling crest, overlooking the Navesink River, with a majestic clubhouse occupying the highest point on the property.

Designed by Hal Purdy, the par 72 course prides itself on having top-notch management and professional staff who consistently deliver the highest level of service.

Steve Sieg, PGA, the Head Golf Professional at Navesink CC, found time in his busy schedule to run us through his daily routine, as well as unpacking how the course uses technology to provide an exceptional member experience.

How would you describe your morning routine to kickstart your day?

I wake up and walk my dog Kobe first thing like clockwork every day.

Has golf always been your first love?

Baseball was first, until golf took over when I was 15. I switched because I figured I could play golf for a lifetime and that baseball would end sooner rather than later.

Tell us about your role at Navesink CC. Why is it important?

We promote the game of golf to our members and their guests daily with everything we do.  If we can make their day at the club special, then we have done our job.

Why has your course decided to invest in Tagmarshal?

Pace of play has always been an issue but with Tagmarshal, we now have a tool to improve our pace of play with real data.  It also helps that our committee has a process for dealing with pace-delaying golfers.

Since implementing Tagmarshal, how have your golfers responded to the on-course experience?

I would say that most have embraced our efforts to improve the pace of play. The only golfers who have resisted are the ones that need to improve their pace. 

Describe Tagmarshal in three words.

Efficient, enlightening, organized.

What is your dream golf destination? Why?

The Monterey Peninsula has always been one of my favorite destinations for golf but hopefully one day I’ll play Cypress Point, which has been on my bucket list since I read the book “The Match”.

Your best golf moment?

Winning the New Jersey State Open in 1989.

If you could be a caddie on Tour, whose caddie would you like to be and why?

I think Scottie Scheffler is a great golfer and person but he wouldn’t need much help. He would be my choice because of his special qualities as a champion.

Tagmarshal was proud to be a presenting sponsor of the Multi-Course & Resort Operators Retreat 2024 (MCOR24) event, hosted by multi-year partner the NGCOA, at the Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa in Monterey, California.

A highlight in Tagmarshal’s calendar, CEO Bodo Sieber and VP of Business Development, David Hamilton enjoyed sharing ideas and gaining valuable insights into the golf industry with many of the biggest names in the golf course and resort business, for the fourth year running.

“As golf continues to thrive, we’re excited to see the growing role that AI, data and technology play in attracting and retaining younger, time-starved golfers. We look forward to leading the charge when it comes to creating tech-optimized on-course experiences that benefit both golfers and operators alike,” said Sieber.

One of the day’s highlights was Greg Nathan, CEO of the National Golf Foundation, sharing exclusive findings from the NGF’s renowned “State of the Industry” report.

Their data revealed 5 interesting takeaways:

• Engagement means they either played, watched or read about golf.
• Last year, this surpassed 120 million, up more than 20% since 2020.
• Importantly, there is also a latent demand of 22 million Americans interested in playing at a golf course.

• There are three different participant groups: on-course only, off-course only and those who engage on both fronts.
• In 2014, just north of 30 million people participated in at least one of the above. 
• That figure has increased for six straight years and in 2023, it reached 45 million.

• Golfers under the age of 50 accounted for 71% of the total round growth over the past 5 years.
• Women golfers have accounted for 39% of the total growth.

• Not only are golfers under 50 playing more rounds, but there has also been a large shift in perception.
• 59% of 18-34 year olds think golf is cool or has the potential to be cool, along with 55% of 35-49 year olds.
• Only 30% of those ages 65 and up think golf is cool.

• The rise of off-course golf, such as Topgolf, is fueling a surge in the popularity of on-course golf.
• Only 39% of new golfers had off-course experience in 2016. By 2019, that number had risen to 54%, and it reached 66% last year.

The event closed with words from John Kasich, the former Governor of Ohio, in conversation with Jay Karen, CEO of the NGCOA, unpacking the upcoming election and the legislative items that are likely to be affected.

Attendees then headed for the Pebble Beach Golf Links® Fairway One™ Complex for dinner, beverages, and musical entertainment, wrapping up another exceptional event.

“Thank you to our partners, the NGCOA, for hosting a truly exceptional MCOR this year. We’re excited to see the golf industry go from strength to strength and look forward to technology playing a leading role in driving and sustaining this growth,” Sieber added.

Drawing on the insights and lessons learned from MCOR24, Tagmarshal looks forward to continued innovation in the year ahead.

Great news – now you can watch our latest expert webinar, featuring Falcon Ridge Golf Course, on-demand in your own time!

Titled “How Falcon Ridge uses on-course management tech to enhance the player experience and generate revenue,” it features expert guest Rob Wursten, General Manager, Falcon Ridge. You’ll learn how the course has embraced tech to boost their bottom line, while consistently delivering exceptional player experiences.

Falcon Ridge, located in Mesquite, Nevada, is revered for its dramatic desert terrain. Rock formations that rise between the holes make using line-of-sight tech all the more valuable.

A common theme among well-run golf operations, whether a high-end private club or the daily fee course down the road, is the shrewd use of technology. From the moment a player makes a booking, to gauging their post-round sentiment, an opportunity exists to leverage technology to your advantage.

While Valhalla (private), Pinehurst (resort) and Willow Springs (daily fee) are very different clubs, there are lessons you can take from each.

Below, we will look at how each course has utilized technology to ensure it functions optimally.

Valhalla is one of the most storied names in golf, having hosted the 2008 Ryder Cup, four PGA Championships – including the 2024 event – and two Senior PGA Championships.

Featuring a mix of cart and walking golf, Valhalla made the decision to be proactive with pace management to reduce average round times and improve pace and flow of play for members.

With Tagmarshal’s system identifying potential problem groups before they affected the field, the club reduced round times by 12 minutes season-on-season, with a 24% improvement in rounds finishing within 10 minutes of the goal time.

Importantly, members quickly felt the benefits of using technology, as there were more than 400 rounds positively impacted per month. 

This helps create buy-in and drives a pace culture whereby members know that marshals or player assistants are monitoring the field using neutral, fact-based data.

PRO TIP: Tagmarshal’s Live Map shows where each group is on the course, with different colors showing whether they are on pace (green), slow but not impacting other groups (red), being delayed by a group ahead (orange) or delaying other groups (magenta).

This is calculated using more than 10 dynamically calculated factors and highlights exactly which groups your team should address to improve pace and flow.

Pinehurst No. 2 is the only golf course to have hosted all five of the USGA’s most prestigious events: U.S. Open, U.S. Women’s Open, U.S. Amateur, U.S. Women’s Amateur, and U.S. Senior Open.

Following the highly successful hosting of the 2024 U.S. Open, the team at Pinehurst needed to return No. 2 from tournament conditions to what Director of Golf, Matt Barksdale, calls the “championship level for resort guests.”

For this, they rely on Tagmarshal’s data-driven software to answer questions about green speeds, hole positioning, and the impact these have on pace of play.

When the club dug into the correlation between green speed and average round speed, it was obvious that faster greens led to longer rounds and fewer rounds finishing on pace.

With green speeds around 13 or 14 for the U.S. Open, pros averaged over 5 hours a round. For resort guests, the ideal is an average round time of closer to four-and-a-half hours.

Thanks to the data, Barksdale and his team knew that adjusting the green speed downward – making them slower – to around 10 would improve course flow.

PRO TIP: All of the data gathered by Tagmarshal’s set of features comes together in the Analytics Hub and is displayed in a way that is both visually appealing and easy to understand.

By looking at the data in more granular detail, you’ll be able to identify areas where you can drive improvement. You can then set goals for your team and track progress against these.

Remember, just a 1% improvement per week amounts to a significant impact across a season!

Willow Springs Golf Course is a par 62, 18-hole links-style golf course. It blends 10 par 3s with 8 par 4s, spans 4,253 yards, and offers golfers a “Scottish feel” in the heart of central Maryland.

The course wanted to generate additional revenue and to facilitate this, General Manager, Ben Wilson, looked to enhance the player experience using technology.

Carts were fitted with Tagmarshal’s 2Way screens, which have front-end benefits like to-the-pin yardage and direct messaging.

Using the Live Map and backend system for proactive pace management, round times steadily decreased and course flow improved. As the quality of the experience increased, Willow Springs was able to charge an additional $5 per round and implement dynamic pricing to capitalize on prime tee time demand.

Quicker rounds also opened up the opportunity to add additional tee sheet capacity without adversely affecting field flow.

All of the above led to sizeable revenue gains in Willow Springs’ first season using Tagmarshal, on top of sizeable labor savings due to reduced marshal requirements.

PRO TIP: Tagmarshal’s data pinpoints precisely which days of the week, or times of the day,  your course plays quicker. During these periods, gap time intervals can be reduced and tee times added.

You can then track the impact these additional tee times have on the rest of the day and adjust accordingly.

As the influence of on-course optimization technology continues to grow, modern course management practices are shifting towards a more data-driven approach.

With a deeper understanding of your course, you’ll find opportunities to enhance the player experience, increase efficiency and generate additional revenue.

Combining the benefit of GPS tracking with machine learning that gathers and analyzes data in real-time, Tagmarshal’s system has been refined based on the needs of the operators that use it most effectively.

Because of this, clubs as varied as Valhalla and Willow Springs can see great results by utilizing the data insights to make smarter management decisions.