How Leading Courses Use Tagmarshal’s Golf Cart GPS System To Optimize Operations
Tagmarshal, the market leader in golf cart GPS system technology, currently partners with more than 600 courses across the US, Canada, Europe and the rest of the world.
That number continues to grow as more operators, including 40 of the Top 100 US courses, turn to technology to assist them with enhancing the player experience, increasing efficiency and generating additional revenue.
Data from the National Golf Foundation (NGF) shows that golf is growing rapidly, as more off-course golfers convert to on-course golfers.
To capitalize on this growth, operators need to harness the power of optimization technology and data, providing an experience that keeps new players returning for more.
Enhancing the Player Experience using a Golf Cart GPS System
A golf cart GPS system like Tagmarshal’s offers multiple ways to enhance the player experience. With pace and flow of play remaining a top 3 factor impacting a player’s enjoyment of their round, coupled with the increased play volume at courses across the US, delivering on this front has never been more important.
Proactive Pace and Flow of Play Management
Traditionally, without the use of a golf cart GPS system, marshals or rangers would patrol the course and react to out of position groups only once they had already had a sizeable impact on the field.
Tagmarshal’s system allows operators to manage pace and flow proactively. AI and machine learning, based on data from in excess of 75 million tracked rounds, highlight groups that are causing delays. With a quick glance at the Live Map feature, staff can immediately approach these groups and address the problem.
Additionally, with the Pace Disruptors feature, operators can set a specific pace threshold that they deem problematic and set up alerts to identify staff as soon as these are met.
I’ve set it up so if at any point a group falls 7 minutes behind pace, our staff get a text message. This way, we can constantly track pace without much effort and it’s been awesome.
Tagmarshal has been wonderful for us, allowing our rangers to be more assertive and we have come on leaps and bounds this year with our pace.
Facilitating Better Service with a Golf Cart GPS System
As player profiles are built out with data gathered by the golf cart GPS system, a number of opportunities for white glove service open up.
With so many new players looking to find their ‘regular’ course to play, service excellence is a great way to differentiate a course and drive repeat play.
The ability to track where each group is in real-time makes it easier to ensure drinks carts and other on-course amenities are on offer to all players, and operators can also keep track of a player’s preferences and add a personal touch each time they play.
We’re all about customer service and Tagmarshal has made us so much more effective and been a huge, huge help in our first season.
Our partnership with Tagmarshal has been integral to our player experience and service strategy, by providing us with the data-driven management we need to optimize player experiences, helping us to deliver consistent excellence that keeps our players coming back again and again.
Improved On-Course Interactions
Research shows that corrective pace of play actions are the most polarizing aspect during a round of golf.
Get these right and the chances of a positive review increase significantly, but get it wrong and it can sour the entire experience for the player.
Guided by the data, marshals can be reframed as player assistants who are there to facilitate a more enjoyable experience, rather than police the field.
Using neutral data immediately changes the dynamic of a pace-based intervention on the course, with players far more likely to be receptive to the message. Additionally, the technology can be used to set team goals for positive check-ins and words of encouragement to players, tracked over time to form part of performance reviews and KPIs.
People are sensitive about being told they are slow. Now, with the data to point to, we can show that we are not picking on anyone but rather working on providing the best possible player experience for all of our members. It’s great to get this data in front of our golf committee and our members. We can show the pace improvement, proving that we are listening to and delivering on their concerns.
Having data to back up our conversations with players gives us the confidence to handle these situations so much better.
How a Golf Cart GPS System Increases Efficiency
The rising cost of labor, coupled with the difficulty of finding and retaining skilled staff, only increases the value of implementing a golf cart GPS system like Tagmarshal’s.
Teams can now do more, with fewer resources, freeing up labor hours to focus on delivering an exceptional player experience. For smaller teams, the ability for one person to fulfil what were previously multiple roles is invaluable.
Automating Time-Consuming Tasks with a Golf Cart GPS System
Leading tee sheet providers like ForeTees, foreUP and Lightspeed integrate with Tagmarshal’s golf cart GPS system to streamline processes.
When it comes to assigning tracking tags to each playing group, Tagmarshal goes a step further with its Auto-Assignment feature.
As a playing group enters the first tee, the tag is automatically assigned to the group that corresponds with that playing group on the tee sheet. This saves the starter a great deal of time manually assigning a tag to a group and means that all the data gathered is now tied to individual player names, building out their profiles.
The Auto-Assign feature is great, pulling through the player names from ForeTees and saving our team a great deal of time.
The Auto Tag Assignment is unique and flawless. Every morning when we open up the tee sheet, all the names are integrated and plugged in. Tagmarshal allows us to utilize our team more effectively, working smarter, not harder, to manage the flow out on the course and it’s definitely saving us money.
Direct Communication with Players on the Course
Using a golf cart GPS system to instantly communicate with players on the course, while in the office or on the go, is a huge efficiency gain for operators.
Tagmarshal’s 2Way cart screens allow for direct messaging to players, as well as for messaging from the players to staff. Automated pace alerts can be sent if a group falls out of position, as well as manual, tailored messages such as weather alerts.
The 2Way screens are also a big hit with players, offering touchscreen functionality and accurate yardage.
The 2Way feature is fantastic. We can see who is out on the course and send messages directly to slower groups. That gentle nudge tends to work really well.
The 2Way cart screens are like an extra amenity for our golfers, with the ability to zoom in on hazards, gauge distance, and really plan their hole shot by shot.
Improved, Reactive Geofencing Capabilities
Displaying and adjusting geofence signage is extremely labor intensive and, given the accuracy of the modern golf cart GPS system, unnecessary.
Tagmarshal’s geofencing feature allows operators to set up multiple templates, which can be toggled between based on conditions, league play or standard play and other variables.
Operators also have the option to allow players to self-correct once they have breached a geofence, or implement Cart Stop where forward motion is disabled and players must reverse the cart from the prohibited area.
If there are any holes where it starts drying up, I can instantly increase protection around those to help the turf recover. It really helps with player compliance, too.
The geofencing helps our superintendent protect areas that are overseeded, or have water accumulation. Those are moving targets and putting signs up wouldn’t work nearly as well.
Using a Golf Cart GPS System To Generate Additional Revenue
For public, daily fee and resort courses, generating additional revenue through the shrewd use of a golf cart GPS system is crucial to their success.
Some revenue, like food and beverage, doesn’t represent pure profit, although it’s still a very welcome boost to the bottom line.
Revenue sources like adding tee times do represent pure profit, but operators need to balance the desire to increase revenue with the impact this may have on the player experience.
Additional tee sheet capacity
Proactive pace management will lead to quicker round times and better on-course flow. Coupled with deep data sets that highlight exactly where gap intervals can be tightened without adversely affecting flow, this presents an opportunity to increase tee sheet capacity.
This could be during early morning rounds, which traditionally play quicker, or on specific days of the week. Once tee sheet capacity is added, it’s important that operators pay attention to the data to understand if this is impacting the groups that follow.
Our improved pace means we have added extra tee times throughout the day, and using the data we are looking at shortening intervals to get a few more in. We’ve just had our record month and are on course to make $500k more than last season. Our pace has also never been better.
Tagmarshal has enabled us to effectively implement our pace of play policy, assisting us in reducing playtime, which allowed us to add additional tee times for extra capacity.
Dynamic Pricing
An increasingly popular way of bringing in additional revenue, dynamic pricing does bring with it heightened player expectations.
Whereas variable pricing sees the price of a specific tee time remain static over time, dynamic pricing relies on technology to adjust the price of a round in real-time, based on fluctuations in demand.
In order to represent value, a round that costs more needs to deliver a better experience and that starts with effective pace management. If a course charges more and underdelivers, there is a good chance they may never see that player again.
It’s pretty cut and dry. When our pace of play is good, we can charge more for a round and we can sell more rounds. Tagmarshal helps us do both.
Between implementing dynamic pricing and bringing in Tagmarshal to improve pace of play – cutting nearly an hour off the average round time – Fieldstone is able to get more golfers on the course at pricing that better serves the bottom line. Dynamic pricing and 5-hour rounds don’t mix well. We had to focus on pace and that’s where Tagmarshal is so crucial, hitting the nail on the head from a revenue perspective.
Cart screen advertising
Courses using Tagmarshal’s 2Way screens can sell advertising, which is served to golfers as they move around the course.
Many operators choose to do this themselves, contacting local businesses and relying on their existing network of contacts, while others use Tagmarshal Media to manage this process via a jointly managed or fully managed option.
Advertisers benefit from a hugely engaged audience with a high dwell time, and operators can generate significant additional revenue while still maintaining full control over which adverts are shown on their screens.
The advertising has worked great with us. We promote local businesses and bring in extra revenue, and on the remaining holes we promote our own specials.
I would strongly encourage people to use Tagmarshal to advertise because it’s a great revenue source and the advertising is less in-your-face and classy.
Conclusion
According to Don Jozwiak, Senior Editor at PGA Magazine, golf is embracing technology at a pace that “would have seemed unlikely or even impossible less than a decade ago.”
Aside from the benefits of player-facing technology, operators are able to make more informed decisions based on the data these systems gather. Data and technology are now working together to assist operators in significantly improving on-course levels of performance.
With each improvement, no matter how small, courses are moving toward refining their operation, and these seemingly minor gains combine over time to make a huge difference.
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