Tagmarshal Integrates GolfSpain Booking System

Tagmarshal Optimizing Player Experience at Kiawah Island

(KIAWAH ISLAND, S.C.) – Tagmarshal – the pace-of-play and revenue-optimizing system used globally by golf courses, country clubs and resorts – is operational at The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island Golf Resort, host of several major golf tournaments.
 
Kiawah management identified pace-of-play as an important factor to further advance their world class resort. Benefitting from Tagmarshal’s industry-leading geotagging and pace algorithms, Ocean Course clubhouse staff and player assistants deploy its technology to provide accurate, non-confrontational player support for a consistent pace and an excellent on-course experience.
 
“We pride ourselves on delivering the best rounds of golf possible, and Tagmarshal’s analytical pace tracker helps achieve that,” says Stephen Youngner, Head Professional at The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island, site of the 2021 and 2012 PGA Championships, 2007 Senior PGA Championship and 1991 Ryder Cup. “Leveraging data to make informed management decisions provides golfers with an even better outing at Kiawah.”
 
Utilized at Whistling Straits (2020 Ryder Cup), Erin Hills (2017 U.S. Open), Valhalla (2014 PGA Championship), East Lake (Tour Championship hosts), Carnoustie Golf Links (Open Championship), Ballybunion Golf Club (Irish Open) and many other premier golf destinations, Tagmarshal’s discreet data-transmitting tags track walking and cart rounds. With a wealth of intuitive, dynamic information at their fingertips, courses can routinely improve their per-hole goal times while streamlining field management accuracies and processes.

“Kiawah Island is a world-class golf resort destination,” says Bodo Sieber, CEO of Tagmarshal. “Its commitment to service is outstanding, and Tagmarshal empowers the course to set the pace without compromise to thrilling experiences.”
 
A recent USGA survey shows 74% of golfers believe pace-of-play is “critical” to their enjoyment of rounds. Fittingly, Tagmarshal improves average round times and enables courses to provide enhanced experiences with significant revenue opportunities. Superintendents use Tagmarshal data to better manage pin placements, wear patterns, hole setups and operational efficiencies.

About Kiawah Island Golf Resort

Named by the Condé Nast Traveler magazine as the No. 1 island in North America and No. 2 island in the world, Kiawah Island is only 21 miles south of Charleston, South Carolina. Kiawah Island Golf Resort sits along 10 miles of pristine beach and is known as one of the top eco-friendly resorts in the U.S. In addition to Forbes Five Star / AAA Five Diamond Sanctuary at Kiawah Island Golf Resort, a 255-room oceanfront hotel and spa, the resort manages nearly 500 private villas and luxury homes, 10 restaurants, two tennis centers, and a renowned recreation and nature program. Five championship golf courses include the world-famous Ocean Course, site of the 2012 PGA Championship, 2007 Senior PGA Championship and 1991 Ryder Cup.
 
More information: kiawahresort.com.
 
About Tagmarshal

Link to original article

Tagmarshal Optimizing Player Experiences at FedExCup Courses

As the PGA TOUR season draws to a close, the race to finish at the top of the FedExCup standings is turning into a nail-biter. Much of the focus will be on the BMW Championship and Tour Championship when golf’s greats look to claim the top spot. Hosts Conway Farms and East Lake, both marquee private facilities, are utilizing Tagmarshal’s pace-of-play management system.

Tagmarshal – a pace-of-play and revenue-optimizing system used globally by golf courses, country clubs and resorts – empowers courses to optimize their pace, routinely enhancing average round times by 14-17 minutes. This leads not only to an improved golf experience, but increased revenue, both by adding capacity on busy days, and by expediting those rounds, ensuring golfers have more time to visit the pro shop or 19^th hole after a stellar round.

2017 BMW Championship 12-17 Sept. – Conway Farms Golf Club

The 2017 BMW Championship heads to Conway Farms Golf Club (Lake Forest, Ill.) for the third time. Formally known as the Western Open, the tournament is the second oldest in the U.S. and plays host to the top-70 golfers as the penultimate event in the PGA TOUR’s FedExCup playoffs.

Adding value at Conway Farms with its unobtrusive player and pace tracking system, Tagmarshal empowers management and player assistants to provide an excellent on-course experience.

Conway Farms Golf Club is a private club that prides itself on the quality of the total golf experience and the fellowship shared by members and guests. It is an 18 hole, par-71 walking course committed to fast play and continuously advancing the traditions of golf.

2017 Tour Championship 20-24 Sept. – East Lake Golf Club

East Lake Golf Club (Atlanta, Ga.), not far from Tagmarshal’s distribution center, is the home of golf in Atlanta and a permanent host of the Tour Championship, hosting the culminating event of the PGA TOUR FedExCup Playoffs 16 times since 1998.

One of Georgia’s marquee facilities, East Lake is the home and birthplace of the legendary Bobby Jones.

Among 2017’s exclusive field (only the top-30 golfers qualify), Rory McIlroy returns as the defending champion of the 2016 Tour Championship and FedExCup.

Tagmarshal proudly partners with these leading private clubs, each boasting outstanding facilities and an unquestioned service commitment to their members. Like many other excellent private clubs, they have identified pace as a critical factor in player enjoyment and trust Tagmarshal to provide accurate, data-driven results.

Pace Distribution vs Average Round Time

Tagmarshal has rolled out a Pace Distribution module to give operators a deeper understanding of their member’s or guest’s actual Pace Experience, that goes way beyond the average round time.

Innovation: Pace Distribution – Pace Experience analytics  

With bigger and bigger data sets coming through our system implementations we are seeing further trends that operators find valuable.

One pattern that emerges is to compare “Average round time” vs “Goal time” is not necessarily a measure of the real pace and the actual on-course experience.

For instance, Tagmarshal has a facility that runs a 4hr goal time and their average play time in a busy March was 4.03h – all was going nicely one might assume.

It turned out that across the pace distribution, as well as morning and afternoon split 68% of their play was in fact slow. 35% of total play was between 15 and +45 minutes slow.

They identified this as a material opportunity for improvement: Out of 1200 rounds played 800 could have been quicker and a better experience for their members and guests.  

With the help of Tagmarshal the course devised an actionable strategy, to make a good golf experience even better, by providing accurate, non-confrontational player assistance, data driven performance measures and more consistent, faster round times.

How does it work?

The module ranks the pace of playing groups by their time over goal time, segmented into 10 minute intervals, ie. 20min slower, 30min slower etc. The addition of this feature offers a material opportunity to improve player experience and allows for constructive goal setting, such as: reduce Play over 40min slow from 6% to 0%.

What are the benefits?

Through increased awareness and improved pace management the number of slow rounds, particularly those 15 minutes or more, can be reduced materially.

Client success is of highest priority to us here at Tagmarshal, as a result the feature has been released to a number of partner courses for beta testing, with implementation wide roll out due shortly.

Bonus: The module works retrospectively, meaning course management can track and compare past Pace Distribution.  

The Augusta Golf Show quizzes Tagmarshal’s CEO on Pace of Play tech

Tagmarshal CEO, Bodo Sieber, was recently featured on The Augusta Golf Show with John Patrick  to talk about the Tagmarshal “pace of play” system and the success it’s having at clubs around the world.

Listen to the podcast:

The Augusta Golf Show