Interactive Golf Management Software To Complete The Player Experience

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There are a number of elements that go into creating an enjoyable player experience on the golf course, some of which are beyond the control of the club’s staff, while others can indeed be controllable. However, imagine having an interactive golf management software that can help you to effectively prepare, that connects you with golfers, and holds your staff and the golfer accountable in ensuring a memorable golf day.

Now you can take your customer experience to new levels with Tagmarshal’s 2Way, the leading provider of pace of play, golf management software.

From the moment the member and guest arrive at the facility, though, right through to the clubhouse restaurant or bar, constant interaction becomes vital and an opportunity exists to create unforgettable playing experiences and members and guests who feel valued.

“Our goal is to improve the experience for our guests while maximizing our revenue potential and Tagmarshal has helped us to do both. We have reduced our labor expense, increased our round capacity, and realized many operational efficiencies.” – Mike O’Reilly,PGA Head Golf Professional at Whistling Straits.

With the 2Way system, real-time data is instantly available to the staff and the players, who are accountable for the time they spend on the course. This will enable golf courses to boost their operational efficiency with enhanced course flow, leading to quicker rounds and improved service delivery.

Offering 2Way screens for carts and 2Way mobile handhelds for walkers and push trolleys, additional features include:

• Dynamic pace notifications: For advanced golfer awareness and accountability, to ensure better flow, pace and player experiences, as well as effective, non-confrontational management.
• Weather, player safety and geofence alerts: Providing smart management tools to communicate effectively and ensure player safety, player compliance and reduced turf damage.
• Range finding: System delivers accurate yardages to front, center and back of the putting surfaces.
• Course staff interaction: 2Way System allows communication between golfer and club staff members in the clubhouse, pro shop and restaurant.

Tagmarshal’s 2Way golf management software, and the smarter, self-service capabilities it provides, creates effective and frequent communication lines between staff and members and guests on the course. The intuitive frontend technology gives the golfer the power to manage and enhance their own on-course experience, while keeping staff on their toes.

Such improved awareness and management enhancements, together with opened golfer-staff communication channels, shows golfers that the club is actively seeking to improve and tailor their offering and that it values its members and guest experience and time.

Thus, maintaining a consistently superior player experience will prompt happy golfers to attract more players, especially time budget sensitive younger members, which in revenue terms will be a boost to the club’s success

A QUICK 9 WITH JOHN FIELDS – BELMONT COUNTRY CLUB

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John Fields is the Director of Golf at Belmont Country Club, a premier New England country club that marries modern amenities with a traditional country club feel. With Belmont being a new partner to adopt the Tagmarshal pace of play management platform, John shares his team’s initial experience utilizing Tagmarshal at their course.

1. Who was your golf hero growing up?

Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman and, believe it or not, Tiger Woods, who was only a kid at the time, but even I could tell at the time that Tiger was something special. I used to pretend that I was playing against these guys.

2. Has golf always been your first love? What other sports/team are you a fan of?

When I was younger, I played golf as a get-away from the other four sports (Baseball, Football, Basketball, and Track & Field) that I played as a teenager. I went to college to play Football, had an injury and started playing golf exclusively.

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

Tiger Woods, I would love to get into his head and see what he sees and his approach in hitting shots that no one else has ever matched.

4. Who’s the Slowest / Fastest player on tour?

JB Holmes and Jason Day are human rain delays, while I think Dustin Johnson is probably the fastest player with the best resumé.

5. Where does Pace of Play rank as an industry priority?

I believe that it ranks and should rank as the # 1 priority. We need to make sure the game is played more quickly, so as to keep more players from thinking the game just takes too long to play.

6. Why has your course decided to invest in Pace of Play?

We needed a solution that would arm the golf staff with the best informational data to do our part in assuring that the game is played in the most efficient manner possible.

7. So far, what have been the top benefits about having Tagmarshal to manage the field, efficiencies and the pace of play?

The first thing we found, was that rounds were being played faster than initially expected. We are able to approach slower groups armed with the info to help them get back into proper position, in a manner that is polite and respected by our membership.

8. How easy is it to manage/utilize our product?

It took our staff no time to get up to speed on how to read and manage the system while learning and asking good questions from the Tagmarshal support team.

9. How responsive are Tagmarshal Customer Experience Agents to questions or concerns about our product?

The absolute best! I have not had to wait for more than a few hours for someone from the Tagmarshal team to get back to me on any issue that we have had. In all cases, they have solved our issue and educated us in the process.

Your Answers To Some of Your Questions About Tagmarshal’s GPS Tracking System

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Many golf course operators have GPS tracking on their wishlist, and we have received many questions about how Tagmarshal’s golf cart GPS tracking system can help operators manage staff and the golf course more efficiently.

We have put together answers to five of the most frequently asked questions from our followers:

What is the set-up process?

Upon the receipt or installation of your Tracking Tags, Tagmarshal facilitates a calibration & training period of 3 weeks. The course is mapped and positional data collected affording the system’s algorithm the opportunity of ‘learning’ its’ unique ebb & flow. During this time management are given the full benefit of the live stylized map for tracking purposes.

Thereafter the full system and the rest of its powerful features (including pace of play alerts, round & hole stats and the building of player pace of play profiles) go live.

Can I track walking groups?

Yes, one person or caddy per playing group receives a tracking tag, which is then clipped onto a golf bag. Carts can have the tags installed. The data from the tags get submitted to Tagmarshal’s cloud servers to which marshals and management have access to use better manage the course.

Can I build up player profiles?

In order to build player, caddie or league profiles, as well as manage your starter accuracy, it is essential that you begin to assign groups to your tee times. Once a group is assigned to a tee time, their details are automatically saved onto the system. Therefore, every time a player visits your course you already have their profile registered.

Can I track where my maintenance vehicles are and where they have been?

Yes, the system includes a marshal tracking module allowing management to view their course staff in real time. It also shows where they have been throughout the day. Are they being proactive around the issue of pace of play?

What stats does the system provide?

All round data is stored in Tagmarshal’s cloud-hosted database and each course is given access to their statistics and maps via an easy to use dashboard.

This enables course management to evaluate items such as:

• round times per group – evaluate slow rounds, see who the players/caddies where in the group.
• average round times for a day or month – evaluate how the pace of play trended throughout the day or month.
• average hole times – evaluate which holes are playing slower / faster on average versus their goal allotments.
• round track maps – see all rounds tracked including each’s progressive time-stamps and alerts generated.

If you would like to find out more about Tagmarshal’s GPS tracking system and its capabilities get in touch with us at contact@tagmarshal.com and we will get you connected with one of our incredible product specialists.

The Pace of Play Conundrum: Does Golf REALLY Want To Fix It?

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“It’s so crowded; nobody goes there anymore.” – Yogi Berra, on a popular New York City nightspot

Narratives often take on a life of their own, even when they conflict with one another. For example:

Narrative No. 1: Golf has a serious pace of play problem.

Narrative No. 2: Golf is dying, rounds are dwindling, and participation is falling.

Narrative 1 is supposedly a major contributor to Narrative 2.

See a conflict?

It’s so crowded; nobody goes there anymore…

These narratives get repeated so often people accept both as undisputed fact. What no one seems to consider is that fact that these two points appear to be mutually exclusive.

For both to be true we need a third narrative: Golf courses are closing faster than participation is falling, leading to jammed tee sheets and overcrowded courses. If our third narrative is true – and a USGA study suggests it might not be – then is slow play a problem anyone truly wants to solve?

The real issue, however, isn’t whether anyone truly wants to solve the issue of slow play. It’s much simpler.

It’s that no one truly knows how to solve the problem.

FIVE HOURS FROM HELL

Is there anything worse than a 5-hour round? I mean, besides a 6-hour round?

Ask any golfer and he’ll recite chapter and verse who’s to blame for slow play: drunk idiots with no golf etiquette, and morons with ball retrievers; nitwits lining up putts like it’s the 72nd hole at Augusta, and J.B. Holmes-clones deliberating each shot like it’s a cure for cancer; clowns playing from the wrong tees, and hackers who spend too much time in the woods; dipshit walkers, dipshit cart riders, greedy course owners with 8-minute tee times, and I’m sure you could add a dozen or so more without breaking a sweat.

But what no one can agree on is a solution. Why?

Because there isn’t one. Well, not one solution, anyway.

Don’t get us wrong; there are solutions – some technology-based, some course setup/logistics-based, and some golfer awareness-based. But all the technology, setup/logistics, and golfer awareness in the world will help neither a jot nor a tittle unless everyone involved in playing the game takes a good, hard look in the mirror.

A SURPRISING SURVEY

Several weeks ago, MyGolfSpy ran a survey in our Community Forum (you can check it out here). We received nearly 650 responses – certainly not definitive by any stretch, but it does give some insight into the opinions of avid golfers who frequent golf forums.

Some of the highlights:

• 49% of the respondents say slow play keeps them from playing certain courses, but only on certain days; only 2% said it keeps them from playing at all.
• 82% say slow play negatively impacts their enjoyment of the game.
• 52% say the biggest cause of slow play is idiots with no golf etiquette, while only 8% cite course setup issues and only 14% cite not enough space between tee times.
• 27% say they’d pay a premium for a guaranteed 4-hour or less round.
• And most intriguing, 67% say golf courses themselves do not see slow play as a problem that really needs to be solved.

That last one may or may not come as a shock, but when two-thirds of your paying customers think you don’t want to solve what they perceive to be a problem, you have a problem.

“This is something the industry needs to tackle,” says Bodo Seiber, CEO of TagMarshal, a company with a technology-based approach to improving pace of play. “There’s no consistency. If I’m playing in 4:20 this Saturday and 5:50 next Saturday, how am I going to sell this to my wife and kids who expect me home for lunch? Consistency is the key.”

THE TECH SOLUTION

MyGolfSpy first experienced TagMarshal at a Media Day event during the PGA Show in January. Each cart was equipped with an iPhone-looking contraption that served as a GPS, but also let each cart – and a central monitor in the clubhouse – know where each group stood in relation both to the field and to the expected pace of play.

“The truth is a lot of pace of play issues happen because players are not aware or because courses do not manage the variables they can control,” Seiber tells MGS. “We give the course tools to inform players that they’re okay and on track, or that they’re falling slightly behind. Players can now self-manage, and the course can send a message to players if there’s an issue.”

Our experience bore that out. At one point we noticed we were 5 minutes behind and, without saying a word to one another, we picked up the pace. Soon we were five minutes ahead of pace and were playing up the backside of the group in front of us – who were not playing slow – so we adjusted our pace accordingly. At no time did we feel as though we were rushing – it was simply a matter of conscious awareness.

“Often players are just not aware,” says Seiber. “What happens is when a group loses a ball on a couple of holes it now impacts the players behind them. They just have to be mindful and say, ‘we’re 6 minutes behind and actively delaying the group behind us.’ When players have awareness, they can self-manage better.”

MARSHAL VS. PLAYER’S ASSISTANT

TagMarshal has several options for courses, from the GPS-based system to a classic tag with no screen attached to either a cart for riders or a bag for walkers. If there’s a problem, a player’s assistant (TagMarshal’s preferred term for Marshal or Ranger) can help them along. It’s non-confrontational because it’s just data and the group really can’t argue it’s the fault of the group in front of them.

“No one wins in that situation,” says Seiber. “The marshal gets frustrated and ends up not adding any value. If the player’s assistants have information, they can support players better, and they don’t have to go around looking for problems.”

One of the keys to making it all work, says Seiber, is making sure players are properly prepped by the starter before teeing off.

“Our really good operators brief players ahead of time,” he says. “What’s your handicap? How often do you play? Let’s figure out how big of a challenge our course is going to be for you today and suggest appropriate tees.”

Seiber says if golfers insist on playing from the back tees, the course lets the golfers give it a try, adding they’ll be keeping tabs and if the group finds itself falling behind, they might want to move up. “If players know they’re being monitored, it’s like the call that’s being recorded for your benefit,” he says. “It’s about making sure flow moves. It’s not about you; it’s about the groups in front of you.”

“Players are more self-aware, and no one wants to be that group.”

To date, TagMarshal has tracked over seven million rounds in the US, Canada, and Europe, and courses have seen, on average, a 15-minute pace of play improvement. While that doesn’t sound like much, Seiber says the biggest benefit to courses has been creating a consistent and predictable pace of play by eliminating the really bad days, specifically the Saturday-Sunday 6-hour Bataan Death March.

“That could be 50 to 60 days in an eight-month season. Courses will lose revenue and lose happiness with players. What you’ve really done is you’ve balanced the course, so those really bad days don’t happen.”

SETUP ISSUES

MyGolfSpy’s survey respondents say slow play is primarily the fault of slow golfers, aka the other guy. Only 7% cite course setup (high rough, narrow fairways, fast greens), 8% cite poor use of 2-person carts, 18% cite playing from the wrong tees, 14% cite short tee-time intervals, and only 1% cite long/difficult Par 3’s.

The USGA says – and TagMarshal’s data verifies – Par 3’s are a critical pace of play bottleneck, especially a long or tough Par 3 early in the round.

The problem is math. If it takes 11-minutes to play the hole and you have 8-minute tee time intervals, someone is waiting. And courses that start with a difficult hole followed by a tough Par 3 get even further behind. That’s a built-in problem, but it can be mitigated to a degree by prep from the starter.

“It comes down to the staff briefing players,” says Seiber. “‘Welcome to our course, it’s yours for the day and by the way, here are some of our feature holes and here’s how to play them.’ It’s player awareness, and the better we prepare them, the more there’s success.”

TagMarshal has also found cart-path only is a pace-of-play killer – which is no surprise – as is cart control, that annoying technology that stops the cart in an area where the golfer isn’t supposed to be. Sometimes tech can get in the way.

In addition, walking clubs that play like a traditional links-style course can be played much more quickly than a course with carts. TagMarshal is hoping to work with courses that feature single-rider vehicles, which would be the first comprehensive study on whether the single-rider option really is a viable pace-of-play solution or merely a fun way to play golf.

The USGA also says high rough, fast greens (11 or higher on the stimp meter) and difficult hole locations all slow down play, as do driveable Par 4’s and reachable Par 5’s. They’re fun, but when you’re waiting for the green to clear the group behind you is waiting, too.

The USGA has several setup recommendations for courses:

• Wider fairways – 40 yards or wider recommended in the anticipated landing zone.
• Shorter rough, particularly on the right-hand side of dogleg right holes.
• Smarter weekend setup in general – cut the rough, move tees forward (except on short Par 4’s and reachable Par 5’s – move those back to make them unreachable) and provide easier hole locations for the most crowded days.

Those are things the golfer has no control over – it’s all up to the course. For golfers, the USGA has a series of videos that help golfers use common sense to control what they can control: be ready to when it’s your turn, bring extra clubs with you if it’s cart path only, improve your short game (keep it on the ground when you can), leave your bag or pushcart near the path to the next hole, and use your rangefinder to get distances while others are playing.

In addition, when disaster strikes make use of Equitable Stroke Control – pick up when you’ve hit your limit, and beginners should agree on a double par-max rule. The USGA also still promotes Tee It Forward, saying 56% play faster and 85% report enjoying the game more when moving up.

PACE MATTERS

The USGA says 82% of you feel course conditions are critical to your enjoyment of the game: no one likes dog tracks. However, 74% of you say pace of play is also critical to your enjoyment. What’s more, the USGA survey suggests you’re willing to pay up to 14.5% more for your greens fees for a consistent and predictable pace of play. If you’re under 45, the results suggest you’d be willing to pay up to 25% more, ostensibly to keep the spouse and kids happy. Golfers over 60 would pay up to 8% more, but 48% in that age group say they wouldn’t pay anything more.

The MyGolfSpy survey says 63% of the respondents would not pay more for a guaranteed four-hour round, believing this is something courses should be providing anyway. Only 27% of those who responded say they’d be willing to pay any kind of a premium. Our survey did not break down responses by age.

Another interesting factoid from the USGA study shows Greens Fees and Tee Time intervals are correlated – the greater the tee time interval, the higher the greens fee. You’d think spreading out tee time intervals would take a bite out of course revenues, but the USGA found exactly the opposite. Going from an 8-minute to a 10-minute tee time interval would reduce tee time inventory by 20%, which the USGA says is fine since it found average peak utilization – or how much of that inventory is actually sold – is a tick below 70% overall anyway.

An example in the USGA study says if an average $50 green fee is raised by 9% (which, based on their survey, was deemed acceptable to a wide range of golfers) to $54.50, when combined with 10-minute tee time intervals, it could result in a net gain to a course’s bottom line of $71,000 annually, with no additional costs incurred and an improved pace of play.

TIME VS. MONEY

Time and money are interchangeable – you can always save more of one by spending more of the other. But what would happen if your local overcrowded, 6-hour round muni raised rates by 9%? Hell, what if it raised weekend greens fees by 25%, or even 50%? How many golfers would say the hell with this, I’ll play somewhere else?

10%? 20%?

If a course raised greens fees and lost some customers, three things would happen: pace of play would improve, the course would have happier customers and it would have the same, if not more, revenue. One problem: fewer golfers means a drop in food, beverage and Pro Shop sales, which is where money is made.

So again, does anyone really want to solve the pace of play problem?

“A lot of courses don’t want to engage the pace of play problem because they think it will reflect badly on them and their management,” says Seiber. “And a lot of courses don’t think they have a pace of play problem and hence don’t need to do anything about it.”

“Some courses would rather stick their heads in the sand and say we don’t have a problem rather than look at the opportunity and say if we manage the flow better, if we do the on-course experience better, then we have a benefit and a revenue opportunity.” – Bodo Seiber, CEO, TagMarshal

On the other hand, if the pace of play improved dramatically, would golfers have time after the round for a burger and a beer or two? Would they spend some cash in the Pro Shop? Would they enjoy the experience more and not have to face the music when they get home?

How many articles, Tweets or posts do you see about a single rider vehicle or other doodads, ideas or technology, asking if this is the answer to slow play? The truth is there is no one single solution, no one magic wand that will cure pace of play concerns. Pace of play can certainly be improved, but only if golfers and golf courses look in the mirror.

All golfers – even if you’re convinced it’s those other chowderheads and not you – need to be more self-aware and use common sense, and understand there’s a difference between golfer behavior that truly slows down pace of play and golfer behavior that merely pisses us off but doesn’t affect pace of play. In addition, golf courses need to embrace all methods of improving pace of play open to them – including technology, course logistics (including tee time intervals), course set up, and properly prepping golfers before they tee off as to the expectations of the day.

Improving pace of play isn’t about rushing through the round – it’s about a predictable and smooth-flowing round. It’s far more enjoyable to have a consistent pace with little to no waiting.

And whether that total time is 3:30 or 4:10, if it’s predictable and consistent no matter when you play, it makes for happy golfers and happy golf spouses.

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About John Barba 

John is an aging, yet avid golfer, writer, 5-point-something handicapper, and golf reality show finalist. He’s a fan of Hogan, Jack, and Arnie and still has an old set of MacGregor irons that get to see the course a couple of times a year. “The only thing a golfer needs is more daylight.” – BenHogan

Tagmarshal Tournament Track Venue To Host 2019 PGA Championship

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Millions of golf fans will be itching to glue their eyes to their screens after a thrilling Masters tournament, as this year’s second major takes us to the Bethpage Black Course for the 2019 PGA Championship.

The Black Course will be up for the challenge on the big stage, having previously hosted the 2002 and 2009 US Open Championship; and is the future site of the 2024 Ryder Cup.

Tagmarshal had the opportunity to track the field during the 2018 New York State Open which was hosted at the Bethpage Black Course, in partnership with the Metropolitan PGA. The system uses real-time data and industry leading algorithms to improve the average round times of a tournament, ensuring a well-managed and consistent field flow and pace of play.

The Metropolitan PGA is among four PGA sections (Carolinas, North Florida and South Florida) who have partnered with Tagmarshal’s innovative pace of play management platform into the sections’ annual tournament roster.

“From a tournament pace of play management perspective, Tagmarshal has provided a solution that we have long been in search of,” says Jeff Voorheis, Executive Director of MET PGA. “Our partnership is predicated on the utilization of this wonderful resources for some of our major events while increasing awareness about the Tagmarshal system and its capabilities among PGA professionals in our section.”

Tagmarshal is no stranger to working with PGA Championship hosting courses. The pace of play management platform has partnered with 4 of the top 10 (5 in the top 15) courses featured in the Golf Digest’s Best PGA Championship Venues rankings.

Courses using Tagmarshal’s golf course intelligence solution almost immediately realize returns through improved on-course experiences, achieved with fewer staff, and also through increases in available daily rounds and capacity.

The team at Tagmarshal HQ will certainly be watching the PGA Championship with excitement as it unfolds over the next couple of days, eager to find out who will be crowned this year’s PGA champion.