Kennesaw, Ga. (Oct. 31, 2024) – Tagmarshal—the golf-market leader in optimizing on-course operations and pace-of-play management through data-driven software—announces the winners of the 2024 Tagmarshal Awards, now in its 5th consecutive year.

These awards recognize outstanding achievements of the company’s golf course partners based on verifiable data, established benchmarks, and a commitment to driving continuous improvement. Courses are rated based on strict criteria including pace and flow of play, efficiency, deployment of advanced strategies, and levels of on-course service. All Tagmarshal partner courses around the world—more than 600—are considered for recognition.  

The 2024 Tagmarshal Awards reflect the company’s focus on providing unrivaled support to partners while helping them implement optimization strategies that create long-term value and ROI.

“The exceptional results achieved by our partners are illustrative of the hard work put in by their respective teams,” said Bodo Sieber, CEO, Tagmarshal. “Our data shows that in another year of increased on-course participation, and challenges like labor shortages and rising costs, these clubs have harnessed the power of optimization tech to deliver enhanced player experiences, efficiencies, and revenue gains.” 

 Tagmarshal Awards are presented at three levels—Diamond, Platinum, and Gold—based on a course’s performance. The highest-level 2024 Diamond Award winners in the U.S and Canada. are:

• Ballantrae Golf Club (Stouffville, Ontario, Canada)
• Baltusrol Golf Club (Springfield, NJ)
• Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (Bandon, OR)
• Blackhawk Golf Club (Spruce Grove, Alberta, Canada)
• Blue Devil Golf Club (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
• Country Club at Castle Pines (Castle Pines, CO)
• Country Club of Charleston (Charleston, SC)
• Erin Hills Golf Course (Erin, WI)
• Gulf Harbour Yacht & Country Club (Fort Myers, FL)
• Jackrabbit Run Golf Course (Grand Island, NE)
• Keystone Resort (Keystone, CO)
• Metropolis Country Club (White Plains, NY)
• Mill Run Golf Club (Ontario, CA)
• Navesink Country Club (Red Bank, NJ)
• Pebble Beach Golf Links (Pebble Beach, CA)
• Pinehurst Resort No. 2 & No. 4 (Pinehurst, NC)
• Pinnacle Golf Club (Grove City, OH)
• Scarboro Golf & Country Club (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
• Serenoa Golf Club (Sarasota, FL)
• Sleepy Hollow Country Club (Briarcliff Manor, NY)
• Solitude Links Golf Course & Banquet Center (Kimball, MI)
• St. Andrew’s Valley Golf Club (Aurora, Ontario, Canada)
• Terravita Golf & Country Club (Scottsdale, AZ)
• The Golf Club at Bradshaw Farm (Woodstock, GA)
• The Meadows Golf Course (Litchfield, ME)
• The Minikahda Club (Minneapolis, MN)
• The Springhaven Club (Wallingford, PA)
• Wee Burn Country Club (Darien, CT)
• Willow Springs Golf Course (West Friendship, MD)
• Woodbridge Golf Club (Wylie, TX)

“What excites me about the awards is to see a municipal course with modest resources utilize our technology to achieve the same operational impact as our major-championship-host destination courses or exceptional top 100 private club partners, benchmarked and based on data,” Sieber added.

“The software and all of the features have worked wonders for our operation, because it’s unlike anything that we’ve seen before,” said Matt Kloppenburg, PGA, Director of Golf, at Scottsdale’s Terravita Golf Club, one of this year’s Diamond Award winners.

A series of Special Awards are also presented, recognizing the best performers in six key categories:

• Biggest Mover: Navesink Country Club (NJ)
• Top Innovator: The Medalist Golf Club (MI)
• Best Multi-Course Operator: KemperSports—Bandon Dunes Golf Resort (OR), Streamsong (FL), Sand Valley Golf Resort (WI)
• Best Newcomers, US: Kettle Hills (WI); Franklin Bridge Golf Club (TN)
• Top International: St. Andrew’s Valley Golf Club (Canada); Real Club de la Puerta de Hierro (Spain); Trump Turnberry (Scotland)
• Best Newcomer, International: Old Course at St. Andrews Links (Scotland)

“Tagmarshal has really been beneficial, and our bottom line has increased tremendously,” said Lowell Weaver, owner and general manager of The Medalist Golf Club.

To see the complete list of Award Winners, go to tagmarshal.com/Awards.

To learn more about how Tagmarshal will help a course’s performance leading to enhanced player experiences, increased efficiency, and additional revenue, go to tagmarshal.com.

You can now watch our expert webinar, “How 2Way tech, variable goal times and improved pace are optimizing the player experience at Foothills & Meadows,” on demand and in your own time!

Expert guests Joe Pinson, PGA, Head Golf Professional at Foothills GC and Brendan Murphy, PGA, Head Golf Professional at Meadows GC walk us through how both courses are using on-course optimization tech to great effect.

Having been awarded Gold Award winner status in the 2023 Tagmarshal Awards, it’s been another fantastic year at Foothills & Meadows. Variable goal times have been implemented for different times of the day, player interactions are tracked to drive pace improvements and service excellence, and 2Way tech provides an effective and efficient way to communicate with golfers in real-time.

Knowing exactly who is on your course at any given time opens up a wide range of possibilities for course operators.

Private clubs often have a handle on who their members are and when they like to play, but opportunities also exist for daily fee and resort clubs to better understand players who regularly return to play their course.

With the influx of new golfers to the game in the past few years, offering a more personalized experience that benefits everyone at your course is a great differentiator that will drive repeat play.

Player names are seamlessly pulled into Tagmarshal’s system via integrations with leading tee sheet providers, and the extensive data sets gathered by the system are then tied to individual player names.

This includes a full record of each round played, with all interactions and geofence breaches, pace histories, playing partners and other key metrics.

Here are 5 ways that having data-rich player profiles will help you provide your players with an enhanced experience.

USGA research reveals that corrective pace of play interventions by player assistants are a major point of frustration for golfers.

With the more personal touch of knowing player names, and objective data for the player assistant to draw on, these on-course discussions can be reframed and repositioned as neutral and fact-based.

PRO TIP: When players understand you’re proactively managing pace and flow for their benefit, it’s far easier to derive buy-in to your pace of play culture.

Where you have a high volume of repeat players or a solid member base, building out player profiles is a great way to personalize the service you offer.

Delivering a player’s preferred meal or drink directly to them ensures on-course flow isn’t interrupted by waits at the halfway house, benefiting your overall pace of play and offering a personal touch that differentiates your club from others.

PRO TIP: Using Tagmarshal’s 2Way cart screen, you can let players know about pro shop or food and beverage specials that may interest them.

Built-out player profiles facilitate better post-round conversations, with easily accessible data such as geofence breaches and on-course interactions tied to each round and player.

Whether it’s the same day or weeks later, Tagmarshal’s Track Map feature can be called up and will show exactly how long a round took, as well as showing whether or not a player’s group was slow, held up by a group in front or holding others up.

PRO TIP: If any disciplinary action is needed for repeatedly slow players or geofence breaches, it’s easier to highlight why these steps are being taken using the data attached to the player profile.

Understanding a player’s pace history means you can assign appropriate tee times.

Having your consistently quicker players tee off in the earlier slots will help your course prevent potential bottlenecks as the day extends into the late-morning rounds. 

Slower players can be shifted to later tee times so there is less chance that they impact course flow.

PRO TIP: By identifying players who struggle to keep pace, you can put steps in place to offer assistance, such as lessons with the club pro or closer attention on-course from player assistants.

Research has shown that although players list pace of play as a major issue, they very rarely see themselves as contributing to the problem.

As you build out complete records of your players’ pace histories, those who weren’t aware that they are transgressors can take remedies to self-correct.

This also gives them insight into how you are prioritizing pace at your course, leading to increased player buy-in. 

PRO TIP: Celebrating players who consistently complete rounds under your goal time – for example, a monthly mailer highlighting the quickest round – could inspire players to improve their pace.