In case you missed it, the Tagmarshal expert webinar How Whistling Straits achieves world class player experiences, operational efficiency and revenue optimization, is now available to watch on-demand.

Expert guest, Mike O’Reilly, Director of Golf Operations at Whistling Straits, shared his insights into how Whistling Straits creates exceptional player experiences, while optimizing operations – resulting in greater efficiency and generating additional revenue.

Mike O’Reilly is in conversation with Bodo Sieber, CEO, Tagmarshal, and Craig Kleu, COO, Tagmarshal, in this Expert Webinar.

foreUP, a leader in golf tee sheet solutions and Tagmarshal, the global leader in golf course intelligence and field flow optimization, have joined together in a new integration partnership designed to create added value to foreUP’s offerings.

Tagmarshal’s optimization technology, that enhances the player experience and generates revenues, has collected over 1 billion data-points by tracking and improving more than 12 million rounds of golf. It adds value to 30 of the Top 100 US courses and over 300 other courses from mid-level to major hosts, globally. The company has integrated with more than 20 innovative golf technology businesses including Tee Sheet providers foreUP Golf Software and ForeTees, in addition to prominent software solution firms such as Club Essentials, EZLinks, Jonas, GolfWeather and recently, single rider manufacturer, Caruca Golf.

“We see the power and business impact of data across hundreds of clubs. Integrations allow us to harness this power further, creating exponential opportunities for optimization and growth for our course owners and managers,” said Craig Kleu, Tagmarshal COO and Co-Founder. He added, “Integration, particularly with our Tee Sheet providers, streamlines processes and unlocks further analysis and performance improvements to optimize yield management and unlock revenue.”

“We are thrilled to partner with Tagmarshal and integrate our technologies, and excited for the possibilities it will give the courses using our software,” said Amy LaVange, foreUP Golf Software.

The integration of data provides Daily Fee courses with additional depth to their data, allowing for further analysis and improvement of course performance, as well as the tracking and enhancement of player experiences – which have a positive impact on both new and returning players.

For Private courses, the professional staff is able to further build on these benefits by using the data to afford members exceptional levels of personalized service thereby creating memorable member experiences.

For both categories of facilities, operators know who is playing and exactly where they are on the course enabling staff to personalize their service based on players preferences. This translates into, for example, beverage carts and the halfway house staff being aware of the group approaching, knowing who is in the group, as well as catering to their food and beverage preferences. This builds loyalty among club members, as well as first-time guests at daily fee courses.

The data integration enables courses to build full player profiles providing for better management and compliance of players when it comes to pace and flow of play as well as cart path compliance.

Tagmarshal’s data helps its course partners to manage player preferences more effectively when it comes to allocating tee times. For instance, assigning confirmed faster players to morning tee times, and placing players with a slower pace profile to afternoon tee times, which improves the overall experience

The integration adds long-term value to any course as it maximizes opportunities for on-course optimization. Integrations are not limited to tee-sheet integration with Tagmarshal partner GolfWeather.com adding live and historic weather information to allow for better data contexts in Tagmarshal’s analytics. Tagmarshal’s APIs and platform nature allow for integration with a broad spread of technology platforms.

For further information and a live demo on how to unlock the power and potential of optimization, visit www.tagmarshal.com or email us at contact@tagmarshal.com. Tagmarshal, optimization technology that enhances the player experience and generates revenue.

View The Golf Wire article here.

Located in Chaska, Minnesota, Hazeltine Nationational Golf Club is a world-class facility that features ” beautifully landscaped fairways bordered with majestic woods and water features that lead to the illustrious greens.” Hazeltine was designed to host major championships while providing a pure golf experience for its members.

Hazeltine has hosted multiple US Opens and PGA Championships and is the future site of the 2024 U.S. Amateur Championship, and home of the 2016 and 2028 Ryder Cups.

In this edition of our Quick 9 series, we chat with Chandler Withington, Head Golf Professional, who shares his love for the game and what drives operational success at Hazeltine.

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

As a kid growing up in the mid to late ’80s, golf quite frankly wasn’t even on the radar of an 8 – 10 year old. Baseball was front and center and was my first love. I grew up going to Yankee Stadium as a kid and simply loved it. As a passionate fan of history, the Yankees lost me when they tore down the old stadium. I immediately became a fan of Wrigley Field and the team playing within it. I am and will forever be a New York Rangers fan.

Madison Square Garden is my happy place. As an assistant pro at Merion Golf Club in Philadelphia, I was able to live out my dream of having Rangers season tickets. I would drive an hour to Princeton and then catch an hour train ride to MSG. Making a four hour round trip 20 – 30 times per year should give you an idea of how big a fan I am. 

2. What is your favorite/greatest round of golf experience?

I feel fortunate to have many rounds to choose from. However, I have told many people life may never get as good as it was when I was 16 and playing on caddie Monday’s at Somerset Hills Country Club in New Jersey. To preface, this is what I refer to as the good ol’ days – before I had a drivers license and a cell phone.

My friend and I would get dropped off at 7 a.m., played 36 holes by 1 p.m., drop our bags and walk 3/4 of a mile into town for lunch and ice cream, walk back and play another 36 holes and then have a putting contest until dark when our parents returned to pick us up.

Think about that – we got dropped off and went 14+ hours without communicating with our parents or anyone else for that matter. Life was so simple and free. I hope to relive that day at some point of my life if I am physically able and if Somerset Hills will let me! 

3. What is your dream golf destination? Why?

This is another really tough one. My answer seems to change on a weekly basis as there are so many great places on this planet to visit. If pressed for an answer right now I would take a trip to London and beat up heathland golf – Sunningdale, St. George’s Hill, Swinley Forest and Walton Heath before heading east to the coast to visit Royal St. George’s, Royal Cinque Port, Princes Golf Cub and Rye.

Getting a blend of heathland and links golf in one trip is the good life. I love the history behind the older courses, as well as the formality. 

4. Where does Pace of Play rank as an industry priority? Top 3?

I feel the three biggest obstacles to getting people to play golf are accessibility, cost and time, so pace of play is certainly in the top 3. 

5. Why has your course decided to invest in Tagmarshal?

We felt we needed to find a more efficient way of monitoring pace of play, while also having solid records to stand upon when needed. Along came Tagmarshal and we found exactly what we were looking for. 

6. What are the top benefits of incorporating Tagmarshal into your daily operations?

The biggest perk is being able to look at any computer screen, tablet or phone and see where players and groups are at any moment. The best feature in my opinion is the text notifications, which alerts you of groups that are losing their position.

Rather than sending a course ranger around the course looking for slow groups, Tagmarshal does the work for us. When we receive an alert, we know exactly which group to approach. 

7. Describe Tagmarshal in three words.

Efficient, Noninvasive, Accountability. 

8. Who’s the slowest and fastest player on Tour?

Bryson Dechambeau’s slow times have been well documented. Despite what he believes, the answer is not walking faster between shots, but being ready to play when it is your turn and not taking any longer than 30 seconds. As he just won the U.S. Open, it is hard to argue with his approach. However, I feel he would play just as well, if not better, if he thought less and just reacted.

The fastest player would have to be John Daly, especially when he stops caring. Grip it and rip it came from him, and he doesn’t take long to do it. 

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

I will go a different direction here and say Danielle Kang. I like a player who plays with passion and has swagger and presence. In getting to know her existing caddie Ollie, I know enough to know Danielle has high expectations for her caddie. I feel I perform my best with the stakes are high, so I would enjoy the pressure.

Danielle also won my family and I over by being one of the few players from the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship to write me a handwritten thank you note following the tournament. As a big note writer myself, she is my kind of person. She was incredibly kind to spectators throughout the week. I would want to be sure I am working for someone who treats the fans well. 

Many courses are facing an extremely high demand for golf, as more people join the game. This makes optimizing pace and field flow more important than ever, to ensure that excellent player experiences (and safety) are prioritized. 

On this episode of The Wednesday Match Play Podcast presented by MemberText, Bodo Sieber, CEO, Tagmarshal, talks about the history of Tagmarshal, the 300 clubs they work with including Pebble Beach, The Grove, and more, how COVID-19 has impacted business and the success stories of their course partners. Let’s tee off.

Listen to the podcast which starts at 02.27:

Listen to podcast here.

Golf continued its summer surge, with July rounds played increasing by 19.9% over a year ago. Given that July is such a high-volume month for play, the jump translates to more than 10 million additional rounds than in July of 2019.

For the second straight month, play was up in every state in the continental U.S. and this time the increases were even more pronounced. Arizona (+36%), Florida (+30%), Pennsylvania (+29%), New Jersey (+27%), New York (+26%), California (+25%), Texas (+22%) and Illinois (+20%) all had play surges of at least 20%.

The July jump comes after play was up 13.9% in June and 6.2% in May, helping the industry climb ahead of 2019’s pace despite the loss of 20 million spring rounds due to coronavirus-related course shutdowns and anxiety. More than half of U.S. golf courses were closed in late March and throughout April. Entering August, 2020 play was up 3% over the same period last year.

Given that almost half of annual rounds are played from May through August, a continued surge could help further eclipse the 2019 national rounds total of 441 million.

Play was up 25% at private clubs in July, with anecdotal reports of greater use as members settle in locally rather than take vacations and pursue other leisure activities. Private play in particular has helped offset the spring losses, up 11.2% on the year. Play at public courses, which includes municipal and resort facilities in addition to daily fee courses, was up 18% in July and is +1% for the year.

View NGF article here.

In case you missed it, the Tagmarshal webinar, “How Foothills and Meadows use technology to save costs AND deliver exceptional player experiences,” is now available to watch on-demand.

Expert Guest, Tom Woodard, Director of Golf at Foothills and Meadows, shared insights into how his courses use technology to increase efficiency and save costs – while providing players with enhanced player experiences, resulting in repeat play and additional revenue.