Pebble Beach’s, Eric Lippert, on how to Achieve Optimal Pace of Play

One of the best parts of my job is the privilege of meeting scores of eager golfers every day. Many of them are here for the first time, most of them anticipating this day for a lifetime. 

Whether your tee sheet is full of golfers crossing your course off their bucket list or is a group of members or customers who enjoy their facility every day, ensuring they have a positive and memorable experience is vital to bringing them back, retaining their business, and increasing participation. 

Regardless of the type of facility you run, pace of play is one of the biggest influences of that experience. With technology leading the way in tee time reservations, coaching, and equipment, it seems logical we’d use it to help us keep play moving on a daily basis. 

So in 2017, we began testing a GPS-enabled hardware and software system, Tagmarshal, and found that by clipping a GPS tracking unit onto one bag in each group, we are able to monitor the pace and spacing of every group on the course from any connected device. 

This real-time information has fundamentally changed the role of our on-course player assistants, who now can dedicate nearly all of their time to solving issues as they develop rather than trying to identify them. 

In addition, this technology generates thousands of data points each day that we analyze and use to inform our pace of play communications, expectations, and policies. Safe to say, advancement in technology has been the cornerstone of a refocused pace of play program at Pebble Beach that has yielded considerable improvement recognized by new and repeat guests alike.

Eric Lippert on the business impact of maintaining an acceptable pace of play:

Simply put, the best way to promote a return visit from a guest is to exceed his or her expectations. Our biggest challenge in meeting that goal historically has been pace of play. 

As a public facility, we have golfers of all skill levels intermingled, and of course, it only takes one slow group at the beginning of a summer day to potentially ruin the experience for over 200 guests. 

Technology has now given us the tools and information to revamp the way we address these problem groups. As a result, we’ve been able to increase the percentage of golfers who play in under five hours from 60 percent in the first month we began tracking this data, to over 85 percent in the most recent month. 

Golf Cart GPS Tracking Market Leader Tags Azalea for European Expansion

Tagmarshal, the golf course intelligence and pace-of-play system used globally by golf courses, has retained Azalea to elevate the brand in key European markets and to introduce it to golf clubs and resorts across the continent.

The revenue-optimising system is already managing player flow at several Major-hosting venues, including eight-time Open Championship course Carnoustie; 2017 US Open host Erin Hills; four-time US Open and 1951 Ryder Cup host Pinehurst Resort & Country Club; and Whistling Straits®, the three-time US PGA venue and site of the 2020 Ryder Cup.

Additionally, it is also in operation at prestigious venues such as Ballybunion – a world top-20 course – highly regarded Iberian venues, such as West Cliffs, Club de Golf Alcanada and Sotogrande, and a large number of mid-range clubs, both private and daily fee, across the globe.

Tagmarshal’s industry-leading algorithms display real-time alerts for clubhouse staff and marshals to pre-emptively address golfers falling behind the required pace of play. Data transmission is provided from a small GPS device clipped to golfers’ bags or installed on buggies.

Data shows partner courses are routinely able to shave off between 14 and 24 minutes from an average round, in just six months, using Tagmarshal’s systems – the equivalent of one more tee-time per day.

This ensures a well-balanced on-course experience, and optimised player satisfaction in what is a key factor in golfer enjoyment. At Erin Hills, an improvement of 17 minutes per round resulted in new customers and $140,000 in additional green-fee revenue last season.

Tagmarshal’s managing director, Stephen Knoop, said: “We realised some time ago that we needed the experience and creativity of a well-established agency in Europe if Tagmarshal was to maintain its position as the industry leader. We’ve been speaking to Azalea for a while now and engaging with their existing clients, who speak very highly of them.

“The company has a reputation for creativity in both its marketing and its ability to tell a client’s story. It’s also very well connected, so provides a perfect fit for us and we look forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship.”

Azalea’s managing director, Sean Noble, added: “Increasingly, the golf industry is benefiting from data analytics, whether from the perspective of business management or the positive impact on the golfer experience.

“Tagmarshal has applied the most accurate metrics and data intelligence to take the guesswork out of golfer movement and management at golf clubs of all sizes, providing a significant opportunity to optimise player experiences and increase club revenue, and we are delighted to be able to have the opportunity to spread that message far and wide.”

Over the last 12 years, Azalea has established itself as one of Europe’s leading specialist agencies, working with some of the continent’s major national and regional tourist boards, flagship golf clubs and resorts, and leading brands.

Brunello Optimizes the Golfer Experience with Tagmarshal

The Links at Brunello, outside Halifax, Nova Scotia dedicated to providing its members and guests with an exceptional golfing experience, has teamed up with golf course intelligence platform, Tagmarshal, to further enhance its service delivery.

Brunello joins courses such as Pinegrove CC, Wooden Sticks, Summit and Clovelly as Canadian courses optimizing their on-course experience with Tagmarshal. Tagmarshal partners with GGGolf in Canada, ensuring Canadian courses have the opportunity to optimize their player experience and drive additional revenue.

“GGGolf is excited to bring Tagmarshal to Canadian golf courses, assisting them in optimizing their on-course and golfer experience.” Gilles Gauthier, President, GGGolf.

Voted to be among the top 25 golf courses in Canada in 2018 by Golf Digest, the Links at Brunello is dedicated to providing its community members and customers with the finest experience in golf that exceeds the expectations of all guests with a customer service that is second to none.

The partnership with Tagmarshal aims to further entrench Brunello as one of the industry-leading golf experience providers. 

“With short seasons driving high volumes of play, we are excited to be partnering with Links at Brunello and others to ensure efficient on-course operations and the best golf experiences with optimal pace and flow of play. We’re also thrilled to be adding value to Brunello during winter, ensuring safety and line of sight of cross country skiers on the property with our tracking solution.”  – Bodo Sieber, CEO of Tagmarshal. 

During the winter months at Brunello members and guests can enjoy ice skating on the pond located on Hole 5, tobogganing, cross country skiing and snowshoeing with access to miles of hiking trails and golf cart paths.

What’s making this winter season particularly exciting is Tagmarshal’s golf cart GPS tracking tags in use to monitor skiers location. This ensures the safety and security of the skiers, ensuring that Brunello consistently provides a quality, forward-thinking product and experience that is in line with the clubs mission.

PGA Magazine: How Pebble Beach Prepares Guests for Pace of play

One of the most sought-after tee times for most golfers is Pebble Beach Golf Links, where a difficult golf course, windy conditions and players looking to savor a bucket-list destination can conspire to create pace of play problems. To help set expectations and prepare players for a speedier pace, the resort directs visitors to a special page on its website prior to their visits, located at https://www.pebblebeach.com/pace-of-play-guidelines/

Here are some of the highlights:

• Pebble Beach used data from Tagmarshal to set pace of play targets for different times of day, from a four-hour pace for the first group off to 4:55 for tee times at noon and later.
• If a foursome falls more than two shots behind the group in front of them, a player assistant will give the group a pace of play reminder. A forecaddie will be sent to assist the group if it is still out of position after two holes. After three holes, the group will be asked to move ahead or given the chance to restart their round after the last group of the day. 
• The pace of play page also has a primer on how to play ready golf; how to use the new Rules on stroke and distance on balls lost out of bounds; and for keeping the flagstick in while putting, as well as maximum scores by handicap for players to pick up their ball.

If you missed the live Tagmarshal Expert Session webinar, it’s not too late. Watch the webinar on demand video below, in your own time, and find out how data, informed by technology, is critical to successfully running a world-class operation.

PGA Magazine: Keeping Competitors on the Move

Jim Morris, PGA Head Professional

National Golf Links of America, Southampton, New York

As the old adage says, there’s golf – and there’s tournament golf. Improving the pace of play during the nervy rounds of tournament golf for the 350-plus members at Long Island’s National Golf Links of America has been a major accomplishment for PGA Head Professional Jim Morris.

While the famed club values a culture of healthy pace of play during daily rounds on its lauded C.B. Macdonald/Seth Raynor layout, Morris saw that competitive events often bogged down at the club.

“We have a lot of competitive events at the club, and members with a high golfer IQ, and their expectations are high,” Morris says. 

“For these players, one bad pin position can ruin an experience. Pace of play falls into the same category – if it takes too long to play, it ruins the experience and has a real effect on players.”

Morris and his staff brought in Tagmarshal to help identify trouble areas on the course in an effort to smooth out tournament play. By putting a GPS tracker on one player’s bag in each group, the golf staff can monitor the flow of the entire event and be ready to assist wherever needed.

Tagmarshal’s data also helped Morris create novel solutions to ongoing problem areas. For example, holes 13 and 14 require players to walk around – and play over – both sides of a large pond. In addition to the time it took to actually play the two challenging holes, players also lost time in walking around the water twice.

The data showed the detrimental effect this slowdown had on the rest of the field, giving Morris the idea to provide mandatory golf car shuttles to get around the water between shots. Two long walks have been transformed into 30-second shuttle rides, and pace of play is maintained.

“There were other areas that could cause problems, too, but Tagmarshal really let us see the patterns that lead up to issues during tournament play,” Morris says. 

“We’ve now alleviated the problem, and the response from the membership has been ecstatic. It’s added to their appreciation of our events that they don’t have to take all day to play anymore.”

As a result, National Golf Links has increased the size of the field and number of flights for each of its member tournaments, and all were oversubscribed this season.

“We have more members playing in our events, and they’re having a great experience,” Morris says.