Does golf need shorter, more exciting formats?

Golf, like any other sport, has its fair share of problems. The ordinary person who has stepped foot on a course or spent some time watching a round on TV knows this and often associates the game with old-fashioned dress codes and staid traditions. There has been much agreement among golfers and non-golfers that the time it takes to complete a round is more often than not too long, and that the sport is not dynamic enough to attract and maintain a new and younger audience. This has been an issue and has been debated for some time, but can golf find alternative ways to attract a new and younger generation of players to boost participation levels?

Providing a fun, fast-paced and more exciting alternative to the much slower, traditional format has been something tournament organizers have certainly looked at. ExpressGolf powered by Tagmarshal is a recent innovation, an exciting golf event format in which a field of up to 72 golfers can play an 18-hole tournament in less than 3 hours. Developed as a counter to diminishing participation numbers – one of the most significant factors being lack of time – ExpressGolf uses the Tagmarshal pace of play management software to monitor and manage the field, imposing time penalties where necessary. 

Founder and CEO of ExpressGolf, Ian Kennedy, explains that while maintaining tradition remains a critical part in the success of the game, some minor adjustments can be made to ensure participation and excitement: “Golf is a game filled with tradition. Some of these traditions will stand the test of time, while other traditions need to adapt to the ever-changing demands from society. One tradition that will always remain is that a full round of golf is 18 holes. While golfers can still enjoy playing fewer holes, the majority of golfers want to complete the full 18.

“There is absolutely a need for alternative formats as the consumer is looking for ways to spend their time and money and, if golf doesn’t offer alternatives, then consumers will simply spend their time and money elsewhere,” continued Kennedy.

ExpressGolf uses the same rules of golf, playing quicker and is designed to “increase participation”, revenue and profit. The format offers fast, fun and exhilarating golf that guarantees results.

Golf clubs can benefit immensely from this product. Course operators using ExpressGolf can expect an increase in rounds during under-utilized parts of the season or day. With an increase in rounds and charging a premium “ExpressGolf Fee”, the tournament solution paves the way for more spend at pro shops and F&B, prompting increases in revenue in all areas of the golf facility.

“Top Golf is a great example of a fun alternative form of golf and is booming because of what it offers the consumer. ExpressGolf similarly offers golfers an alternative to slow and mundane rounds, by decreasing the time taken to play 18 holes by up to 2 hours. Now, that’s an alternative way of playing that ticks the big boxes of tradition and innovation,” added Kennedy.

The format, in professional tournament golf, can be used on Pro-Am day – seeing a finish in under three hours, giving more time for post-round engagements and pre-tournament range time for the pros. The ExpressGolf Professional Tournament version sees a limited field of professionals completing an 18-hole tournament in under one-and-a-half hours! 

ExpressGolf, leading up to the 2018 AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open, held its inaugural ExpressGolf Tour Challenge at the Four Seasons Golf Club Mauritius at Anahita. Germany’s Marcel Siem, a multiple winner on the European Tour, was pleased with his performance and the exciting format saying: “I loved ExpressGolf and I played the best golf that I have played all year. It was an absolute blast and I putted the best I have in ages. Playing with the fast pace is better for spectators as well. ExpressGolf is the way forward and I believe it will help everybody involved in golf.”

Ultimately, the goal is that this will grow the game by attracting a younger generation while at the same time retaining the traditions of the great game.

To find out more about ExpressGolf visit: https://tagmarshal.com/introducing-express-golf/

Boosting golfer participation at your course

The National Golf Foundation (NGF) released its annual golfer participation report for the year 2018 earlier this month, and the results are positive! Numbers show that there has been an increase in playing golf and engaging with it. Although these are encouraging signs, many courses are still experiencing a downward trend in this area. 

For a while, one of the golf industry’s key challenges has been to increase playing opportunities for people who have expressed some sort of interest in the game and turning them into regular golfers. Data such as this can help identify key areas of interest that can be used as a gateway to boost participation at golf courses.

Here are some interesting 2018 stats from the NGF report:

• The number of people aged 6-and-up who played at least one round of golf on a golf course increased from 23.8 million in 2017 to 24.2 million in 2018
• An estimated 2.6 million beginners played on a golf course for the first time
• Rounds played declined 4.8% year-over-year to an estimated 434 million rounds
• The average golfer is 46 years old and has a household income of $100 000

The Opportunity

While there is an increase in participation, taking a deeper look at the data, the NGF found that there are some 14.7 million non-golfers who consider themselves interested in playing the game, of whom half this number are former golfers who haven’t played a round over the past year. The other half is made up of people who have never played the game before on a golf course. The key for the industry is to obviously turn these “interested golfers” into regular golfers.

So what are some of the solutions that golf facilities can employ to attract and boost golfer participation?

The issue of time spent playing golf on a course has been one of the major detracting factors facing golf in recent times. Most people do not have the time to spend more than five hours on a course due to various other commitments. Research shows that a time-sensitive younger generation tends to spend a lot more time playing golf away from the course at Topgolf and standalone driving range-type facilities (23 million people – NGF). 

Pace of play management then becomes an increasingly critical factor to draw more people to play on the course. 

A 2016 USGA survey found that 74% of golfers identified pace of play as a crucial enjoyment factor to their round of golf. This has led many courses to adopt Tagmarshal’s golf management software to set the pace and provide better value to golfers using smart, data-driven tools. A tool that operational staff can use to have full oversight of the field, providing golfers with accurate, objective support, ultimately adding value and ensuring an exceptional on-course experience.

A consistently well-managed pace of play automatically translates into happier golfers, and opens up space to add capacity and immediately address the issue of declining rounds played. Research has shown that on-course golfer enjoyment boosts loyalty to your course and converts into substantial post-round food and beverage revenue opportunity.

As golf cart gps management software, such as Tagmarshal, is increasingly playing a prominent role in how modern-day operations are run, golf courses have an opportunity to not only boost participation levels, but also to maximize revenue.

Any golfer who sets foot onto the course should be seen as a potential repeat customer, and every effort needs to be made to win their loyalty. By adopting golf management software, courses can better align their offering with the expectation of the golfer. Achieving consistency on this front will always result in a more satisfied customer, more likely to return and ultimately a better bottom line for the course.

Fota Island first with New Tech

Everyone knows that pace of play, more commonly described as slow play, is a big problem in golf, and Fota Island is the first Cork course to introduce a new technological aid to help manage this issue. 

The five-star resort is one of the first courses in Ireland to launch the groundbreaking Tagmarshal system. The new system provides an easy way to monitor every group on the course. 

A small GPS unit is given to each group when they start, and the unit reports back to a base station in real time, collecting live information on the pace of play.  The base station (which is actually an iPad) relates the live information to the bank current and historical information. 

Using data analytics and advanced algorithms, the system creates a heat map which identifies areas on the course where delays are likely to happen.  As the system tracks golfers in real time, any group that’s out of position can be easily identified.  Prior to the use of this technology, many courses including Fota Island would have used a course marshal.  While a roving course marshal will have a good understanding of the pinch points on the course and the reasons why golfers can fall behind, covering the full course is an obvious problem.  From an iPad in the pro shop or office, any of the golf operations team can quickly identify a hot spot or a group that’s out of position.

From there (or from a buggy on the course) it’s an easy job to get to the hot spot and identify and help correct the issue.  Tagmarshal allows courses to identify delays and problems in real time.  And as the data is clearly displayed on the iPad, it helps to avoid any subjective arguments from specific groups about the pace of play. 

It’s fair to say that the new technology is a big step forward, addressing an area that is a constant frustration for many golfers.  The aim of Tagmarshal is to identify and solve problems, which in turn leads to an improved member and guest experience.  And as it’s a small portable unit, it’s suitable for every group whether they have a buggy, a cart or they carry their clubs. “We introduced Tagmarshal to help people get around a golf course in a reasonable time to allow everyone on the golf course to enjoy their golf” explained Kevin Morris, The Resort’s Director of Golf. 

“Tagmarshal has been received very well by all in its short time at the Resort.  I think we all agree, golf needs to speed up and it would seem most people are finding the tool personally advantageous.  The great thing is there is no pressure involved, people want to get around the golf course in a reasonable time, and this seems to help them.”

The three different course layouts in Fota Island (Deerpark, Barryscourt and Belvelly) are all capable of providing a European Tour level test, the course team at the resort can also set the courses up to suit the golfers on any given day. Tees, pin positions and green speeds are all variables that allow management to balance the challenge against the enjoyment for casual golfers, regular members and guests, all the way up to elite amateurs and PGA Professionals.

Tagmarshal is being rolled out to all golfers at the Resort. Golf tourists, hotel guests, societies, corporate groups, and members are all asked to take a Tagmarshal unit when they sign in at the pro shop.  And the results are that is has reduced the time for every category highlighting the effectiveness of the tool according to Kevin:

“The feedback has been very positive, with golfers commenting favorably and finding the tool helping them. On many occasions, we have seen rounds under four hours which is appropriate even for a big course like Fota Island Resort.  Indeed there were a few examples of golfers taking over 40 minutes off previous round times, while this will vary, it would seem that everyone can benefit.”

Tagmarshal has been used in the US since late 2015 and was rolled out in several high profile public courses and private resorts.  The average time-saving at a resort level course in the US was 19 minutes. 

In Ireland Waterville, Ballybunion and Dooks are also users of the new technology with similarly positive experiences for golfers.  From the Fota Island perspective, the same is true according to Morris: “Tagmarshal gives you the exact information of how long it takes to play a specific hole and obviously with more data, it can be fine-tuned over time. This seems to improve everyone’s enjoyment over time.”

Stephen Knoop is the Managing Director for TagMarshal and he has worked with the company since 2017.  A former professional rugby player, Stephen has seen the benefits of the system first hand, with several positive testimonials from some of the most famous resort courses in Ireland and the UK. “Course managers feedback has been fantastic as they now have complete oversight of the golf course and can manage the field pace & flow in real-time,” said Stephen. 

“European golf clubs have dropped between 10-24 minutes on average.  It’s also important to remember that the system also measures pace distribution (how many groups are on time) which gives a more accurate indication of how the course is running.”  As well as providing a service to courses, the games governing bodies have also used the technology. 

“We are partnered with the USGA who use Tagmarshal for their Pace of Play/Flow studies as well as their extensive research into golfer satisfaction. The R&A have used the Tagmarshal Tournament version (Tournament Track) at the Womens Amateur Championship at Royal County Down last week and the Amateur Championship at Portmarnock and The Island this week.  We have spoken briefly to the GUI and hopefully, we’ll see some movement this season.  In the professional tour space, the EuroPro Tour is currently using the system with the European Tour keeping a close eye on things.”  As well as monitoring pace and flow, Tagmarshal has also been used for a few other reasons as Stephen explained. 

“The system also shows where course staff is on the golf course. One Drinks cart hadn’t moved for 2 hours on the 10th hole and should have been circling the course. The Manager headed out to find it had been quite a taxing day for the young man who had fallen asleep and got the shock of his life when he was awoken by the manager standing over him.  More recently a golfer in the Netherlands threw his bag and trolley into the course lake after another bad shot.  Having seen the red mist, he couldn’t remember the part of the large lake so we used the system to retrieve the device and bag!”

View original article here

Adopting pace of play management technology for a traditional game

Technology has become part of everything do in our lives on a daily basis. It is an unstoppable force that not even golf, with its rich history and a strong sense of tradition, could avoid. It has had a significant impact on the golf industry in the last decade or so, with most advances seen in clothing, clubs, balls, carts, tee sheet management and more.

Exhibitions such as the PGA Merchandise Show are a platform for companies to showcase their golf-related products to the who’s who of the industry, including Directors of Golf, PGA Professionals, pro-shop owners and more, and are the very drivers that lure various players in the industry to be a part of this journey of technological advancement.

Golf course operators are constantly searching for ways to improve every aspect of their facilities, particularly field management. Field management is a critical factor in member satisfaction and achieving a return on investment. 

Industry-leading technologies like Tagmarshal’s golf course intelligence platform encompasses a host of features to give golf operators informed decisions, optimize and proactively manage the field by preemptively addressing the most critical golfer experience challenges and by providing non-confrontational support.

Here are 5 reasons why adopting pace of play management technology can pay off:

1. Control the flow and pace to provide a better experience for members and guests

With Tagmarshal’s first-to-market, leading technological innovation, you can eliminate the guessing factor to optimize the field for an added on-course experience. The pace of play management system enables golf clubs to effectively implement its pace of play policy, assisting in reducing playtime, which can allow operators to add additional tee times for extra capacity.

The key lies with accessibility to accurate and actionable data that translates into informed decisions, ultimately accelerating field flow for an even better on-course experience. 

2. Real-time, intuitive data provides the information necessary to be proactive

Access to up-to-the-minute, real-time data and industry-leading algorithms to identify risk groups empowers on-course staff and management to provide accurate, objective support to alleviate any pace challenges before they emerge. 

This reduces average round times and materially improves the pace experience. Added features such as the geofence module give staff and golfers the knowledge and awareness of any breaches and ensure players stay on-course which is key to effectively maintaining a well-managed field flow.

3. Technology empowers on-course staff when providing support – turning marshal’s into experience managers

Every staff member plays a significant role in ensuring operations run smoothly when it comes to pace of play, field flow and, on-course interaction. It is, thus, crucially important to establish a well-trained team to handle issues that arise, such as poor pace of play and flow challenges, in an adaptive and positive manner. The system empowers managers and staff to set the pace and seamlessly manage expectations in a positive, non-confrontational manner, backed by intuitive data and analytics. 

In a situation where an on-course issue arises, the wealth of data allows the staff to handle them immediately, offering members assistance, and follow up upon the completion of the round, all of which ensures an exceptional experience.

4. Use accurate information on which groups to support, rather than spending unproductive time looking for problems 

Too often golf clubs are left having to make critical operational decisions based on assumptions and uninformed guesswork. Too frequently the connection between on-time tee-off, pace and flow management and, of course, on-course staff trying to push players, negatively affects a player’s experience, can take up a lot of time and often has a negative impact on the course’s overall reputation.

Tagmarshal gives golf operators access to real-time pace-of-play analytics and data-driven golf intelligence. At the click of a button, the on-course staff receives automated notifications and alerts, to manage the flow of the field effectively and to react quickly when they need to.

5. Whether you actively manage from the pro shop or empower on-course staff, positive on-course interactions with guests and members pay off and technology helps to do it better 

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a common key metric in many industries that measures the customer’s loyalty to a product or service as well as their willingness to return and refer. Essentially, it looks to answer the question of how likely is it that a customer would recommend your company/brand to a friend or colleague.

The USGA conducted a “player experience” research which demonstrated that there is a correlation between feeling welcome, the flow of play, having met and interacted with on-course staff and the likelihood(%) of visiting the restaurant and the resulting NPS of the overall experience.

The industry’s objective should then be to use flow and time of play and the general on-course experience as a game-changing, high NPS score strategy to enhance the player experience and create loyalty, repeat play and boost revenue opportunities.

In essence, golf’s willingness to evolve in this technological age will determine its future. While tradition is part of the undoubted character and charm of the game, golf has shown that it can adopt change successfully. The switch from wooden to metal clubs, the seemingly overnight switch from metal spikes to soft spikes, introductions like shot tracer in golf broadcasting are some examples. 

The players of the future are the key stakeholders who will shape the game. These players demand flexibility, fun, top tier customer service, accessibility, inclusivity and for the game to fit with their available spend budgets, and importantly pace and flow experience and time budgets.

Tagmarshal Named Presenting Sponsor of 2019 Writer Cup Hosted by Forsgate Country Club

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Tagmarshal, the industry-leading golf course intelligence and pace of play management solutions provider, has been named Presenting Sponsor of the 2019 Writer Cup by the event’s founder and host, Forsgate Country Club located in Monroe Township, NJ.

In making the joint announcement with Tagmarshal’s CEO, Bodo Sieber, Chris Schiavone, Forsgate’s Managing Partner said, “The Writer Cup, now entering its 12th year, is one of the most anticipated golf events of the year by the industry’s media. On Thursday, July 25, media representatives from publications, broadcast outlets and digital platforms located in the Philadelphia and southern New Jersey regions will compete against a team comprised of journalists from New York-based national golf outlets and Metropolitan New York regional media in a best-ball format. Hotly contested, but a day of camaraderie and informality.”

Sieber said, “We are honored to be selected by Forsgate to provide our golf course intelligence system for this celebrated event. Players will experience the features and benefits which many of the most renowned clubs, courses and resorts from around the globe have successfully implemented to ensure better on-course experiences for golfers.”

Schiavone noted, “This year we are delighted to welcome Tagmarshal and to have it provide its world-class pace of play management solution. Its easy-to-use system will save time for our professional staff headed by our Director of Golf, Carolyn McKenzie Andrews. Furthermore, it offers an efficient and objective way for our on-course personnel to manage the field’s flow, and keeps the golfers engaged throughout the 18 holes of spirited play.”

Following play, the teams will enjoy an evening of Forsgate’s traditional Writer Cup steak and lobster dinner and the awarding of this year’s Writer Cup to the winning team. At the dinner’s conclusion, Tagmarshal will present a charitable donation to the Forsgate Foundation to benefit a variety of community service organizations and area caddie scholarship foundations.

View original press release here.