Tagmarshal 2Way’s Geofence System brings added value to Golf Management Software

Golf management software has been at the forefront of advancements in golf course operations for added player value and self-management, and Tagmarshal’s 2Way system aims to be the solution that assists golf courses to stay ahead of the game.

Among its many great features, the next generation 2Way system features an accurate, automated geofence system which displays real-time notifications and alerts that dynamically and pre-emptively address any breaches in and around a course, with an added golfer front-end interface.

Unlike Tagmarshal’s classic geofence module which was initially developed for course management and staff, the new front-end user interface generation gives golfers the knowledge and awareness of any breaches.

This golf management software feature allows for management and staff access to real-time insight to pre-emptively address on-course issues and provide non-confrontational support, as well as golfer accountability.

What’s new?

Providing smart management tools to communicate effectively, to ensure player safety, player compliance and reduced damaged areas or areas under maintenance, and cart security from theft, remain the primary goals.

Previously, a course manager, for example, who used the system for oversight, but was not necessarily at their desk all the time, may have selected text messaging or even an automated alert call for key geofence zone breaches, or if a cart ignores multiple zones. With the updated system, messages are now automatically sent from the system notifying golfers if they are breaching a geofence zone. Golfers can then respond to whether they have seen it and acknowledge it and whether or not they need assistance, sending a text message or a modal pop up to every operational staff user.

Here are some of the feature benefits:

• Allows for provisional geofencing to help protect damaged areas, caused by rain or drought, high traffic areas or areas under maintenance.
• Geofences automatically activate at certain times of day or on certain days of the week.
• Create zones based on a course’s criteria and monitor carts entering and exiting geofenced area
• Prioritise geofenced zones with low, medium or high notification alerts
• Increased safety and security over cart fleets and minimize theft and abuse
• Tags are able to receive real-time automated updates allowing course managers to amend geofenced areas, as required

ATTENDING THE 5TH USGA GOLF INNOVATION SYMPOSIUM – TOKYO

On March 12th / 13th golf operators, facilitators and organizers across the globe were in attendance at the 5h USGA Innovation Symposium held in Tokyo, Japan. An event that has a significant impact on the future of the game, hosted by the USGA and JGA.

The USGA has set a challenge for the golf industry:

• A 25 percent reduction in the consumption of key resources; and
• A 20 percent increase in golfer satisfaction by 2025.

The Symposium is a key platform for sharing the most innovative and most impactful advances in support of this mission.

“At Tagmarshal we are firmly aligned with this challenge. Our mission and the value we are adding to the industry is a strong fit.” explains Tagmarshal CEO Bodo Sieber, who is one of the guests invited to the Symposium.

“We are honoured to attend this important event, especially since our team have assisted the USGA on two exciting research projects in recent months, both of which will be presented at the Symposium.” adds Sieber.

The agenda featured these research projects:

• “New View of Data: USGA GPS Service case studies” at Kasumigaseki CC and Crandon Golf FL, presented by Scott Mingay, USGA, Ryoichi Ohno, Kasumigaseki Country Club and John Sanford, Crandon Golf at Key Biscayne.
• “Defining Golfer Experience: First look at new research that identifies the most important factors impacting satisfaction” presented by Eric Brey, University of Wisconsin-Stout and Kris Schoonover, University of Wisconsin-Stout.

Professor Schoonover also works with Erin Hills Golf Club, a long term Tagmarshal golf course management software partner and stand-out facility as far as optimization, pace of play management and player experience are concerned.   

Tokyo of course hosts of the 2020 Olympic Games with the Olympic Golf competition played at Kasumigaseki Country Club just North of the impressive Japanese capital city, so it was a fitting venue for the gathering of some of the top international innovators and custodians of the game.

Key highlights

WEBINAR: How Tagmarshal Can Positively Affect Your Bottom Line

Breaking even is simply not enough – and facilities run a risk of huge revenue losses when they have inconsistent on-course player experiences, based on assumptions and uninformed guesswork.

Discover how Tagmarshal’s golf course intelligence and pace of play management solution can empower staff and management to optimize the on-course experience, saving costs and unlocking significant revenue.

WHAT WILL YOU LEARN?

• • How staff can be better prepared and deliver efficient, accurate, data-driven support to members and guests to seamlessly manage their expectations and further add to a superior experience.
  • How improved oversight, real-time performance management with data allows for added tee times on busy days, resulting in greater revenue.
  • Discover how management and staff have the ability to provide positive, non-confrontational golfer assistance which is critical to exceptional player experiences; inspiring loyalty and repeat play, making way for additional revenue opportunities.
  • Alleviating pace challenges means golfers will have more time to spend at the pro shop and on F&B.
  • Managing maintenance in line with actual course usage saves significant costs.

Gain practical tips to use on your course of how technology optimizes golf course operations while ensuring a consistent member and guest experience.

COMPLETE THE BELOW FORM AND WE WILL SEND YOU THIS WEBINAR:

MEET THE PRESENTER:

Bodo Sieber, CEO, and Co-founder of Tagmarshal.

Bodo brings a wealth of business intelligence and software applications experience to the golf industry. A German national with an extensive understanding of golf course operations and process optimization, Bodo has honed his applied data science expertise during more than a decade in the field.

As published in Forbes Magazine
When it comes to measuring round satisfaction, unless you’re PGA TOUR slow play ambassador J.B. Holmes whose dawdling Kentucky two-step can lull his playing partners to sleep, quicker is better.

So what’s a recreational golfer intent on breezing through eighteen in under four hours to do? Booking the very first tee time of the day has long been golf’s wait-minimizing equivalent of the Walt Disney World FastPass. Golf early birds are free and clear to race along unimpeded and won’t be held up by a slow group ahead. But multiple morning golf groups can now enjoy that same expedited experience thanks to pace of play intelligence software leader Tagmarshal’s new “Fastlane Golf” product which they see as a quick and easy introduction for courses considering implementing one of their comprehensive platforms.

“People say they love playing the first tee time of the day because nobody is in front of them and they can get to their office at ten. We can optimize a course and set it up in a way so that the first five tee times can actually be run fifty minutes faster than a course’s goal time,” explains Tagmarshal CEO Bodo Sieber.

Golfers who score these coveted tee times commit to play at an accelerated clip, a mantra already espoused by the vast majority of early risers. The course in turn commits to keeping tabs on these fleet footed foursomes. They monitor them with Tagmarshal’s turnkey mobile 2Way systems which are clipped onto carts or bags and can display real time alerts to preempt slow play.

“There was a USGA data survey where it was found that players are willing to pay more for a quicker round with no holdups. Courses can actually charge a premium for Fastlane Golf, ten to fifteen percent more, what have you,” explains Sieber. He likens the value proposition to opting to drive on a toll highway to assure a quicker commute.

“If you are a busy person it’s worth paying a little more to know what your are going to get, and that is exactly what we are providing. So this is a low effort, low cost, immediate return on investment.   And a great entry point for us because courses get to understand what its like to manage the operational technology and the expectation from our side is that many would then upgrade to our proper full Tagmarshal system.”

Tagged Courses

Over 250 courses have adopted Tagmarshal’s golf intelligence software to optimize rounds including iconic names like Carnoustie, Whistling Straits, East Lake, Valhalla, Pinehurst Resort & Country Club, and that storied golf club on the Monterey peninsula.

Tracking groups in real time to manage course flow and identify bottlenecks before they occur is the main reason courses are signing up to this software as a service company’s wares.

If Tagmarshal’s pace of play platform was deputized to police last weekend’s Genesis Open, J.B. Holmes sluggish antics would’ve been flagged by their algorithm early on.

He’d have been politely told to curtail his glacial pre-shot routine responsible for the final threesome’s round dragging on for five hours and 29 minutes.

Aside from safeguarding a healthy pace, Tagmarshal can keep track of everything else that moves on a golf course including mowers and beverage carts. This is all in the service of optimizing operations. All that geolocation data culled from tracked rounds can also generate course utilization heat maps to better inform superintendents’ maintenance decisions.

Erin Hills, site of the 2017 U.S. Open, was one of Tagmarshal’s earliest big name adopters.

“We started knocking off two to three minutes each year and then once we really got used to the system and figured out how it works we started doing a better job conditioning players and caddies,” says Jim Lombardo, Head Professional at Erin Hills.

“They always seem to play faster when they know they are being tracked.”

By shaving off those precious minutes from average round time, Lombardo was able to add an extra tee time at the end of the day without having to worry about whether a group would be able to get in their round in before sunset. With green fees at $295 a player, that extra time slot quickly paid dividends.

“You add that in throughout August and September and most of those get sold, maybe 75% of them, you’re looking at $40-$50,000; maybe even a little more, of additional revenue. There’s no way we would have had that if we didn’t have the system. It pays for itself a hundred times over, if not more,” says Lombardo.

Round tracking intel gathered can also lead to course improvements. Suffering first tee jitters at Erin Hills is pretty common. Those heightened nerves can cause golfers to slice into the tall fescue on the right hand side and then spend time searching for balls in the rough.

“We trimmed back the fescue back to make play a little more forgiving on the right hand side. It didn’t change the look of the golf course. It was just a matter of a few feet. But it made a difference.”

View original article here.

5 WAYS TO ALIGN YOUR COURSE TO BEST UTILIZE TAGMARSHAL

Every golf club is constantly looking at ways to improve, both in operational practices and in player experience, and in today’s world that means making use of technological advancements.

Much like how the woods and irons that players stock their bags with have undergone fine tuning, so too have clubs re-evaluated the ways in which they’re going to tackle some of the game’s enduring, and most frustrating, problems.

Ever sat twiddling your thumbs whilst a slow-playing group up ahead creates a backlog that lasts throughout the round? Of course, you have, because it’s an issue that golf has been grappling with for as long as we can remember.

Intelligence software like Tagmarshal presents clubs with a unique opportunity to tackle pace of play issues, but in order to maximize success and benefit fully from such a powerful tool, clubs need to ensure that they are well-prepared.

Here are five practical ways for clubs to do just that:

Trained staff at each point, from arrival to departure

As soon as members and guests first set on the premises, the club’s staff needs to ensure that they’re making the experience as enjoyable as possible.

Implementing new systems successfully requires a buy-in from all the staff, and any unprofessionalism or mistakes made early in the process can have knock-on effects further down the line.

Tagmarshal’s success relies on real-time communication between staff, and when each staff member understands how their role fits into that bigger picture, they can work towards achieving the end goal as a cohesive unit.

You will also find that once Tagmarshal brings down the average round time, there is more money to be made at the pro shop, and through food and beverages. Ensuring adequate training in these areas can also maximize this revenue stream.

Practical aspects

Before golfers set out to start their rounds, they must be handed the Tagmarshal tags, which enable the real-time GPS tracking.

This is also the ideal time to introduce the system with a brief explanation. Upon the completion of a round, the tags will need to be collected, which also presents an opportunity for staff to elicit feedback on the player experience.

Starting accuracy

The importance of the starter cannot be overstated, and there’s more to the job to simply ensuring everyone tees off at the correct time.

That’s not to underestimate the value of holding players accountable from the first tee, and having groups tee off at the prescribed time does make it easier to keep the intervals true during the rest of the day.

The starter also plays a vital role in communicating what is expected from the various groups and informing them of how marshals will handle any on-course issues that may arise.

Because Tagmarshal empowers marshals with a wealth of information not previously at their disposal, starters need to both understand the system, explaining to the players how it will be used to better their golfing experience, and provide a frame of reference for how marshals will interact with groups.

Once the groups are on the course, the real-time data and GPS tracking software can be relayed back to the starter, who can then use that information to adjust any tee times where necessary.

The starter also plays a vital role in communicating what is expected from the various groups and informing them of how marshals will handle any on-course issues that may arise.

Re-educating marshals

Tagmarshal completely changes the scope of a marshal’s on-course role, and that means that additional training will be necessary.

Marshals now have a wealth of information at their fingertips, and how they convey this information, both in tone and messaging, becomes a key component of their success. With the right training, this additional information will make it easier to deal with pace of play issues in real-time.

Most groups aren’t exactly overjoyed when approached by a marshal but tackling the issue of slow play can now be done in a data-driven, non-confrontational manner.

Marshals should understand which information and data resonates best with groups and how to explain it, as well as figuring out which members of slow-playing groups are likely to be most receptive to being approached.

Finally, there are also additional experience functionalities, such as notifying the on-course drinks carts and ensuring player safety during severe weather.

The marshal’s messaging and tone is key, and should align with the messaging put out by the rest of the staff, which brings us to our final point…

Getting players to buy into the concept

Even when running as a finely-tuned machine, Tagmarshal’s success is still reliant on players understanding how the system is designed for their own benefit. Pace of play remains one of golf’s biggest gripes, and players want to see their favourite courses taking active measures to rectify this.

The starter and the marshals are pivotal to getting this point across, but when the round is done and the dust has settled, clubs shouldn’t think the job is done.

When collecting the tags from each player, a quick rundown of the day’s slowest and quickest holes, or chatting with players directly about Tagmarshal’s effectiveness, helps to keep everyone engaged in the process.

This participation helps players understand how the system works, encourages the idea that speeding up pace of play is a collective effort, and opens channels of communication that make on-course intervention a far less prickly experience.

Ultimately, when a club’s staff have been adequately trained in how to implement the new systems, and those on the course understand that their playing experience is better for it, then a club is best positioned to maximize Tagmarshal’s immense potential.

5 WAYS TAGMARSHAL CAN BOOST YOUR ROI

Golf clubs spend a tremendous amount of effort, time, money and advertising, year-in-and-year-out, trying to get golfers to come and play by offering discounts, loyalty programs and specials.

Achieving yearly revenue targets then becomes difficult when poor on-course management and inconsistent player experiences, based on assumptions and uninformed guesswork, prompts a swing-and-a-miss which results in a loss in revenue.

Here are 5 ways Tagmarshal’s golf course intelligence management solution can turn your losses into revenue opportunities:

Labour savings / improved staff management

The system allows for better player awareness and self management and gives you and your team the ability to manage the on-course flow accurately, as needed, rather than spending endless hours looking for problems.

Staff can be better prepared and deliver efficient, accurate, data-driven support to members and guests, seamlessly managing expectations and further adding to a superior experience.

Efficient management means money saved immediately.

Tee sheet optimization

Improved oversight, real time management and performance management with data allows for tee-sheet optimisation. Add a tee time when it matters and fill it on your busy days when your course is at capacity. That’s worth high-profit dollars, and it adds additional F&B revenue to the club.

Operational oversight

With a wealth of intuitive, dynamic information available, management and staff have the ability to provide positive, non-confrontational golfer assistance and motivate golfers to routinely improve their per-hole and overall playing times. This improves on-course flow and field management and the overall player experience.

Ultimately, exceptional player experiences inspires loyalty and repeat play, making way for additional revenue opportunities.

Pro shop and F&B spend

If 10% to 30% of rounds go over time, those golfers are unable to check in on the pro shop and your F&B set-up after play – and assuming each golfer doesn’t spend around $30, that’s an enormous loss in potential revenue. Alleviate pace challenges with optimized field management and improve player experiences; it means golfers will have more time to spend at the pro shop and F&B.

Maintenance savings

Tagmarshal utilization of heat-maps show where players tend to move around the course, allowing greenkeepers to reduce irrigation, reduce fertilizer spend and manage maintenance in line with actual course usage, saving significant costs.