5 pace of play considerations ahead of your next season

There’s really no such thing as a quiet off-season for busy operators.

These periods when the course is closed to the public provide the ideal opportunity for you to take stock, looking back on the season just completed and pinpointing where you can improve ahead of reopening.

Alongside standard considerations like budget allocation, it’s always important to continue optimizing on-course operations, especially when it comes to pace and flow of play, which is a top 3 critical success factor when it comes to ensuring a good player experience.

Here are 5 pace of play considerations that are important for public facility operators like yourself to review ahead of next season.

Your course setup plays a huge role in maintaining a consistent pace of play, which is why being able to measure the impact of different variables is so vital.

In conversation with your superintendent, consider what a fair height is for your rough in the early weeks of the season. It’s important to give your players a little leeway to try and avoid bottlenecks caused by time spent searching for lost balls.

Pin placement has a significant impact on course flow, affecting run times for each hole. If you are running 10-minute intervals and certain pin placements are too tough and players consistently three-putt, you will experience problems.

On busier days, such as weekends or during tournament and league play, it’s worth considering making certain pin placements easier to ensure a better flow.

PRO TIP: Tagmarshal’s hole-by-hole stats break down each hole into three parts – time spent on the tee box, fairway and green – giving a more granular view of potential pain points so you can really drill down and adjust setup accordingly.

On-course interactions with staff can make or break a player’s perception of their round, with USGA research showing they serve as both a perfect delighter when things go well and a perfect frustrater when they don’t.

The first step in the right direction is actively rebranding the role of rangers or marshals at your course, which are traditionally unpopular with players and seen as on-course enforcers. Instead, call them player assistants and drive home the idea that they are to help players stay on pace and have an enjoyable experience, rather than simply policing the field.

Your staff should also be trained in the language they use during interactions with golfers. Calling a group “slow” is likely to draw a poor reaction, whereas asking them to get back into position and catch up with the group in front will increase compliance.

Encourage staff to engage in positive interactions, too, thanking groups for staying on pace and letting them know about any clubhouse specials or events, or tips for playing certain holes.

PRO TIP: When your on-course staff have tablets, they can show players Tagmarshal’s real-time data, which changes the tone from potentially adversarial to a neutral, fact-based discussion centered on creating a more enjoyable experience for everyone.

Every available labor hour you have should be put to effective use. As on-course technology has evolved, the ability to rely on automation to help with pace management and increase operational efficiency has really come to the fore.

Proactive pace management starts with immediately identifying groups that fall out of position, and carries through into how quickly you can communicate with them. If you are using cart screens, set up automated alerts that are triggered to display on the screen when a group falls behind, which gives players a gentle nudge to improve their pace before staff need to personally intervene.

When your staff do need to intervene, the GPS technology enables them to see exactly where each group is, so they can go directly to the problem. The quicker that touchpoint occurs, the more effective it will be in reducing the likelihood of bottlenecks.

Course conditioning also impacts pace of play, but ensuring your players do not damage sensitive turf areas can be labor-intensive.

Automating this process with accurate geofencing should be at the front of mind. Not only is it more effective than on-course signage, which is more easily ignored than a breach alarm or forward motion being disabled, but it’s also possible to react in real-time to changing conditions and needs.
PRO TIP: Tagmarshal’s system allows you to draw geofence templates, such as cart path only days or wet weather days, which you can toggle between as needed.

Take a close look at data from your previous season and identify periods of the day that consistently play quicker. Early rounds often come in well below the average pace across the day, and by reducing your gap intervals, you may be able to gain an additional tee time or two.

If you have already implemented this, use the data to see the impact that adding capacity has had on the hours that follow. If the day grinds to a halt by 11AM, players will not return and any short-term revenue gains will be cancelled out by an unhappy and dwindling player base over time.

Generating additional tee sheet revenue doesn’t have to mean increasing capacity. If your data shows that certain periods consistently play quicker, you should consider charging a premium for those tee times. The trade-off here is that by elevating price, you also elevate expectation, so make sure your team understands the importance of proactive pace management in these time blocks.

PRO TIP: Tagmarshal’s Advanced Reporting feature facilitates a deeper understanding of pace, capacity and other key metrics by breaking them down into tee time blocks, days of the week, days of the month, weeks and months. Using this data, you’ll be best placed to understand where capacity potential exists and when and where your team should focus their attention to meet your pace targets.

Communications around pace start well before your players arrive on the first tee.

Look at the entire journey a player has with you, from landing on your website and booking through to post-round follow-ups, and consider where exactly you are letting them know what your pace expectations are.

Your website should include this information, as well as all booking confirmation communications, which should be reinforced when players are checking in and again on the first tee by your starter or with clear signage.

When you effectively and consistently communicate around pace, and show that your facility is committed to monitoring this to provide the best possible on-course experience, you’ll find players far more likely to comply.

PRO TIP: Tagmarshal has compiled guidelines for putting together an effective pace of play policy, based on conversations with our most successful partners. Get in touch via [email protected], and we will be happy to assist.

Each completed season serves as a learning opportunity for you and your team, and each upcoming season is a chance to put into practice new strategies and test their effectiveness.

Multiple factors must work together to create an enjoyable on-course experience for players. Ultimately, though, if your course cannot deliver on the pace and flow front, there is a high likelihood that golfers will leave unhappy.

Each of the considerations listed above may not be suitable for your course, but small changes can lead to incremental improvements that, over time, improve pace and flow of play and help power your course’s economic engine.