Few decisions are as potentially confusing – or critical to a course’s business – as selecting the right golf management software provider for your operation. Savvy operators recognize that golf course software solutions with integrated marketing technologies, including online tee-time and customer relationship management tools, are essential weapons in their battle for market supremacy.

But how does an operator know which technology provider will make the best partner? What are a vendor’s strengths – and limitations – in helping operators achieve their business goals? And what kind of return on investment should operators expect from golf management software?   

Know Your Customer

The first step to answering these questions is to take a step back and survey the options, advises Mark Schmitz, a principal of ZD Studios, a visual and cultural design company for golf courses and other sports companies in Madison, Wis. Schmitz says the golf industry has attracted hundreds of companies that promise similar features and benefits. With so many from which to choose, evaluating the options can be tricky.

The experience of Larry Bowden, owner of The Natural at Beaver Creek, who evaluated several vendors before selecting a golf management software solution that includes point-of-sale with inventory management and customer relationship management tools from ActiveGolf, also suggests that technology companies may tout similar features and benefits. While looking for a vendor for his daily-fee and seasonal-members course and resort in Gaylord, Mich., Bowden learned that some companies’ representatives may over-promise in order to win the sale. “If you talk to these (technology) companies … they promise the moon. (They tell you) ‘We’re going to build your database by 30,000 names in one month.’ But it’s just not going to happen that easily.”

“There is a big learning curve,” Bowden explains, that operators must conquer in order to make the best golf software purchase. The key factor to selecting a vendor, Bowden says, is to understand your customer. This is particularly true when considering golf course marketing and service-related technologies, such as online tee-time Web sites and customer relationship management software, which directly impact the customer experience. “You’re going to have to dedicate a lot of your own time and efforts to knowing who your customer is” in order to identify the best provider. “The (technology) company out in Arizona or Florida, or wherever it is, is never going to know my customer in Michigan as well as I do.”

Schmitz echoes Bowden’s observation that understanding the customer – and your business goals – is essential in making a sound technology purchase. “Don’t go in blind,” Schmitz says. “Use (the golf course software vendor’s) ideas and knowledge to advance your ideas.”
Schmitz also explains that operators should select a golf software vendor who understands service.

“What (stands out) to a golfer is the guest experience and service your staff provides. Finding a provider who knows how to implement technology that enhances service and attracts customers is essential.”

Return on Investment

Once operators have assessed their business goals, they should identify a few vendors whose offerings align with their needs. The best way for operators to do this is to look for recommendations from their peers. “Look at (which operator is) doing it right,” Schmitz explains, and adds not to forget to question the vendor about the extent and quality of its customer support.

After the due diligence to identify an appropriate vendor, the final step is to convince management and staff that the new system is worth the time – and money – to implement. As Rex Richardson, golf professional for Wendell Country Club in Wendell, N.C., says, the best way to do that is with a strong case for return on investment.

“We’re a small-town club” used to doing “tee sheets on clipboards and paper,” explains Richardson. So when he and some of his colleagues at the club began considering a more sophisticated scheduling system, some managers expressed reluctance. “The idea of change is not always liked,” he says.

Yet, Richardson recognized that the increasing use of online tee times by other courses in the region would eventually pressure Wendell Country Club to adopt a similar tool. He invited an ActiveGolf sales representative to come to the club to discuss the benefits of the company’s online tee-time offerings. After learning about ActiveGolf’s online tee-time Website, ActiveGolf.com, which includes monthly e-newsletters and other unique features, Richardson and his colleagues decided to buy from ActiveGolf.

Since it began to use ActiveGolf ’s online tee-time Web site earlier this year, the club has experienced an increase in the number of golfers buying rounds. Richardson says he expects the investment to pay off in time, noting the ActiveGolf Web site also benefits customers who prefer
to schedule tee times via the Internet. “It’s a win-win” for the club and its customers, Richardson explains.

Some operators find that gaining support for a new system can be as easy as point and click. Martha Shooter, director of golf for Keith Hills Country Club, says her club’s management and staff didn’t push back on the idea of installing a technology system. In fact, when the club in Buies Creek, N.C., contracted for ActiveGolf ’s golf management software, including an online tee time system, the combination of the software’s ease of use, complemented by a full day of training with an ActiveGolf representative, helped her staff quickly adapt to the technology.

The changes also proved easy for the club’s customers. Golfers don’t have to wait to schedule a round because they can do it online, on their own schedule. “It (the system) keeps golfers happy,” she says. That’s not to say that owners and operators should not look for additional returns on investment. As Art Walton, general manager for Crystal Springs Resort, has discovered, technology can help generate revenues as well as promote efficiencies. In the case of his property, the ROI has been dramatic. Walton, whose resort features six golf courses, as well as a hotel, spa and eight restaurants, in New Jersey’s Sussex Skylands area, uses a customized ActiveGolf  golf point-of-sale system integrated with the resort’s management software and a food-and-beverage POS system. In the past, the resort had different scheduling and reporting systems, with customers receiving statements from various Crystal Springs’ properties. The integrated system’s efficiencies have saved Crystal Springs thousands of dollars, Walton says, while also promoting streamlined customer-statement delivery.

Walton also says that more than $1 million worth of rounds in one year alone have been booked either through ActiveGolf.com, which facilitates online tee-time scheduling for ActiveGolf customers, or via the golf point of sale software at the resort. He’s also quick to point out that the best way to assess technology’s contribution is by examining the income statement. “If there’s any way to tell if your software is providing value, it is revenue.”

Tapping into a Vendor’s Customer Network

Walton’s experience using the online tee-time capability provided through ActiveGolf.com underscores a benefit operators often overlook when selecting a golf software vendor: the opportunity to tap into the vendor’s customer network to attract new business. Mike Carran, general manager of ActiveGolf, explains that when an operator hires a technology vendor to implement an online tee-time tool or other technology, the operator may be able to access the vendor’s database of customers as well as the traffic that moves through the vendor’s Web site. In the case of ActiveGolf ’s online tee-time customers, for instance, traffic from the ActiveGolf.com section on mega-sports site ESPN.com may wind its way through cyberspace to an operator’s course. ActiveGolf also sponsors the FGI Web site at FreeGolfInfo.com, which provides forums, product and course reviews and other features for Internet-savvy golfers. In addition, ActiveGolf ’s customers have access to parent company Active Network’s database of 18 million “participatory sports” fans. A course can benefit from ActiveGolf ’s e-mail blasts and online golf advertising targeting contacts in the database who reside in the course’s local market.

“When choosing a golf course software provider, make sure you ask about everything they are offering,” explains Carran. “If it is just a straight software product to book tee times, great, but if you buy that (capability) and have distribution to tens of millions of people, take that into consideration when you are making the choice.”

Steps to a Golf Management Software Solution

Identifying and engaging an effective golf software provider starts with a few basic steps:

Define Your Goals. Before you can find the best golf software provider for your business, you need to know what you want a golf management software partner to help you achieve. Manage course operations? Generate more rounds during the off-season? Attract more customers? Retain existing customers? Be specific about your objectives.

Know Your Customers.  A golf software provider will never understand your market or your customers as well as you do. Help the company design the best golf course software solutions by providing as much insight as you can.

Ask for Recommendations. Ask your peers which golf software providers are reputable and have the best track records based on their own experience.

Focus on Service. Success in attracting and retaining customers is largely a function of the experience you deliver. Identify golf software technology providers who know how to use technology to enhance service.

Make Sure it’s Easy. Will your staff be able to learn to use the technology?