July 2004

Today’s valuable new tools enable PGA Professionals to capture more customers, improve operations

July 2004; By Kit Bradshaw

Which of the following is correct?

Technology can be used to run a golf facility operation more smoothly, to attract customers, to increase profits and increase awareness of a facility and its PGA Professionals.

Technology is an effective tool to make things you would do manually easier and more effective. If you know what you want to do and how to do it, for instance marketing your facility, then technology is a great tool to do it more efficiently and faster.

Obviously both statements are correct.

Technology is not a panacea for a sloppy business plan, an unfocused marketing program or a lack of skill and knowledge. It can be used to capture valuable information, but if you don’t do anything with the information to help build your customer base and make your golfers happier it becomes useless. It cannot replace knowledge or experience, but it can help you work better in your operation. It can help you bypass routine mundane tasks and improve the necessary ones. Used correctly, technology can help you streamline your operation, make better decisions, communicate with your customers and increase your profits.

“It’s very important for a PGA Professional to understand the requirements for effectively managing their facility,” says Greg Dorsett, president of SPS Golf Management Solutions, a PGA.com Preferred Technology provider. “They should have a plan that includes their requirements, their budget and a schedule of milestones. They should have an understanding of the technical and organizational capabilities, strengths and weaknesses of their shop. Once they have identified the plan, they should look to technology to support the requirements of the plan.”

New Online Education

The PGA recognizes the importance of technology, and in its new PGA Certified Professional Program (see this month’s cover story), one of the requirements is proficiency with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel.

“In addition, all the courses that we are offering in this new program are online and the PGA Professionals will have to know how to operate a computer in order to take them,” says Chris Hunkler, The PGA’s senior director of education.

“The focus on our education process is to put most courses online and that certainly will be a significant cost savings to our members from the standpoint of travel, as well as providing the convenience of being able to access courses anytime in the privacy of their home or office. In today’s age, if an individual is not computer literate, they are missing a huge amount of available business information.”

Dorsett adds that he’s seen an improvement in the acceptance and use of web-based products in the past few years.

“The learning curve has noticeably improved over the last year,” he says. “This is evident in our day-to-day discussions with PGA Professionals and is most evident in our discussions at the PGA Merchandise Show each January. PGA Professionals’ understanding of web-based technologies is evident in their understanding, questions and expectations and they are also beginning to understand how this technology can help them manage and operate their courses.”

With the use of PGALinks, PGA Professionals are able to gain more information, take courses online, and make decisions relating to tournaments and retirement. PGALinks is the proprietary web site for PGA members and through it, members can find out about a host of topics. Among the benefits of using PGALinks is that members can earn credit for online education courses, check on the status of their Golf Retirement Plus account, and learn about employment opportunities within the industry.

Effective next month, PGALinks.com will have a new look. Based on considerable feedback from members, The PGA has redesigned the web site to make it easier to navigate and more pleasing to the eye. The web site will better provide PGA Professionals with the tools necessary to manage their business as members.

While PGALinks.com is taking on a new look, the information currently found on the web site is being reformatted into eight content areas: PGA Employment Center, PGA Education Center, Membership Information Center, Player Development Center, Tournaments/Events Center, PGA Financial Center, PGA.com Business Services Center, and Information Center.

The name of the web site will remain the same. Current user names and passwords will also remain the same.

PGAmagazine.com Improvements

In operation for nearly three years, PGAmagazine.com continues to be the online source for golf industry news. The password-protected site which is now updated multiple times per week as news happens, offers new products coverage, the latest equipment and apparel news, other breaking news, financial updates, exclusive reports from PGAmagazine.com writers, press releases from leading manufacturers, and archives from PGA Magazine pages.

“PGAmagazine.com is a convenient hub and a tremendous source for an interesting blend of PR releases, industry, trade and Association news, and factoids, too, like rounds played and retail trends,” says Pine Oaks Golf Club Head Professional and 3balls.com President Leigh Bader.

Taking Full Advantage of PGA.com

For the golf consumer, PGA.com is the best source of information on the golf industry and on new industry initiatives, such as Play Golf America, which is having resounding success throughout the country. Golfers can visit PGA.com and be linked directly to www.playgolfamerica.com to discover information about golf, locate player development programs and find a PGA instructor near them. In some areas, Play Golf America clinics have attracted more than 500 people to locations where PGA Professionals offer mini-lessons and manufacturers bring their equipment so golfers can test golf clubs on-site.

PGA.com now also hosts the PGA Hole-In-One archive and registration. More than 500 registrations are being made per month, with more than 2,500 already taken. If your facility is not informing your golfers about the PGA Hole-In-One program, you should start now. It is absolutely free and your golfers will appreciate it.

PGA.com is also an information source for golfers to learn about the three newest initiatives that are part of new technological events taking place this summer. All three initiatives being showcased this summer are designed for specific purposes: to help PGA Professionals create a better operation and to communicate more effectively with their golfing public. The three initiatives are the PGA Trade-In Network, PGA.com Tee Times and the PGA’s ProFinder.

PGA Trade-In Network

In June, the last piece of the PGA Trade-In Network initiative was introduced to great fanfare. Launched in January, the PGA.com Value Guide, created by PGA.com, eBay and 3Balls.com, is the national source for fair and accurate used golf club market values and consists of more than 50 brands and 2,000 models of clubs. In April, the online PGA Trade-In Network Authorized Facility Locator was introduced to bring customers to PGA Professionals’ facilities, ready to trade their old golf clubs for new ones. At that point PGA members could liquidate the used clubs for cash at the same value as their trade-in. It was easy, but only part of the equation. In June, the ability to potentially make a profit from these used clubs became available when PGA Professional Golf Liquidations on eBay opened, allowing consumers to go to a PGA branded section on eBay to purchase pre-owned clubs from PGA Professionals.

“The feedback we’ve received shows that the PGA Trade-in Network has really filled a need for PGA members,” says PGA Professional Leigh Bader, president of 3balls.com. “And this has been validated by our partner companies. For instance, TaylorMade Golf is now basing their ‘Trade Advantage’ trade-in program on the PGA.com Value Guide. Dick’s Sporting Goods, with 180 stores, has signed up all their PGA Professionals to the PGA Trade-in Network.” (See page 44 for complete story.)

PGA.com Tee Times

PGA.com (www.PGA.com), one of the most visited golf sites on the web, has launched a new online tee time reservation service. The new service gives any golf course the ability to promote its facility and make its tee times available on the web to consumers. PGA.com charges a facility a commission only when a tee time is booked through the service. There are no upfront or monthly fees. PGA.com Tee Times provide an additional distribution network for a facility’s tee times.

The PGA.com Tee Times service will be integrated with PGA’s ProFinder database, allowing PGA Professionals to provide consumers with the most accurate and detailed information about their courses and services. At a minimum, golfers using the PGA.com Tee Time service will be able to find phone numbers, features and other information about the courses.

Any golf course can participate in the PGA Tee Time service and expand the distribution of its tee times, regardless of their level of technology. Courses without an electronic tee sheet will be able to utilize the reservations system to sell individual tee times via an easy-to-use posting tool that allows courses to control what times they want to sell online and the rates they wish to charge. For those facilities that use an OTA (Open Travel Alliance) compliant electronic tee sheet, an interface is provided to the PGA.com reservation engine, allowing a seamless and efficient display of their tee time inventory to PGA.com’s large user base with no additional effort.

“The new PGA.com Tee Time service is the first step in a comprehensive offering of golfer services that PGA.com is developing,” says Phil Sharpe, assistant general manager of Turner Sports Interactive, which produces and manages PGA.com. “Online tee times and the additional golfer services will enhance the golfer’s overall experience with the game as well as deliver value to PGA Professional staffed facilities.”

Tee times are the heartbeat of a golf facility, and the electronic tee sheet is becoming more popular with facilities of all types. It allows those golf courses who use this technology to easily book tee times for their golfers and to add information about the golfers that helps keep these customers satisfied. Simplicity is a key to the success of electronic tee sheets. Many tee sheet vendors will modify their software to allow their customers to interface to the PGA.com Tee Times system.

Jim Keegan, president of Fairway Systems, notes, “Our electronic tee sheet is so simple that it requires no training. It’s as simple as an Excel spread sheet.”

PGA Professionals use electronic tee sheets for ease of use and to help gather information on their customers. Don Collins, chief executive officer of True Ha, which offers Teetimes Now! Software, says there are many benefits for the golf professional.

“For the golfer, it gives them more accessibility to the tee sheet,” says Collins. “For the golf facility, it allows them to get more rounds and not lose rounds to competitors because of busy signals. It’s a convenience factor.

“And then, there’s the Customer Relations Management functionality. It confirms emails to customers, provides reminders of customers’ orders, allows the PGA Professional to send thank-you e-mails to their customers and can drill down to the database to send customers greetings on their birthday, along with a special greens fee on that day to encourage more play.”

“We use point of sale software, and we have Fore! Reservations for our tee times,” says Jennifer Broggi, PGA head professional at Glendale Lakes Golf Club in Glendale Heights, Ill. “Our web site, which we just revamped to make it more interactive, lets us use the Internet for marketing and for tee time reservations. One of the things we’re involved in now is capturing information from our customers when they book a tee time online, so that down the road we can do some e-mail marketing to these golfers.

“Also, I’m doing more and more e-mails to groups for golf outings. Rather than send them a package in the mail, I’ll forward the information to them via e-mail. They ask us questions via e-mail and we even do our contracts that way.”

Scott Merchant, director of installations for Fore! Reservations, says: “Technology is the only way to capture information on customers, to see when they book their tee times, how many times they were no-shows, what type of special needs they may have and what type of merchandise they purchase. We also suggest that the club create a member card or loyalty card since this allows them to take a digital photo of the customer that can then go with the golfer’s information. This lets the staff instantly recognize the customer when he or she comes in, and welcome them. It’s kind of like the ‘Norm’ phenomenon from the old ‘Cheers’ show. Everyone knows your name.

“PGA Professionals who are using technology know that it can benefit them. We’ve seen PGA Professionals who have a marketing plan that they implement with technology like ours generate hundreds of thousands of dollars by using this technology correctly.”

What is PGA’s ProFinder?

The third initiative being accelerated this summer is ProFinder. The intent behind creating ProFinder is to have a definitive database of professionals, services and facilities for the golf industry. This database will be used to power a variety of services and products on PGA.com that will enable PGA Professionals to communicate with, and market to their customers. As a result, ProFinder will inspire and enable more golfers to play golf more frequently.

“As with most technology, PGA Professionals will only reap the benefits if they participate by ensuring that the information that is held in the database regarding themselves, their facilities and their services is correct and comprehensive,” says Sharpe. “Those who do not participate actively in the database will not be represented and marketed as strongly as those who do.”

Bill Ford, president of NemEx, which is working with the PGA on ProFinder, says this summer PGA Professionals at courses in the South and West, which are not in their peak seasons, will be asked to complete the detailed questionnaire for ProFinder and become part of the program. As the year goes on, all PGA Professionals will be strongly encouraged to take the time to fill out their ProFinder questionnaires. The goal is to ultimately have every PGA member and facility on this comprehensive database.

“This is a free service for all PGA Professionals,” Ford says. “It allows the members to promote themselves through the Internet via a master database of all PGA members. Every PGA Professional at each facility fills out his or her own database questionnaire. So if I’m a golfer looking for a PGA Professional in South Texas that has experience teaching handicapped kids, I can go to the ProFinder web site and find this information. Or if I want to look for instructors in South Florida who use certain instructional software, it will be in the database.

“In addition, for a nominal fee, we can provide a personalized web site to attach to that database record, so when the golfer goes to the Internet and finds a professional through ProFinder, this web site pops up. And if the PGA Professional changes information on the database, for instance he increases his teaching fees, then that information is changed on this personalized web site.”

Effect on Instruction

Not all technology is being introduced this year. Instructional software, from such companies as Interactive Frontiers, with its V1 is still being used by a growing number of PGA Professionals, and in this area, technology is becoming more commonplace. Instructional content, created by PGA Professionals using V1 products, is being used extensively throughout the “Improve Your Game” section of PGA.com and receiving great acclaim from professionals and consumers alike.

“Several years ago, only about 20 instructors were doing lessons via the Internet,” says Gary Palis, vice president of Interactive Frontiers, “and now there are more than 600 instructors using this type of technology to work with their students. It’s a great tool for the golf professional because it offers one more way for the professional to interact with his students. Now there is the Internet, VHS tapes of the lesson, printouts of instructions, and most recently, CDs and DVDs that the student can take home. But the Internet-based instruction, which is linked to a web locker so that you’re not having the student download large files with the instructions, is valuable in several ways. It not only gives the students input on their swing, but they can e-mail their sister in California and have her access the lesson as well.”

Enhanced Communication

The PGA is jumping into technology with both feet. In addition to supporting several initiatives using technology to help its members, the PGA is using the latest technology to communicate with these members. In March, The PGA initiated videoconferences with the PGA Sections during their spring meetings. PGA President M.G. Orender was joined by Association officers and national office staff in this videoconference experience. Twenty-two sections linked with the national officers and staff, while 15 other sections participated via a web cast. The video- conferencing was a huge success and allowed the national officers and staff to provide information and answer questions with hundreds of PGA members.

There are other initiatives that are building momentum. PGA Exchange, for instance, was launched at the 2003 PGA Merchandise Show. It is garnering greater acceptance from PGA Professionals who are using it to access supplier catalogs and place orders via the Internet. Approximately 8,200 PGA Professionals have signed up for PGA Exchange, many of them using this service to view product information and supplier specials, find new products, check inventory available as well as order their products online through PGA Exchange.

“Some PGA Professionals have long-standing relationships with sales reps, and still prefer to order through them,” says Gary Treater, director of business programs for PGA Interactive. “While we have seen a growing number of users become comfortable with ordering online, we have also incorporated a sales force automation application, so that sales reps can use the PGA Exchange to place orders on behalf of the PGA Professional.”

“I got involved with PGA Exchange as soon as it was available,” says Tom Dockstader, PGA head professional from Yampa Valley Golf Course in Craig, Colo. “We’ve used it to check inventory and order from such companies as Sun Mountain Sports and U.S. Kids Golf.”

At Hillendale Country Club in Phoenix, Md., PGA Head Professional and PGA Board Member Alan Wronowski not only uses PGA Exchange for checking on product and ordering, but for tracking the orders, and keeping track of pending shipment dates.

“We also have a club web site so we can do bulk e-mails,” he says, “and we post all our tournament information, our hole-in-one announcements and our new merchandise, complete with digital snapshots of the merchandise, on the web site.”

Ten years ago, most PGA Professionals used a modest amount of technology in their facilities, if at all. Today, the professionals who don’t use technology most definitely find themselves behind. While this is particularly important in such basic areas as electronic tee sheets, using e-mail to communicate and in developing a facility web site, the new technology solutions are receiving wider acceptance every day.

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