The Pro's Tips To Avoid Tech Hazards

Investing in new golf software can be a challenge. Here are some tips from clubs that have done it.

by Tom Dulaney (editor@clubandresortbusiness.com)
March 2007
 

Golfers won’t pay extra for the high-tech services outright. Club owners have to include the amortization costs of the system in their greens and other fees.

•Accurately measuring the return on investment (ROI) of a system is difficult and speculative, at best. Plan carefully.
•Assure yourself of ad revenues and make conservative estimates for the added food and beverage sales.
•Consider the costs and benefits of a dedicated ad sales person, and qualified designers of advertising.
•Have staff members who are computer literate—period.
•Select a vendor with a track record of professionalism, proven friendly and true to their commitments. Get references from other Pros.
•Clearly understand the depth of training the vendor will provide to your staff.
•Plan to spend time experimenting with the system to have staff become familiar with it.
•Make sure your service agreement includes acceptable equipment replacement and/or rotation.
•Make sure your service agreement includes acceptable telephone and in-person technical support.
•Know who you are—the type of club and type of golfing that you thrive on. Single-round heavy courses will have a different equation than tournament heavy courses.

Dark Horse Golf Club’s Bob Peterson summarizes: “There are no perfect systems and software for any line of business. We value the leader-board aspect. We are a high-end daily-fee club with significant tournament play, so the yardage information and pace of play features are very useful. There is ad revenue potential and the system does produce incremental food and beverage revenues. We also use the system to offer specials, bounce-backs, announce upcoming events, etc.” — TD