THE STARTER’S VOICE crackled through the radio attached to my belt. “Mr. and Mrs. Anderson on push carts to the first tee please,” he requested and then added, “Bag #345, #567 and #430 on power carts to the top of the hill.” I wasn’t sure if I had heard everything correctly but, from the depths of the bag storage room, I replied the same way I would for the next two months with a simple, “Coming up.”
In the summer of 2016, with an unquenchable thirst for golf, I took a second job at one of Toronto’s most prestigious private golf clubs. After eight years of working in marketing roles I was looking forward to getting back on my feet, getting my hands dirty cleaning clubs, and fetching golf bags in the back shop. It was also going to be a great chance to see how clubs were taking advantage of new technology and software I had seen come to market. Smartphones and tablets didn’t even exist the last time I was behind a pro shop counter.
Unlike golf clubs that I had worked at during my college days, this Toronto-based club had a “no tee times” policy. Members would arrive at the first tee and tell the starter they wanted to play that day. The starter would add them to the list and radio the member’s bag number to staff in the back shop. When the first tee was busy, the bag storage area got a bit chaotic. The veterans on staff knew most of the members’ names and bag numbers but for a newbie like me, there was a lot of radio requests to the starter asking him to repeat the member’s name or number or both.
It wasn’t air traffic control but the back shop could get stressful and I thought that there had to be a better way.
Could the power of technology to make this process a little easier? The season ended, and my summer stint led to getting hired by Jonas Club Software to consult with clients on improving their websites. Unfortunately, I never got the chance to share my vision of a technology-driven bag storage process.
In my new role I worked with club managers on how to improve their websites and better utilize the online tools available to them. It became clear that the back shop wasn’t the only club area that was struggling to modernize. Even at clubs that were keeping up with the rapidly changing tech world, members—and even staff in some cases—were slow to adopt and use new online tools like online bookings and mobile apps. Every once in a while, I would find a club with members on board for booking tee times, dining reservations and courts—all online. Staff expressed how beneficial this was, freeing up the time they had previously spent answering phone calls.
After consulting with more than 130 clubs, it was clear that getting members engaged online was challenging but a high priority. I learned as much as possible from the clubs that were seeing uptake and shared that information with other clients. The following is a summary of the ideas and best practices that can help your members adopt the technology tools that your club provides.
GET MEMBERS BOOKING ONLINE
Provide a website tour during orientation
A new member orientation is a perfect time to show off the club website. Together, you can set up the member’s online username and password, log into the site and even make an online booking. It is usually better to let the member take control of the computer and help if they get stuck. Setting the precedent at the beginning will result in a much higher probability that it sticks.
Open online bookings in advance
If your club accepts in person or phone tee time, court or dining bookings in advance, allow members to book earlier online. Eventually you can reduce in-person and telephone bookings to 24 hours in advance.
Host a monthly lunch and learn
There are many online tools that your members would probably like to learn more about. Each month you could combine learning about online bookings and how to use apps like FaceTime, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest. This could be a great opportunity to get some of the younger members or early tech adopters to volunteer and act as teaching assistants.
Stop accepting phone bookings
This may sound severe and unpopular with members. A private club in Winnipeg, Canada implemented the policy and within a year, after some early grumbling, members accepted that if they want to book a tee time, they have to use the website. It became the new normal. If you have buy-in from the club’s leaders and use some of the strategies above, it is possible to go online only.
GET MEMBERS TO USE YOUR MOBILE APP
Identify early adopters and use them as advocates
Pilot your app with small groups of members before launching it to the full membership. Communications teams can select their pilot group in a variety of ways, but it’s often easiest to work with members who have existing ambassador roles like the board of directors, or men’s and women’s league captains, as they are likely to be advocates. Kids and young adults are also early adopters and will be able to show their parents how easy it is to use the app.
Hold a launch party
This is not only a chance to show off the new mobile app, but also teach everyone that attends how to install it, set up a username and password and how to allow push notifications.
Provide clear instructions
When promoting the new app through an email marketing campaign or a club newsletter, be sure to include simple installation instructions and a dedicated contact person at the club to help members needing assistance.
Instant giveaways
Send members push notifications containing a code word. The first person to mention the code word to a host/server at your club’s dining venue, receives a free appetizer, dessert or glass of wine with their meal. Golf pros could send out a push notification for special limited time offers in the pro shop. Incentivize the use of the app by leveraging the “fear of missing out.”
Technology can be a huge help if it is used as it was intended. Different demographics will have various comfort levels and expectations when you introduce new software to your club
so keeping everyone happy can be a balancing act. If you take a proactive approach and try to implement some of the strategies above, you can get your membership to embrace the benefits and convenience of technology. Once that happens, maybe you can ask the back-shop staff if they have any great ideas about how to improve the bag storage process.
Trevor Kluke is senior marketing associate for Jonas Club Software. He can be reached at 800-352-6647 ext. 2561 or trevor.kluke@ jonasclub.com.