The North American Golf Innovation Symposium concluded March 7, 2017 in Vancouver, British Columbia. The symposium provided a forum for a healthy exchange of ideas about how to advance the game.
The agenda focused heavily on the symbiotic relationship between golfers and golf facilities, and the message was clear: It is time to deliver solutions to help solve some of golf’s most pressing challenges.
Below is what we found most interesting:
Big data is a perfect fit for golf. In just about every aspect of the golf industry, the collection and analysis of data will help advance the game. This is already happening through the USGA’s pace of play research and the technology that led to the development of the Resource Management tool, and is also evident at Topgolf, which presented their detailed audience study to the symposium. One of the highlights was the keynote conversation with Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang, an avid golfer who is bullish about the future. “Every question we ask in technology, about artificial intelligence, about automation, about robotics and whether it’s right for society or not, that will also happen in golf,” said Yang. “I think there are a lot of similarities between golf and other industries because these technologies are enablers, and that’s a good thing.” (Read the whole article here.)
Collecting and analyzing golf industry data is not easy. There are many factors to track when weighing the golf operation as a whole. Golf is similar to hotels and airliners; these industries have a fixed capacity and a perishable product. Maximizing the price of a tee time while still keeping the tee time value equal to what the customer is willing to pay, helps maximize your tee time profits. Tracking previous historical data is the best predictor for the future. A golf industry report will enable golf courses to understand all of this data.
It’s time for golf courses to equate their golf industry data and measure their operations against others to validate prices and weigh 3rd Party Barter relationships with clarity.
Get Exclusive Revenue Growth Tips Sent Straight To Your Inbox
- Actionable insights you can use every day
- Tips on how you can generate more revenue
- Resources to grow your direct-to-consumer business
