Customer Golf Experience of the Future
A big idea to kick off the 2018 golf year with a bang
A lot of progress was made in 2017 with digital technology in the golf industry and more broadly within the hospitality space. New golf booking and shot tracking apps are ubiquitous that both shortens the booking time for golfers to access tee times, but also extends the engagement well after a round is complete. Good design has also gone mainstream with hotel chains like Marriott and Hyatt shedding older versions of themselves, and Hilton going all in with a golf-centric digital strategy to better connect its 5,000 hotel properties to golf courses nearby that assists the golfer with booking a golf vacation through a slickly designed website.
In 2018 the opportunity remains enormous in golf. Context is starting to give golfers what they want, when they want it, but as an industry we can still do much more. As course operators we still don’t know as much about our customers as we should, beyond knowing they “skew male and are affluent.” We envision the golf experience of the future will take into account a customer’s social graph, preferences they’re willing to share and additional data points that algorithmically get smarter with usage so every time they play golf their experience is more personally seamless to them.
Social Graph
a representation of the interconnection of relationships in an online social network.
To get the 2018 golf year started with a bang, let’s imagine for a few moments the “Customer Golf Experience of the Future.”
You’re at home on Sunday watching the world’s greatest golfers on the European Tour compete for the South African Open at Royal Johannesburg and Kensngton Golf Club. You get a notification on your phone and your friends are also watching the golf and chatting simultaneously in a Facebook golf group about how cool it would be to play Royal Joburg next week under the same tournament conditions. You jump into the conversation and pose the question: how would we all stack up vs. the pros on the same course? Everybody chimes into the conversation and agree to play. You taking the lead on booking a tee time.
Immediately you recieve a special offer to book via a third-party app, splitting payment with your three playing partners so everybody is paying their fair share and you’re not stuck with the total booking amount on your credit card. The booking confirmation arrives in your email inbox with a personalized welcome from the General Manager asking about your lunch preferences as well as arranging for your favourite golf shop items(Titleist golf balls and a Footjoy glove) to be waiting for you in your personalized locker at the golf course.
There is also an Uber integration so you can seamlessly reserve a black car pick up/drop off at your home that allows for you to have a few adult beverages on the golf course with a safe ride home. When you arrive at the golf course on the day, your booking confirmation that you previously had saved in your Apple Wallet intelligently appears with a QR code that becomes your touch less payment method today and form of identification at check-in.
The check-in experience has been completely reimagined at Royal Johannesburg. Instead of a ‘golf shop’ and ‘restaurant’ defined separately, the all encompassing space is referred to as a living room. When you arrive, your party sits down in the soft seating lounge and is offered welcome drinks, a refreshment towel and light bites based on your preferences while you complete the check in process.
You proceed to the locker room where your assigned locker door automatically opens when you approach, with the pre-arranged items waiting for you as well as one page overview of course conditions, weather, pin locations, playing tips from the pro and your assigned host’s name that will make your round more comfortable out on the golf course.
As you’re putting on your golf shoes and placing your personal items in the locker, you receive a notification that you’re tee time is in 25 minutes. You proceed immediately to your golf cart and arrive at the driving range for a quick warm up and some last minute playing tips by the resident teaching pro on the practice tee.
Your host messages you that you’re next on the tee and you get periodic updates from them as you play your round, asking if there are any food and beverage requirements on course and offering to make dinner reservations back in the clubhouse afterwards at their modern Italian restaurant.
Following your round, there is a parting gift provided by the golf shop team and the opportunity to review the golf course and provide feedback through your preferred channel of choice whether that be What’s App, email or online. Similar to Uber, Royal Johannesburg can also rate you as a customer so both parties strive for honesty and engage in the review process with good faith.
This review information is provided for future customers just like you, and your feedback loops back into your account that makes the application smarter so the next course recommendation that is made for you is intelligent, timely and personalized.
This is the world we want to live in as a golfer and customer. Don’t you?
