GolfNow wants to grow beyond tee times

The future of golf course management could see owners controlling entire operations, from tee times to drinks, on just three or four iPads.

That’s why Orlando-based GolfNow, known for booking tee times, must think like a tech startup or risk smaller firms taking some of its business, said Steve McElwee, chief technology officer of parent company Golf Channel.

“That’s what I fear,” he said. “That someone will flip the mode on us, and we won’t be able to react. Innovation is pushing us, but it’s necessary to move faster.”

GolfNow, which works with more than 8,000 courses worldwide, is working on a new point-of-sale tech platform to consolidate services including food orders, merchandise sales and social-media management along with tee times. Updates to the app that will let golfers order food via GolfNow straight from a digital-based wallet are expected before this fall.

Such services can boost GolfNow’s goal of convincing tech-averse courses that the platform will help them, said Will McIntosh, executive vice president of the Golf Channel’s digital businesses.

“The average golf club is a small, momand-pop operation,” he said. “There is little investment in technology there. We realized there was the opportunity for one company to provide all of those things to a golf club.”

Many course owners or operators who criticize GolfNow say discount rates drive golfers to competitors or cost them potential revenue.

“Some people look at them as the bad guy,” said Paul Fleming, CEO of course operator Knight 39 Holdings. “But if you use GolfNow as a tool, that’s not necessarily the case. You just have to make sure what you are doing for your property is helping.”

Other golf course managers say the technology has helped them land more business, as the app helps keep facilities in use during traditionally slow periods of time.

Fleming’s courses, five in Central Florida including the Orange County National Golf Center and Lodge in Winter Garden, will frequently change greens fees on the fly, depending on time of day or how crowded the course gets.

Those changes can get pushed to golfers automatically through the app.

“It’s a matter of getting people through the door,” he said. “We will do whatever we have to with technology or any other thing.”

Fleming estimates that 20 percent of his business today is from walk-in customers who found the course on the app. “Twenty years ago, if you wanted a tee time, the only way you could do that was over the phone,” he said. “It was strictly a word-of-mouth business.”

Visibility is especially helpful in a tourist destination like Central Florida, Fleming said.