WHITE PAPER
T-Timez ONLINE – It’s the
Future!
1. Introduction
Golf and country clubs around
the country have many methods for organizing their daily tee sheets.
At many very upscale clubs, small memberships mean no advance reservations
are necessary. At some of our most popular daily fee
courses, players line up outside in the pre-dawn hours for the chance to secure
a favorable Saturday tee time. Most
courses and clubs don’t require their customers to spend their time so unproductively,
but the truth is that we, in the golf industry, do not generally provide simple
and easy 24/7 tee reservation service for our customers.
There
are several methods used by golf course operators to take tee reservations. The most popular, around America, is the
paper tee sheet. It offers the advantage of simplicity and low cost. It offers the disadvantages of requiring
considerable staff and telephone time, quite a bit of complexity and possible
error (particularly if weekend lotteries are involved), and is often frustrating
and time consuming for your customers. At busy clubs, such procedures limit
play by turning away customers who cannot get through to your staff, or are
not familiar with the time and day requirements for requesting tee times for
particular days. Long holds and busy signals cost money – for all concerned.
In
recent years, many clubs have installed electronic tee sheet programs in their
clubs. These programs run on servers installed
at the club, and display on a golf shop computer. Most tee reservation entries are made
by shop staff in response to telephone calls, however these systems are often
augmented with special telephone switching equipment that enables customers
to use their telephones to make tee time requests into the program directly. Unfortunately, the procedure is very cumbersome,
difficult to understand, and enjoys only limited use at most clubs.
Often, less than 10% of members know how to use such systems. The advantages
of these systems include lottery capabilities, good display and shop use characteristics,
and quite good flexibility for course setup.
But, the disadvantages are formidable. These systems are expensive, your
customers generally don’t like them and, broadly, do not use them.
A
new alternative has emerged along with the explosion of the internet around
the world. Some new electronic tee sheets have added
an email tee reservation option to the telephone-computer interface, allowing
a limited tee reservation process, on line. Also, a new online booking industry has
emerged in many industries that serve the public. In our industry, we have several online
booking programs that, basically, provide a service for travelers and vacationers
to enjoy resort golf. Most of these
tools are not actually tee sheets, they are marketing devices that can work
with your club tee sheet. Some of these tools can be automated to work with
site based software tee sheet programs.
In general, all of the online applications and on site server based electronic tee sheet products are designed to emulate and automate the paper tee sheet. The players, your members and customers, are still required to deal with confusing and difficult telephone systems. JCAmerica has taken the lead in devising a tee sheet approach that does not simply automate the telephone system, but establishes your tee sheets as an online convenience for your customers. Players can book, cancel and edit their tee times, see who is playing, and when; see their play history and previous playing groups, link their tee times with others on lottery days (Convenient for the weekend skin game), send their email comments to managers and professional staff – and more. In fact, much more; virtually every tee sheet feature required for even the most complex and demanding golf operation can be set up to run automatically with T-Timez.
From the golfers perspective, players deal with each other and with the online system to select the tee time they desire, or sign up for the lottery option they want. Singles and twosomes can join unfilled groups, and know with whom they will be playing. All of this activity is online and fully visible to both staff and your members and players.
The T-Timez process begins with establishing an internet link on your club website that drives your customers to open your website each time they want to check on a tee time, make a booking, or check who is in their group. Players click on a “click to book tee time” or similar icon, and they immediately view a booking screen, showing available tee times and incomplete groups for an advance period set by the club administrator. Players select a day and click on a tee time, enter details of their playing group, and submit. Your tee sheet is instantly updated, and an email is sent to each of the registered players in the group informing them of the tee time and group details. When random or play count lotteries are employed, a second email is sent after lottery execution informing of the group tee assignment. Also, the T-Timez lotteries allow players to request the tee time they want, not simply the early cycle or late cycle. Players appreciate the flexibility.
On the golf staff side, shop personnel simply monitor the booking activity while attending to the business of serving their customers. The system works automatically, requiring little attention from staff. Even lottery execution is automated.
The T-Timez application runs on high security T-Timez servers, located in Dallas, Texas. The databases are mirrored and backed up daily on tape. The servers employ the highest connection speeds and an extremely secure environment. T-Timez is accessed from the club website by both players and club administration. The admin section of T-Timez is usually maintained “up” on a shop computer, and is the club tee sheet. T-Timez can also be minimized while inventory or POS applications are in use. Detailed tee sheets can be conveniently printed for starters or quick reference for your shop.
No special computer or telephone equipment is required by the club, just a personal computer and an internet connection. A website is recommended as the access point for club customers, but the T-Timez URL can be accessed directly, as well. JCAmerica will work with you to provide any level of club website desired, including both full feature interactive sites, as well as simple but elegant static websites. Of course, a DSL line at your club is great, but a regular dial up connection on a dedicated line works just fine.
The risk for golf clubs is extremely small with T-Timez. No substantial costs are involved in getting started – or when using the system. Charges are usually no more than the price of a guest fee per week. And, clubs can easily revert to a previous booking system if dissatisfied, with no financial penalty or lost investment in soon to be obsolete equipment.
Experience has shown that golfers love to use T-Timez Online. Whether your players are using T-Timez models designed for your comfortable old country club, or a large multi-course municipal organization, your customers love using T-Timez JCAmerica provides full materials and training to insure that club golfers quickly get the T-Timez message and simple training necessary to begin using T-Timez ONLINE.
It is clear that the online experience is the future for golf in America. JCAmerica has taken the lead in presenting the future for our business, today!