Ferndown Golf Club 2013

Exeter Golf and Country Club, UK, 2013

“intelligentgolf is years ahead of the competition.”

RUSSELL MAYNE, Golf Manager, Exeter Golf and Country Club

BACKGROUND

One of the finest Member’s clubs in the South West, Exeter Golf and Country Club has an 18-hole James Braid golf course at its heart. With a variety of sporting and leisure activities on offer, and a thriving weddings and functions business, the team at the 120-acre estate manage over four thousand members with the motto “Your Perfect Day, Every Day” at the core of everything they do.

The 6,023 yard course is set amongst ancient Oak, Lime, Redwood and Horse Chestnut trees, and the complex also sports a grass Driving Range, the region’s only dedicated Short Game Area, and teaching studios which are bookable with the club’s PGA Pro.

The club’s Handicapping, Competition Entries, Tee Time Reservations and other membership management tools including the Membership Database are in the website’s Members Area, accessible via a login by both golfers and club administrators. After growing dissatisfied with its current golf management software supplier, Exeter G&CC embarked on a search for a replacement.

THE BUSINESS PROBLEMS

Poor integration with Central Database of Handicaps (CDH)

With CDH integration now essential to all English golf clubs issuing CONGU handicaps, Exeter G&CC was finding working with the CDH to be an unacceptably troublesome operation. As their software was fundamentally an offline system, EG&CC was experiencing problematic uploads and mis-matched player data, with insufficient control over away scores and several other issues also making life difficult.

Poor Member experience on the website

EG&CC management felt that their Member web experience had been over-promised and under-delivered. Among a variety of problems, golfers who used Google Chrome or Safari could not use the online functionality; Member Logins were highly unreliable; and there was the permanent worry that handicaps were inaccurately represented. Overall the user experience was poor, leading to mistrust of and dissatisfaction with the website. As a club which prides itself on offering a top-class membership experience, EG&CC found there was a considerable gap between what the EG&CC Members were asking for, and what they found online.

Poor Customer Service when problems occurred

With a frustratingly long list of problems, EG&CC staff spent an equally frustratingly long time on the phone to the software support team, attempting to get their problems solved. Response times were poor, and often non-existent out of normal working hours. The club began to feel that the more it called, the less it was achieving.

“We had a series of horrendous customer service experiences, with our previous supplier.”

RUSSELL MAYNE, Golf Manager, Exeter Golf and Country Club

THE INTELLIGENTGOLF SOLUTION

During the first half of 2012, intelligentgolf began to implement a series of improvements to the Golf areas of the existing Exeter Golf & Country Club website.

Slick integration with Central Database of Handicaps

intelligentgolf integrates with the live CDH database, ensuring that data is always accurate and up-to-the-minute. EG&CC managers now have simple, instant and powerful access to the CDH, with life made easier by a series of benefits:

Player registration is now problem-free
Away scores are now downloaded automatically, although control of how they are applied remains with EG&CC management
Player data mis-matches are now a thing of the past
The club receives email alerts when any CDH actions are required
Specification changes to the CDH are applied automatically and invisibly by intelligentgolf, requiring no action on the club’s part
Data is more secure, and functionality can easily be restricted to named individuals

“intelligentgolf is way ahead of any other system, as regards its integration with the CDH. It is fantastic to use, and always accurate.””

RUSSELL MAYNE, Golf Manager, Exeter Golf and Country Club

A full service for golf club Members and Management

EG&CC’s intelligentgolf system now gives club Members the complete set of information about their own golf, and about the wider goings-on at the club:

Competition results and handicaps automatically updated
Online Directory for Member-to-Member communication
Player performance analysis
Comparative performance analysis  vs other Members
Book into Competitions and Events online
View personalised Schedule of personal golfing commitments
View, Save and Print their own Handicap History, Certificate and Away Letters
Managers can administer Knockout competitions online
Managers can create and send email Newsletters quickly and easily
And much more

“We’ve had fantastic feedback from our Members since intelligentgolf took over. They can now access the full power of their golf club website from any desktop computer, using any browser, as well as from their tablets and their smart phones.”

RUSSELL MAYNE, Golf Manager, Exeter Golf and Country Club

All Club Announcements in one place

Club news, tee time announcements, information about club matches, upcoming events, competition entry sheets and many more day-to-day items can easily be posted by Exeter G&CC management to the intelligentgolf online Members area.

“intelligentgolf represents nothing less than the death of the Club Noticeboard. It makes everything which used to clutter up the Noticeboard easily accessible on the web, in a way which any Member can understand.”

RUSSELL MAYNE, Golf Manager, Exeter Golf and Country Club

True 24/7 Customer Service

Exeter Golf and Country Club have had few opportunities yet to test intelligentgolf’s claim that it offers the industry’s best after-sales service, but when it was needed – it delivered.

“With intelligentgolf staff always available on Skype or telephone, we’ve found it to be a true 24/7 service.

RUSSELL MAYNE, Golf Manager, Exeter Golf and Country Club

FEEDBACK FROM EXETER G&CC MEMBERS

“A cracking new system – well done.”
Mr M.F, Member, Exeter G&CC

“This is just a short note to say that I have found the new technology really interesting. The alerts are welcome – the speed at which you uploaded the comp and circulated the result was impressive.”

Mr C.K, Member, Exeter G&CC

“Russell, the new system is great. Well done dear boy. Excellent!”

Mrs H.W, Member, Exeter G&CC

SUMMARY

With the initial migration to intelligentgolf complete, and with more integration to come, Exeter Golf and Country Club will soon be able to give its Golf Members a single all-purpose Login to its website. For the club’s management, intelligentgolf’s flexible, web-based solutions have been a resounding success.

“Our experience throughout, from initial data transfer and implementation through to regular operations, has been fantastic. intelligentgolf has a wonderful product.”

RUSSELL MAYNE, Golf Manager, Exeter Golf and Country Club