A frosty morning, and forty members in the car park
At half six the course manager walks the course and decides: frost delay until ten, then temporary greens on four holes, trolleys only. The manager tells the pro shop. The pro shop puts a sign on the door and updates the course status on the website if they remember how. Someone posts on the club's Facebook page. A few members who are booked early get a call.
The rest drive in, find the delay, and stand around in the clubhouse. Some ring the pro shop first, which is already busy. The social media post says one thing, the website another, the sign a third.
Why the message is always late
Each channel is updated by a different person, by hand. The manager knows first but has no direct way to tell members. The pro shop has the tee sheet but updating the website is a separate login. The social media account is on someone's personal phone.
The tee sheet knows exactly who is booked that morning, but it is rarely used to message them, because the messaging in most tee sheet systems is designed for newsletters, not for a quick text at dawn.
Buggy and trolley rules are a particular pain. They change with the weather, they matter a great deal to members with a medical need, and they are usually communicated worst of all.
What late updates cost
| Situation | Result |
|---|---|
| Members arrive to a frost delay | Frustration and a backlog on the tee |
| Different messages in different places | Calls to the pro shop asking which is right |
| Buggy ban not communicated | Members with medical needs turned away |
| Visitors not told | Refund requests and poor reviews |
| Manager relaying news by phone | Time taken from the course |
Whether the course is open, delayed or restricted is the course manager's decision. The aim is only to get that decision to members as quickly as it is made.
How we get one update everywhere
- The course manager or pro sets the status from a phone: open, delayed until a time, closed, with options for temporary greens, trolley and buggy rules and any holes out of play.
- The website course status panel updates at once. So do the clubhouse screen and the tee sheet notes, where your tee sheet system allows it.
- Members and visitors booked in the affected period get a text or email with the status and, for delays, their options: keep the booking, move it, or cancel under your club's rules.
- Members with a registered medical buggy need get a separate message when buggies are restricted, so they are not caught out.
- Where the club uses social media, the same message is posted to the club's page through its official connection.
- When the status changes again, everyone who received the first message gets the update, and the change is logged with the time and who made it.
Some tee sheet systems include course status tools. If yours does and it is simply not used, we help set it up before building anything.
The next frosty morning
The manager sets a frost delay from the first green at twenty to seven. By a quarter to, members booked before ten have a text telling them the new start and offering to move their time. The website, the clubhouse screen and the club's page all say the same thing. When the frost lifts early, one tap sends the update.
- One status, set once by the manager
- Booked members told before they set off
- Buggy restrictions reach the people who need to know
- A record of when each change was made
Does this sound familiar?
- Members often arrive not knowing about a delay or closure.
- The website, social media and noticeboard disagree.
- The pro shop phone is busy with 'is the course open?' calls.
- Buggy rules are communicated late or not at all.
- The course manager spends the morning relaying news.