This article explores the opportunities for and benefits of implementing automation into pro shop business practices.

What is automation?

Automation is the replacement of a human work with technology.

For example, when you use Golf Genius to manage a tournament and all the players in the event use the score keeping function, the software automates the compilation of the leaderboard. It would take a golf pro considerable time to organize and update the scores throughout the event.

Automation is a major time-saver and can shift work from tedious tasks to work that is more rewarding for staff members and the club.

It’s important to keep an eye out for automation opportunities, especially as member expectations and the cost of operating a private golf club rise.

How to spot opportunities for automation

First, take stock of all you and your staff do in your daily work and breakdown how the time is spent. This will reveal questions that could lead to new ways of doing things.

One common example we’ve seen a lot with our customers is the amount of time they spend managing golf events between two pieces of software; the tournament software and the tee sheet. Our automation saves time; several hours per week in many cases.

Second, determine what the biggest pain point is for you, your staff, and/or your pro shop. Is your to-do list miles long, you’re being pulled in 20 different directions, and there’s not enough in the budget for more staff? Isolating one or two major pains will help you explore the potential for automation to solve your issues.

Third, look for repetitive tasks. There are many things we do as part of a daily or weekly routine that we’re just used to budgeting into our time. Finding ways to automate these parts of the job can generate major time and cost savings.

We recently heard from a pro that admitted he spend 4 hours per week running ballot draws for his members. He used the cost calculator to figure out that was about $200/week budgeted for ballot draws. Automating the ballot draw process would save money and free up that pro to do more valuable activities.

Benefits of automation

Finding opportunities for automation means finding ways to be more productive, more flexible, and more profitable. Automation unlocks more ways to serve members instead of serving the tools you use to operate.

And there’s also the feel good stuff. Golf pros don’t want to sit in front of a computer all day? Automating repetitive tasks makes being a golf pro more rewarding.

Conclusion

Private golf clubs that invest in automation save money and increase productivity. It’s also been proven across many companies that automation increases job satisfaction, work-life balance, and employee retention.