Tee time provider reports 681% rise in online usage

Alistair Dunsmuir
By Alistair Dunsmuir May 19, 2020 17:20

Online giant GOLFNOW has reported an astonishing 681 per cent increase in website sessions in England last week compared with the same week in 2019.

Usage of its website and app last week was almost three times the previous record set in one week.

It says more than 2.3 million tee times were booked by members of English golf clubs in the week that followed the news that golf could resume.

Most golf courses in England reopened last Wednesday following nearly two months of closure due to the Covid-19 lockdown – with online or telephone bookings of tee times being the preferred methods as cash transactions are advised against.

GOLFNOW, the world’s largest distributor of online tee times with 9,000 course partners globally, says its golf club technology brand, BRS GOLF, facilitated more than 2.3 million member booking transactions in one week.

At its peak, website and app traffic hit 25,000 users in a single day with a total of 90,826 visitors last week – a 681 per cent increase in sessions, year-on-year and smashing the previous record week of 34,777 (during The Open last year).

The app alone was downloaded more than 5,600 times last week and saw 32,400 unique users.

Even though most courses in England are prioritising member play at this time, which has led to a surge in membership applications, thousands of visitor tee times were still booked, as GOLFNOW usually vaunts a selection of 1,700 courses in the UK and Ireland, adding venues onto the platform daily.

BRS GOLF said it also sent two million member emails last week. Unique logins across BRS GOLF admin, members and visitors sites last week hit 687,000 users with over 14 million page views.

At peak traffic BRS GOLF saw over 36,000 member requests per minute last week – these include logins, tee sheet visits, bookings and booking updates.

BRS GOLF’s senior director of product and technology, Phil Doherty, said: “This level of demand has never been seen before. The team here are working incredibly hard to ensure all our systems are running smoothly now, and in the coming weeks. People understandably are eager to get back out on the course, and we want to help golfers and golf clubs get back to doing what they love after a very uncertain couple of months.”

 

Alistair Dunsmuir
By Alistair Dunsmuir May 19, 2020 17:20
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1 Comment

  1. Keith M May 20, 11:14

    Congratulations GolfNow, a division of Golf Channel many years working with the industry to give golfers and clubs an easy way to book 24/7 …it does feel as though we are about to see a step change in behaviour and acceptance

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