Blog? What the heck is that? Technowhat? RSS feed? Is the professor speaking alien?
That was my first thought way back in April when I started my Management Information Systems Course at Universite de Moncton.
I had heard of blogs, but create one myself, maintain, and publish articles to it, NO WAY! Philippe, our instructor, has lost it!

I started off by going to blogger.com as Philippe had suggested. This helped alot.
Well, after three weeks and nine articles I can truly say I have been surprised. The first weekend when I sat in front of my computer and tried to figure out how the heck I was supposed to set everything up I may have gone a little greyer. But now I am getting the hang of things. I am even starting to enjoy “blogging”.
I took an approach that would be of interest to me. I tried to write articles that would relate topics covered in the course to the golf industry, my industry. I touched on several different easy that the advances in technology have both helped and hurt the golf industry. It is amazing how many topics can be covered by approaching the subject this way.
Over the duration of the course I have written of ways to book golf lessons, other blogs by a friend of mine who now plays on the Nationwide Tour in the United States, to RFID tags, which I had never heard of before but am very excited about.
When I started I considered myself to be at least somewhat up-to-date on technology. I wasn’t quite as current as I thought. I have learned a lot from creating and maintaining this blog. It has opened my eyes to a new way to communicate. It can be integrated into a company to communicate and exchange ideas about projects and company news. I am involved with several organizations and I feel that this would be a good tool for some of these organizations to use. I am going to suggest it in a few instances, and now because of this assignment I will be “in the know” about blogs if I have to participate in one for work or for some of my work with these organizations.

RFID take me away!!!!!
What the heck is RFID you say?
It will most likely be the future of inventory control. Or at least I hope so.
I hate inventory time. Every so often, monthly for us with spot checks in between, you have to go through your Professional Shop and count your inventory just like any other business. RFID technology could speed up the process. It si quite often used for colecting tolls on highways now.
RFID stands for radio frequency identification. It is basically an identifier placed on each inventory item whereby digital data encoded in the tag or “smart label” is captured by a reader using radio waves. Put simply, it is similar to bar code technology but uses radio waves to capture data from tags, rather than optically scanning the bar codes on a label. RFID does not require the tag or label to be seen to read its stored data—that's one of the key characteristics of this type of system. In passive systems, which are the most common, an RFID reader transmits an energy field that “wakes up” the tag and provides the power for the tag to respond to the reader.In the future when the technology becomes more affordable I hope to implement in my Professional Shop. At inventory time I’ll simply have somebody walk through the Pro Shop and capture all of our inventory information from our RFID tags and save a lot of headaches.

NGCOA Listserv Helps Out!

The National Golf Course Owner’s Association has a tremendous tool that I use almost everyday. A LISTSERV enables discussions to be conducted through predefined groups but uses e-mail mailing list servers instead of bulletin boards for communications.
It’s really quite simple. If you encounter a problem that you need some advice on you can usually use your network of friends and colleagues for advice. With the NGCOA Listserv your network of friends increases exponentially.
You can log in with your user name and password and e-mail your question to the rest of the people that are on the listserv. People from all over North America, thousands of people, participate and they range from operators of small nine-hole golf courses to operators of some of the largest golf clubs in North America.
Most of the time you can get some great ideas, some of the times you get some “wingnut” responses. I find it a useful tool to help me with situations that I have not encountered before.
The biggest problem is some of the misinformation out there. I too often see important issues get brushed aside on the listserv or downright answered completely wrong. This could be dangerous and give a person some really bad advice. However, the rest of the participants usually will respond and correct any misinformation, hopefully before anybody acts on the bad advice.

Information Assymetry in Golf

Golf Professionals are no longer the only experts on golf equipment. It used to be that if somebody wanted to get started in golf they would seek out their local Professional and get some advice about equipment. This was because the Golf Pro was THE source of information on equipment.
The internet has changed all that. The information asymmetry has disappeared. Websites from the manufacturers have lots of information for the public.
I tend to be a bit of an equipment junkie. I am usually very up to date on the latest technology. While I used to be way ahead of my clients and members I am sometimes surprised now. I have members of my golf club come up to me and ask me what I think of the new fangled golf club from Macgregor, or Callaway or whoever. The cycles for new equipment releases have gotten so short now that there seems to be a new driver every month.
This is great for the consumer because they can get information form the internet on all of their favorite brands and can plan for what is coming next. They can try and figure out for themselves what they need in a driver.
But it also leads to problems. It’s like reading a medical story. You start self diagnosing yourself, “oh, that’s what I have!” This sometimes leads to getting the wrong equipment.
The Golf Professionals of today must stay on top of things, they no longer have all the answers.

Wireless POS

The golf course manager’s dilemma, how do you track your sales and process transactions on your beverage cart?
For those of you who don’t know golf has a wonderful plus, we have carts driving around the course serving alcohol. It’s a great way to serve your clients but also has some headaches. In the past you could track your purchases on sheets and then ring them in when you got back to the clubhouse. With the advances in wireless technology this process will be a thing of the past.
Wireless POS systems are becoming increasingly popular. Motion Wireless has a system that can be mounted onto your beverage cart and can be used to process transactions all over the course. The system can also be used to set remote POS systems that network with the main system. This could be used in places like the Snack Shop at the transition from the 9th to the 10th holes.
This will allow credit card transactions to be processed, no more holding a customers card to “run a chit”. It can handle charging to a members account. It also reduces shrinkage as each transaction will be tracked with an official receipt. The platform is shock mounted and waterproof so it can withstand being outside and bounced around a bit.
This system will enhance the controls at your course and increase sales as people will more likely buy when they do not have to give up their credit card, rather just use it as they would inside the clubhouse.

Technological Golf Cars

Golf car manufacturers have embraced wireless technology to enhance their product. Club Car, in conjunction with Uplink, have introduced Inova. Inova is a completely new way to control and enhance your fleet of golf cars. Inova has four main components:

• A management computer at the clubhouse, including operational and revenue generating software applications
• GPS screens and controls integrated into each golf car dash or mounted to the roof of the car
• GPS transmitters, tracking boxes and IQLink systems integrated into the golf car
• A wireless communication network
  
  Inova is also designed with the future in mind. Using scalable Microsoft .NET architecture to support future product improvements and it is Wi-Fi ready with a processor able to support 802.11.
  
  The GPS transmitters and receivers on each cart are constantly sending and receiving signals to GPS satellites which allows tracking of the carts. This information is then transmitted back to the management computer in the clubhouse.
  
  These new cars are awesome and help provide a valuable tool to managers of golf courses. Not only do you constantly know where your cars are, but you are always in contact and can use two-way messaging to send and receive messages to the cart. If somebody gets hurt, they can call in from their golf car for help. It also allows you to increase your advertising opportunities on the carts by sending messages over the screens to the golfers.
  
  Plus, as always it gives your players a cool tool to use, distance measurement to the hole, which will help them enjoy their day.

EBay is killing the golf industry!

OK at the very least E-Bay has hurt the golf industry.

There a million stories of this wonderful Consumer to Consumer selling tool. Some are good. Many are bad. There seem to be an inordinate amount of bad stories when it comes to buying and selling golf equipment on e-bay.
Golf is a tricky sport; believe me I know after 25 years of playing. It used to be that if you wanted new equipment you could go to your local Golf Professional and he/she would give you advice on what to buy, what would help you play better. The advice helped improve your scores and the business helped your local small business owner, i.e. the Golf Professional.
With the advent of e-bay that has all changed. People are buying equipment that not only will not help them get better, but actually hurt their games. They quite often think they are getting a deal but in the end get the shaft, and not the type in a golf club, they get screwed. Take the example of a friend of mine, Shane Longley, who in the end actually paid the same amount on e-bay for a club as he would have locally, and he doesn’t get the customer service or the warranty.
Now don’t get me wrong, e-bay is great for some things. I use it myself fairly often and have had very few problems. But trust me, it is worth the effort and a little bit of extra money to get custom fit for your golf clubs. At least get some advice on what you should buy.