Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Conversations with the smartest people in the golf business to get the inside stories and strategies driving the business of golf forward. Hosted by former PGA Tour player Roberto Castro.
Final Field Report - Cleaned Transcript
New Recording 91
I'm Roberto Castro, and this is The Course Record Show: the trends, technology, and strategy driving the business of golf.
[00:00:13] Speaker: Welcome back to The Course Record Show, Field Report number five from Aronimink. This will wrap the week. It is Sunday morning heading into the final round. There will be plenty of recap pods for you to listen to. I want to focus on what's happened so far, what I've seen on the ground the first three days, and then follow up on some of the data and technology conversations that we had.
For the golf, the fan energy and the crowds have been great. I think it's been a really, really good PGA Championship. The golf course has been a 14-club test. There's a Gary Player quote, who won the last major championship that was played here in 1962. He said, "Aronimink tests all 14 clubs in your bag." He's 100% right.
The course setup has been a big topic. Here's what I've seen on the ground doing featured holes for ESPN the last three days. So I've done 13, 15, 16, and 17. I really think that the flushers, the biggest, best players in the game, get a little frustrated when they have to play small ball. You know, I saw a tweet that said, "Ask guys to hit irons long and high," and they say, "Yeah," but ask them not to three-putt, and they think it's a silly course setup.
So I've seen it on the ground. The ability to leave the ball below the hole, to play back, to not be long and over the greens. You know, my pick heading into this week was Chris Gotterup, and yesterday I watched him hit it long on 11, hit it long on 13, hit it long on 16, hit it long on 17, and it cost him three or four shots.
And then Alex Smalley came through 13, the drivable hole. He laid it back just to the front of the green, left himself a pitch up to the pin, no problem. Saw Jon Rahm do the same thing yesterday on 16. He dumped it in the front bunker, easy bunker shot, gimme birdie. So I think that small ball, the ability to really think through where to leave it, and be a great lag putter will be huge.
Heading into Sunday, not going to make a pick. There's about 20 guys that can win. I think nine under wins it. I think eight gets in the playoff, but we'll see. Scheffler lurking, Xander, Rory, all the usual suspects. Or do we see somebody get their first major?
All right, we've heard from some really smart folks about what operating a modern major championship looks like. I wanted to share some of the outcomes about the data platform, the IoT sensors, and that real-time intelligence that we talked about. If you have a few minutes, go back and check those episodes out, the field reports from this week. They're about 10 minutes each, and they give you a real behind-the-scenes look at what innovative tech in sports looks like.
Before I tick off a few of the outcomes, I want to call out that all this is being driven by that central platform that CapTech built with the PGA of America. Rather than having a dozen siloed data sets or tools or pieces of software that manage one piece of the championship, this data-driven fan experience lets you see and act on all the data in one place.
So what are some of those outcomes? One, let's start with revenue. Offered fans a ticket upsell near the 17th grandstand. If there were a few spots, they got a notification saying, "Hey, for a small charge, you can upgrade to premium hospitality." That's your classic expiring inventory, right? Reach the right fan at the right place at the right time and give them an opportunity to improve their day, give the PGA of America a chance to capture some additional revenue. That's a win-win.
Another one, patron safety and reduced friction, right? That's part of the fan experience, removing those painful moments that come with going to a big event. One cool one was the rideshare, right? Getting on and off property for big events is always a challenge. And with those areas geo-fenced, you could remind everyone, "Hey, when is the last shuttle running? Hey, these are what the lines look like to get off property." Not flashy, but that's really where data can help improve an event. Less confused fans, especially at the end of the day after a few cocktails, potentially, fewer operational headaches, and just a safer experience getting off of Aronimink's grounds.
One thing I think is cool is local and partner activation. So how many times do you go to an event and you're leaving, and it's, "All right, everyone try to find somewhere to eat." As fans were leaving the course, we were able to give them some dining options in the area, depending on which gate they were leaving and where they had parked. I think that's a value add to the fans. Right now, not a revenue driver, but hey, one day local businesses could say, "We want to be part of this program, and we want to reach more fans that are coming on site for the PGA Championship."
Lastly, that on-course traffic, right? Targeted notifications to the right people to go to the places that they're interested in. We learned what they were trying to do via the Plan Your Day function. We segmented the fans, depending on what data they had, into different journeys, and we were able to notify them of certain activations, certain areas of the golf course they would be interested in going. Great for the fans, also for sponsor value, right? You pay a big ticket to get a spot on the golf course. I want to know who's going there. I want to be able to get more people there. If it's underserved or out of the way, we can push more people there. This is sponsor activation becoming measurable, actionable, not just signage on a golf course.
So that wraps up Field Reports from The Course Record Show from Aronimink. It's been a really, really cool week. Seeing a TV broadcast come to life, seeing a major championship and the data behind it come to life. Hope you've enjoyed listening. Appreciate everyone checking in and CapTech for sponsoring this series. We're trying to build the future of modern sports at CapTech. Reach out to myself or Jon Bradway anytime to learn more, and enjoy Sunday at the PGA Championship.