St Andrews Links Trust - Commercial Tee Times
TRANSFORMING TEE TIME BOOKING AT THE OLD COURSE
The Old Course is one of the most iconic golf courses in the
world, so as you'd expect, there's fierce competition to book a
round.
Preserving that global reputation was one of the reasons the St
Andrews Links Trust asked Codify to look into options to automate
the booking process using customised software that controlled the
cost, access and availability of tee times, both commercial and
private.
It was crucial there was absolutely no interruption to the
service, particularly during times of exceptional global
demand.
BACKGROUND
Historically, St Andrews Links sold a fixed number of tee times
to its partner The Old Course Experience, who then managed the sale
and distribution of tee times to customers and other operators.
Add to that, all booking information had to be manually added to
a spreadsheet: a time-consuming process with the potential for
mistakes to be made.
There was also a need to simplify the private advance tee time
process, where individuals apply during a specific time period, in
what is essentially a ballot, to play.
To do both, St Andrews Link Trust contracted Codify to
investigate options and ultimately develop web-based applications
that were scalable and able to cope during times of peak demand
from as far afield as the United States, Canada, Thailand and
Australia, or as close to home as the UK, Ireland and Spain.
APPROACH
Now, using the Commercial Tee Time system (CTT), which launched
in 2017, commercial tour operators can apply for authorised
provider (AP) status. On approval, they can book tee times; swap
those not being used; and apply for other slots not yet allocated
or released for sale.
The system allocates times, as well as invoicing and crediting
APs. Importantly, it also runs regular reports, making sure the
team at St Andrews Links Trust can work closely with providers to
identify and quickly solve any issues with payment, for
example.
It also integrates player information with the trust's golf
management database, saving time on adding this information by
hand.
Registering through email or Facebook, individuals apply for
available private advance tee times through the website during
specific two-week windows, and the system automatically chooses the
successful applicants in seconds.
For both, Codify's recommendation to host through Microsoft
Azure - the same platform used to live stream the Superbowl in the
US - meant the system was capable of accommodating considerable
spikes in demand at peak times with zero downtime.