Multiple major champion and former Ryder Cup captain Tony Jacklin has been unveiled as a new investor in online tee time technology company Zest.Golf.
Zest.Golf Technologies, with offices in Scotland and technology partners in the Netherlands, has launched an equity crowd-funding campaign to help the business grow.
Fast-tracked by Scottish Enterprise into its High Growth Programme, Zest.Golf is seeking an investment of €790,000 to build core infrastructure in Dundee, and invest in ongoing product development and continue to drive market uptake and penetration.
Established in 2018, over 120 golf courses across five countries and 25 sales channels have registered with Zest.Golf’s Channel Manager, a technology that allows golf courses to manage multiple tee time sales channels from one place, setting the price and availability with each separately.
The company believes its open, independent technology has the potential to revolutionise the golf industry in much the same way channel managers have for the airline and accommodation sectors, by connecting a golf course’s tee-sheet to the world.
Speaking about his decision to invest in Zest.Golf, Jacklin said: “Golf is a global sport with innovation and technology at its very heart. I know that for many players booking a tee time can be a frustrating experience, as it can take extensive searching of websites and numerous phone calls to make a tee time reservation. I also know that clubs who should be making valuable income from selling tee times are, in fact, losing money. The system is out of date and not delivering for players or clubs. This needs to change and Zest.Golf have the answer with their new technology for the global tee time market. It makes golf tourism more accessible and the tee time industry fairer, more open and more profitable for clubs, whilst providing a superior experience for the golfer. I therefore urge golf businesses and those with a passion for the game to follow me and invest in the Zest.Golf Channel Manager via their crowdfunding campaign.”
Oliver Dury, Zest.Golf’s commercial director (pictured top), said “Our channel manager delivers the first truly open, independent and global tee time market place that changes the way tee times are distributed and sold online across the globe, ultimately for the good of clubs, players, the industry and the game as a whole. Courses around the world can use the Zest.Golf channel manager to list available tee times and rates. We aggregate all the available tee times globally so that any sales channel can access the inventory and sell on to the golfer, who can then make real-time bookings.”
The golf travel industry is one of the many areas that Zest believe can be transformed through the adoption of the technology. Dury added: “By connecting with the Zest.Golf Channel Manager, tour operators can log into multiple tee-sheets and book tee-times simultaneously. This saves a huge amount of time and resources when compared to the current requirement of emailing and calling golf courses to understand availability and make separate bookings at each course. To put the growth potential of the golf travel sector into context, there are 60m golfers worldwide (8m in Europe) and 70% of golf travellers are looking to visit a new destination when they organise a golf vacation. The latest IAGTO report states tour operators are reporting a year-on-year booking increase of 5%, and we believe that an incredible 90% of these bookings are still happening offline.”
Zest.Golf has already made considerable investment in research, development and testing and now wish to attract further commercial interest by opening the opportunity to the entire golf industry and lovers of the game globally.
Dury continued: “The goal is to become almost the ‘voice’ for distribution, providing one connection that can benefit courses, tee sheet providers and sales partners. We feel crowdfunding the next stage of our business fits our ethos perfectly, as it allows both golf businesses and golfers around the world, to invest and be part of changing the future of the game.”
Zest.Golf have partnered with Rotterdam-based company Lunatech Labs to develop its technology. Lunatech use the very latest tools and programming language to provide solutions for their clients, that include global car manufacturers and leading financial institutions. The company have offices in Amsterdam, Paris and Niort.
To find out more, visit www.zest.golf.