If the fast growing order list is anything to go by, Eagle’s new web app for golf clubs is certainly making things happen, or ‘appen’ as they like to say at Eagle’s offices in Surrey, writes Charles de Haan.
After a few presentations at GCMA meetings this year, Eagle has already received over 70 firm orders for its new Web App and a further 180 clubs are said to be ‘very interested’ according to Declan Hayes, Eagle’s Digital Marketing Manager.
“The interest shown by club managers has surprised us,” he says, “but there again, they all have smartphones now and are very familiar with this kind of communications technology. They all ‘get it’ when it comes to what a smartphone can do and how apps like ours will have a strong appeal to their club members and visitors.”
The Eagle web app is certainly proving to be the one club managers want, and this may well be because it is so well targeted at handling the things they want to communicate, those that their members want, and those that will be perfect for visitors.
Member feedback from Reigate Heath (reigateheathgolfclub.eagleapp.mobi) suggests that the Fixtures list and the members’ contact details features are the most popular and useful of the nine web app features Eagle provides.
Any manager or member of a golf club knows that printed club diaries with all the fixtures of social events and competitions have a tendency to be out of date within weeks, whereas the same events on Eagle’s web app fixture list can be automatically updated via the web app’s dashboard. The same goes for the membership contacts, but being on a smartphone makes it much easier to call someone by touching the number or address you want to call or e-mail, ideal for setting up the next foursomes knockout.
Other key features include a course guide, weather reports, and distance walked (a neat way to measure the yardage of that really long drive you just hit). The Course Guide feature makes the Eagle web app the perfect marketing tool in any members’ hands, as Hayes explains “People love to let others see what’s on their smartphone screens when it comes to photos and videos. To have your club’s course guide, especially if it uses aerial photography, smartphone-enabled means all the member does is let a colleague touch and see it for themselves. That’s a great way to showcase your club to potentially interested golfers.”
Eagle is marketing two kinds of apps; the Web-based one which most clubs are buying for £50 a month to let their members download for free, and a custom-built 3D version – with matching price – that uses Eagle’s 3D technology for hole-by-hole fly-throughs.
To date well known clubs like Druids Glen, Coombe Hill, Broadstone, SundridgePark, Open qualifier Littlestone, and The Shire have all signed up, while groups like Altonwood that include the world famous Addington GC have also become customers. Surrey-based Windlesham has the high end 3D version Eagle has developed for the iPhone & Android platforms which uses Eagle’s amazing new fly-through technology, and can be found by searching Windlesham Golf Club in the App Store and Google Play.
So if you’re the sort of club manager that likes to make things ‘appen, put eagleapp.mobi into the browser address bar on your smartphone. And you can always call Declan Hayes yourself on 01883 344 244, or e-mail him at declan@eagle.uk.com