Golf Plus UK Ltd has launched a brand new portable GPS course measuring device that will provide three additional sources of income for PGA professionals and other on-course retailers.
The Caddy provides golfers with the distances they need, when they need them, on the course of their choice. The Caddy – which is accurate to within two yards and has been proven to speed up play – can:
- Be purchased from Golf Plus UK at an attractive trade discount and then resold including the local course map pre-loaded.
- The same unit can be rented to golfers for up to £10 per round.
- Provide the professional / retailer with a 50% margin each time a Caddy user downloads a map of their course – irrespective of whether the map is purchased in the club shop or downloaded direct from www.caddy.co.uk
The new Caddy unit is a portable version of the GPS distance systems found on golf cars and buggies. It is supplied fully charged and pre-loaded with the GPS data – course map – of the facility where it is purchased. Additional course maps can also be downloaded from the company’s website – meaning the golfer can use the device wherever he or she plays.
The Caddy uses satellite technology, positioned 12,000 miles in the sky, to pinpoint exactly where the golfer is on the golf course. Each time he moves he receives an automatic stream of updated information outlining distance to hazards, break points and distances to the front, centre and back of the green.
“We believe that a Caddy offers a valuable source of new income to the retailer and it is also invaluable for the purchaser because it takes the doubt out of club selection,” said Jeremy Cooke, managing director of Golf Plus UK Ltd.
“We have found that a golfer can save as much as three or four shots a round using a Caddy. It also speeds up play because you don‘t have to spend time either consulting a yardage book, or finding the nearest sprinkler head and then pacing off the yardage. Instead, the information you need is there right in front of you, wherever and whenever you need it.”
The top 500 courses in the UK, including the De Vere Belfry, St Mellion, Celtic Manor, The London Club and Wentworth have already been mapped, and Golf Plus has undertaken to fast track any other courses requested by its customers within 14 days of receiving an order.
Golf Plus only launched Caddy last month but it can already be used at over 750 British courses. The company is now mapping additional courses at a rate of 20 a day, meaning that there will be over 1,500 in its system by the end of the year.
“Mapping is a simple exercise and one that causes no upheaval at the club whatsoever,” said Cooke. “All we need is a course routing and we can then do the job from our offices.
“Before too long, we hope to have all Britain’s top courses mapped and we are also working hard mapping many of the most popular courses in France, Spain and Portugal. All the courses in Dubai are now available.”
When a club professional or on-course retailer agrees to stock the new Caddy units, Golf Plus will undertake to map that course as a matter of priority. Likewise, when a customer purchases a Caddy unit direct from www.caddy.co.uk, the company guarantees to map the course of his choice within 14 days, sending a cheque for 50% of the cost price to the professional/retailer, even if the buyer has never set foot in the shop.
“It sounds too good to be true, doesn‘t it,” said Cooke, “but I assure you it isn‘t. Instead, it is a formula that has evolved after much discussion and market research, one that we believe will prove to be increasingly lucrative as more and more courses are mapped.”
Golf Plus has submitted its new Caddy measuring device for the approval of the R & A under the terms of Rule 14.3. Until it has received such approval, it can be used for friendly games and practice sessions but not in official competitions. (Although the company says that recent press reports from America have suggested an imminent rule change will be announced in the very near future.)
The new Caddy GPS receiver is an all British production, designed and manufactured in the south east of England by Golf Plus Ltd. Golf Plus is part of the Walters Group of Companies which is a fast growing £20,000,000 sub contract electronics manufacturer with facilities in High Wycombe near London and Shanghai in China.
Golf Plus www.golf-plus.co.uk