GolfNow is an online booking service for tee times at golf courses. Originally established in 2001 by Cypress Golf Solutions in Scottsdale, Arizona, it was acquired by Comcast via its Golf Channel unit in March 2008. Since Comcast's purchase of NBC Universal, the website now operates as part of the NBC Sports Digital unit.
History
GolfNow.com was initially conceived and founded by Chris Ryan and Dr. Tom Giannulli, in Houston, Texas 1999, with the intent to build the first online golf reservation system. Under Mr. Ryan's leadership, the company went on to develop and operate the initial Golfnow.com website (https://web.archive.org/web/20000511133802/http://www.golfnow.com/) til 2001. Funding issues and sluggish adoption of the GolfNow reservation platform in the era of dial up modems, forced the company to pivot to a more content driven transaction model. The company eventually sold the site and all related brand and IP to a third party, Cypress Golf Solutions, which was founded in Scottsdale, Arizona by Brett Darrow and Frank Halpin in 2001. The company expanded its GolfNow brand and operations to a larger regional area over the years, and by 2006 it was operating in 17 states at over 600 golf courses.
In March 2008, Comcast, owner of Golf Channel, purchased GolfNow. The company's operations were re-located to Golf Channel's Orlando, Florida headquarters. That same year, the company facilitated the booking of 2.4 million rounds.
GolfNow extended its services outside the United States for the first time in 2011 to Ireland through GolfNow.ie. In 2013, GolfNow purchased BRS, a booking service in the United Kingdom, along with Fore! Reservations, one of the largest tee time companies in the U.S. As of 2011,
GolfNow offered to acquire competitor EZlinks or its assets. GolfNow hired a former Ezlink employee. In 2012, Ezlink filed a lawsuit over software theft via the former employee.
In October 2014, GolfNow acquired Active Network's golf division. The acquisition added 1,100 courses to GolfNow's service. In 2015, GolfNow facilitated the booking of nearly 15 million rounds.
Features
GolfNow offers access to online booking services for over 9,000 golf courses. Users can compare prices of tee times across multiple courses, read user reviews, and book their reservation.
GolfNow also offers a mobile app; the free version offers the service's core search and booking functionality, while a subscription-based premium version adds additional features for use whilst playing, including a scorecard, personal statistics, and an "on-course GPS" function allowing access to overhead satellite maps of holes with distance measurements.
Impact
The Orlando Sentinel reported that GolfNow has had a positive impact on the business of golf courses in Orlando, noting that the service helped to encourage business during previously "off-peak" dayparts such as the early afternoon. The general manager of Orlando's Dubsdread Golf Club felt that GolfNow had helped customers discover the course among other options in the region, crediting the service for "getting our name and our prices to those golfers who normally would not drive past 15, 20 golf courses to come play golf here." The service was also credited with having attracted existing golfers to new courses, such as the Four Seasons Resort Orlando's Tranquilo, and new clientele to existing courses. Orlando was GolfNow's fifth-largest market in 2015, having generated $14.5 million in revenue from partner courses.
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