Golf Course POS Systems
As you know, there’s a lot more to managing a golf course than just turf maintenance.
Will your pro shop be stocked with everything your guests need? Will your restaurants consistently provide a service worth staying for? You've also got to factor in scheduling, tee times, golf instruction, customer service management, employee management, performance analysis and accountancy.
Not to worry - we're here to help you find an excellent POS system to fit each of your diverse business needs.
Continue reading to discover which of the top 5 golf course POS systems is the best for you.POS System | Hardware Cost | Software Cost | Booking Management | Food and Beverage | Customer Management | Performance Analysis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Included | Quote- based | 10/10 | 9/10 | 8/10 | 10/10 |
 | Quote- based | From $49 per month | 8/10 | 8/10 | 9/10 | 8/10 |
 | Quote- Based | From $200 per month | 9/10 | 9/10 | 10/10 | 8/10 |
 | Quote- Based | From $99 per module per month | 8/10 | 8/10 | 9/10 | 9/10 |
 | From $600 per POS bundle | From $995 (single- license) | 7/10 | 8/10 | 8/10 | 7/10 |
The 5 Best Golf Course POS Systems
Quick Answer:
Teesnap - Top pick overall
Korona - Best Value Management Software
Lightspeed - Best for Pro Shop Retail
ForeUP - Best for Membership Management
AIM - Transparent Pricing
We rank Teesnap as the best POS system because it is a complete golf club management solution.
It can handle all operational aspects, and comes equipped with tablet apps that be accessed whether in the clubhouse or out on course.
It is surprisingly user-friendly for such a comprehensive package, and the entire staff training process can be completed within a single day.
Their quotes tend to be higher than other software providers, but don't be put off, as this price includes all the necessary hardware and servicing.
Bookings and Tee Sheets
The main that reason that Teesnap was developed was to fill the need for a better tee sheet system than those previously available.
This user-friendly system allows golfers to invite friends to join their round. It assists with bookings for regular partners and groups by recognizing players who frequently golf together and populating a suggestion list once a booking is made by one of those players. Alternatively, a whole group reservation can be made and pasted it into the slot for their next session.
The Teesnap system also allows you to allocate and monitor cart rentals, deal with no-shows and pro-rate rain-checks effortlessly. Because all of this is available from the mobile app, booking management can be handled from anywhere.
Food and Beverage
The food and beverage capabilities of the Teesnap POS system are equally impressive. Servers can use iPads to take orders while the relevant tickets are automatically sent to the kitchen and/or bar. The easy-to-use interface allows for a whole host of service functions, including adding preset and custom modifiers to orders, bill splitting, promotional bundles, and tipping.
From the fulfillment perspective, you can go fully digital with kitchen tickets, or have tickets automatically printed as orders are taken, depending on what best suits your kitchen workflow.
Reports and analysis
Teesnap can generate customizable reports on everything from what the best-selling menu items are, to which times of the week golfers are most likely to be late for their tee times. Reports can be grouped on the dashboard for easy oversight and displayed using a wide range of graph and chart formats.
The system is also geared toward larger operators who run multiple golf courses, allowing analysis to be carried out seamlessly both within and between individual sites.
#2 Best Value Management Software- Korona
Although the Korona cloud-based POS system is not specific to the golf industry, it contains all the features you need to successfully run your golf course (or several).
Korona provides tailored solutions for various sectors, from bike shops and wineries to restaurants, amusement parks, and museums.
From a retail perspective to online bookings and membership packages, they've got you covered.
Picking Modules
Korona has an incredibly low starting price is $49/month which includes all standard POS operations. This price will cover your pro shop retail needs, sales management and inventory management. It also allows the generation of reports based around customizable KPIs, specific products, and analysis between individual shifts.
Extra modules can be added from as little as $10 each. These provide a huge range of features: customer relationship management, an online booking system, food and beverage systems, etc. The benefit of this plug-in-based approach is that you'll only pay for the features that you actually want to use.
eCommerce Integration
One of the biggest strengths of this system is its capacity for seamless eCommerce website integration and compatibility with a host of third-party eCommerce platforms. Users of this POS solution will not be limited to the (already impressive) functionality of the system itself.
This means your members will have a one-stop-shop online service, where they can sign up for membership packages, purchase clubs, use online booking for tee times and participate in points-based customer loyalty programs without leaving their home. Member engagement with online transactions will take the burden off of your staff so that they can focus on providing service to members who are currently at your club.
ForeUP is a golf-specific outfit, providing an impressively comprehensive golf course management system.
In addition to the retail, food and beverage, and tee sheet software that you would expect from a golf course POS system, this company has a strong focus on marketing solutions and web design.
Whether you're either a relatively new club, or are in the process of re-branding, ForeUP can provide everything you need to put your golf course on the map.
Tee Sheets
The cloud-based online booking and tee sheet software from ForeUP is squarely aimed at maximizing the occupancy of your facilities, and therefore your profit margins.
Members receive automated confirmation and reminder messages about their upcoming bookings to help make sure they arrive on time. They'll also be sent "thank you" messages after their round which offer a quick re-booking option for their next session.
Employee restrictions and automated checks prevent double-booking errors when a combination of online and in-person bookings is in use. Meanwhile, heat maps will let you analyze your peak busy times. Underused times will be recorded as well, allowing you to incentivize club members during those periods.
Websites and Marketing
ForeUP provides complete design and support services for your golf course website. You'll have full control over the style and layout while their dedicated marketing experts will impart guidance to ensure seamless operation and maximum impact.
Other marketing features include SMS (text) campaigns. These can be customized for groups, as well as individual members, based on the comprehensive user data retained in the member management database. There are also a wide selection of email marketing templates ready to be populated with your promotions. These come supplied with a library of stock images to make sure your offers really stand out.
Food and Beverage
The F&B capabilities of the ForeUP POS system are as individually customizable as their club management features. Table layouts, displays and item layouts can be optimally set up to minimize the amount of time your staff needs to navigate menus and generate order tickets.
These operations aren't tied to specific hardware either. With the Teesnap F&B module, servers will be able to use tablets. They can can input orders and payments directly into their tablets, reducing the amount of time it would take to run back and forth from a stationary POS terminal.
#4 Best for Pro Shop Retail - Lightspeed
Lightspeed is among the most popular POS companies. This general POS and business solutions company offers golf course management software as a variation of their standard system.
This is based on the Chronogolf system which has been acquired by Lightspeed.
All of the most popular features have been preserved, with a few added tweaks based on the parent company's extensive experience in the point of sale industry.
Pro Shop POS Features
Lightspeed has one of the most powerful, feature-packed, retail platforms around, and their golf point of sale solution takes full advantage of this. Booking transactions (green fees for guests, instruction fees, cart/club hire, etc) can be made directly from the tee sheet, rather than having to go into a separate payment module.
Inventory management can be set up to automatically alert you when the stock of a particular product falls below your threshold for replenishment. Partially populated purchase orders and a procurement tracking feature can speed up your inventory process.
On the reporting side, all pro shop sales data can be seen as a complete overview or broken down in any way you choose via an easy-to-use reporting interface.
If you operate more than one golf course location, Lightspeed is one of the best enterprise POS systems and can easily accommodate the needs of multi-location businesses.
Integration
Similarly to Korona, Lightspeed prides themselves on the increased functionality available through integration. With 20+ integration partners, including the business apps Mailchimp, Ikeono, Kangaroo Rewards, Oracle, and WorldPay, in addition to third-party golf course management software providers, there's really no end to the features that you'll be able to plug into your Lightspeed system.
The downside is that features made available by integration will require separate purchases and potentially a higher overall cost.
The AIM management system from Tri-Technical Systems is another general-purpose POS platform that offers a version with golf-specific features.
It is a competent golf course operations solution if you're either looking for a no-frills approach, or are happy to purchase add-ons for the specific features that it may be lacking.
Tee Sheet
The base version of the AIM POS booking system handles scheduling and bookings via a simple interface. It allows you to generate booking confirmation emails, customize the scheduling intervals and collect user data easily.
However, integration with third-party apps is required to allow online booking functions and real-time monitoring, and many clubs find these to be vital features.
Reporting
The POS base system includes a catalog of preset report templates so that you can analyze key metrics without having to design custom reports first. You can filter transaction or membership types and adjust the layout of the generated reports to give you the best view of whatever you're focused on at the time.
Reports can be generated for memberships, course/range usage, food and beverage sales, employee information and retail sales.
Inventory and Pricing
One unusual feature in this golf management software is the option to set multiple prices for inventory items, depending on the station, customer category, and time of the sale. You'll be able to run specific promotions without having to manually enter changes which helps avoid mistakes.
Factors To Consider When Buying
When scouting for the best golf course point of sale system, you'll need to make sure it includes all the functionality required to handle your entire operation. Below are a few of the aspects which need to be considered, although the relative importance of each depends on the focus of your club.
Sales and rentals
This is actually one of the more straightforward aspects, as any retail point of sale system is designed to handle these functions. This includes generating receipts and processing credit card payments.
Keep an eye out for ease of eCommerce integration and inventory management if you want to get the best out of your golf course POS system.
Performance reporting and analytics are also vital to make sure you're selling the right products at the right prices and marketing to the right members.
Food and Beverage
Your restaurant and bar are going to get really busy, or at least they should. The best golf course POS for your F&B needs includes features that are going to save time for servers while minimizing errors. The biggest of these is choosing a system where orders taken at the table are directly transmitted to the kitchen and bar.
Tee sheets
If you've ever done these manually, you know how time-consuming it can be. Online booking for tee times removes all of that. The difference between the various golf course POS systems is the extent to which they support the reality of the process. Are there features that help avoid or track no-shows? Does the reporting give you data that supports more efficient scheduling? These are the key aspects to look for.
Member Management
This is the core of a club's business. Converting guests to members, rewarding and promoting customer loyalty, and promoting the right products and services to customers all rely on knowing the customer base. The best club management solutions not only allow you to collect and collate customer data via the management CRM system, but also to take advantage of that data by generating meaningful insights.
Whether you're ready to purchase a POS system, or are just price shopping, our FREE quote service will enable you to get a good feel for the market. Answer the few quick questions below to let us know what equipment you are interested in, and we'll provide quotes from the most reputable dealers.
Tyler Connaghan
Contributing Author