Ireland ‘s K Club to Install State-of-the-Art System on Palmer and Smurfit Courses
(CHANDLER, Ariz.) – ProLink Solutions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of ProLink Holdings Corp. (OTC BB: PLKH) and the world’s leading provider of Global Positioning Satellite ("GPS") systems for golf courses, today announces that its European distributor, Elumina, will install the ProLink system at the K Club (Straffan, County Kildare, Ireland), which will soon command the international spotlight as host of the 2006 Ryder Cup.
ProLink’s industry-leading, solutions-based GPS system will be installed at the K Club’s Palmer and Smurfit courses, two of Ireland’s most highly regarded championship golf facilities. Together, these critically-acclaimed courses comprise what many consider to be the finest 36 holes of inland golf in Ireland, a nation steeped in golf tradition and rich with courses ranked among the best in the word.
When faced with choosing a GPS system to complement and enhance its operations and customer experience, the first Irish golf club to host a Ryder Cup selected ProLink over all its competitors. Installed at more than 500 courses, worldwide, ProLink is featured at PGA Tour event venues, such as Sea Pines Resort in Hilton Head, S.C., as well as past Ryder Cup sites (Valderrama).
"Elumina and ProLink are the perfect partners to carry out our mission of being one of the world’s premier golf destinations," says John McHenry, Director of Golf at the K Club. "The rich graphics, robust features and on-screen advertising initiatives make it the natural choice as the K Club’s GPS system. Our golfers will benefit from the precise yardages and hole descriptions while the club will achieve greater efficiency in all golfing operations. The stylish ProLink monitors fit seamlessly with our golf car fleet and provide a look and feel consistent with the club’s high-end aesthetic."
"Elumina and ProLink are honored to have been selected over the nearest competitors to provide this state-of-the-art GPS system to the K Club, one of the world’s elite golf destinations," says Angela Catlin, Marketing Director for the Elumina Group."This partnership greatly enhances Elumina’s and ProLi! nk’s position as the standard-bearer of quality, reliability and customer service in the GPS industry."
Designed by Arnold Palmer and opened in 1991, the Palmer Course plays 7,337 yards from the back tees and incorporates the River Liffey as a hazard on several holes. From September 24-26, 2006, the Palmer Course will host Ireland’s first-ever Ryder Cup as twelve-man squads from the U.S. and Europe square off in the game’s marquee team event.
Also designed by Palmer, the Smurfit Course opened in 2003 and in July hosted for the second time the Smurfit Kappa European Open – one of the top events on the PGA European Tour. The Smurfit Course stretches to 7,277 yards and features native grasses and links-style playing conditions, as well as some 14 acres of water hazards.
Founded by Jefferson Smurfit chairman Dr. Michael Smurfit, the K Club also boasts Ireland’s only Automobile Association Five Red Star hotel complete with spa, three restaurants and 550 acres of idyllic scenery, all just 45 minutes from the capital city of Dublin. The hotel contains remnants of Straffan House, constructed in the 1830s by winemaker Hugh Barton, while the property’s history dates to 550 AD.
The K Club joins such prestigious European counterparts as Alicante, La Moraleja and La Sella golf clubs in Spain, Terre Blanche and Les Bordes in France, Brocket Hall, Kilworth Springs and Whittlebury Park in England, in offering the ProLink system.
About Elumina
One of the fastest growing businesses in the international golf industry with offices in the UK, Spain and France, Elumina is building the ProLink brand across Europe (and the Middle East and Asia). In September 2005, ProLink and Elumina were officially endorsed as the "Official GPS of The PGAs of Europe," and Elumina has installed the ProLink system at such prestigious venues as Valderrama, Alicante, and La Sella golf clubs in Spain, Terre Blanche and Les Bordes in France, and Brocket Hall, Kilworth Springs and Whittlebury Park in England and now the famed K club.
With its superior in-house engineering, mapping, technical services and innovative financing and advertising options, Elumina is uniquely positioned to exponentially grow installations of ProLink GPS systems at public, private and resort courses in a wide variety of countries and economic environments. The company’s leasing arm – Elumina Finanzia – provides courses with a flexible, accessible financing mechanism for purchasing golf cart fleets custom equipped with ProLink GPS systems.
In 2005, Elumina pioneered a successful multi-national advertising program – GP Ads – that enables courses to offset the cost of, and even profit from, the installation of ProLink GPS. The system is fully administered by Elumina and its advertising partners, and courses are paid monthly on total rounds played and average price-per-round. The financing and advertising programs provide a complete, turn-key marketing solution capable of funding capital projects, equipment purchases and other on- and off-course programs. GP Ads’ client base includes government organizations, blue chip companies and high-end luxury good distributors.
About the ProLink System
Innovators of golf GPS technology, ProLink Solutions’ core philosophy is to be a "Trusted Partner" in golf course management. From enhancing golfers’ overall experience and improving pace-of-play, to bolstering revenue streams and creating new profit centers, ProLink Solutions products and services have captured markets both nationally and globally.
Installed at more than double the courses of its competitors, combined, ProLink is featured at more than 500 resort, private and public courses worldwide, including Valderrama Golf Club in San Roque, Spain; Dal-Takararazuka in Osaka, Japan; and Kapalua Resort in Maui, Hawaii. The world’s most respected golf management companies have also adopted the innovative technology and marketing richness: Billy Casper Golf, Evergreen Alliance Group, Kemper Sports, and Pacific Golf Management all engage with ProLink.
Golf cart fleets are custom fit with 10.4" high-resolution color monitors that broadcast vibrant, easy-to-read graphics of each hole. Throughout their rounds, golfers continually refer to the screen to pinpoint distances, locate hazards, navigate the golf course and to place food and beverage orders with the touch of a button. The ability to relay medical emergencies and receive dangerous weather condition warnings from the pro shop provides golfers with a full suite of communication tools.
From the pro shop, management utilizes the ProLink system to monitor golf cart fleets and optimize operations using fully integrated, Windows-based workstations. The precise locations of golf carts, color-coded pace-of-play status for each cart, as well as cart battery levels and other wear and tear indicators are readily available. Robust back-end reporting through user-friendly software yields a multitude of course statistics, all designed to raise the bottom line. Courses engaging with ProLink report pace-of-play improvements of up to 30 minutes per round, resulting in four additional rounds per day.
Food and beverage managers are able to post daily lunch specials and/or high margin items on the ProLink units, boosting sales by up to 30 percent. Event planners are able to maximize tournament and corporate outing revenue via the ProLink system. Through its ScoreCast and ScoreMaster software suites, ProLink units offer a simplified-yet-comprehensive tournament set-up that allows for any format and for any number of tournaments to be carried out simultaneously.
ProLink Solutions also offers financial solutions through ProLink Capital for leasing the system, fleet expansions, or course improvements. The ProFit program is another alternative for courses to leverage financing options and generate substantial advertising revenues to substantially reduce or eliminate the system cost.
Risks and uncertainties are described in reports filed by ProLink Holdings, Corp with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. For more information about ProLink, visit www.goprolink.com, call 480.753.2337 or email info@goprolink.com.
Contact:
Contact:
Investor Relations
Hayden Communications
Matt Hayden, 858.704.5065
matt@haydenir.com
Media Relations
Buffalo Communications
Rich Katz 703.761.1444
Shane Sharp 803.547.2118
rkatz@billycaspergolf.com
ssharp@billycaspergolf.com
