Aloha Section PGA Foundation launches statewide tee time system in Hawaii with GolfSwitch to distribute tee times and create an online golf community
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (May 12, 2008) – The Aloha Section PGA Foundation (ASPGA Foundation), Hawaii’s leading charitable organization, has selected GolfSwitch, Inc, the world’s largest online golf reservations network, to be its official online tee-time provider. The agreement also called for GolfSwitch to design and develop TeeItUpHawaii.com, the Foundation-sponsored comprehensive statewide tee time booking engine, which launched this quarter.
The 250 members and apprentices of the Aloha Section PGA own, manage and operate 70 of the 94 golf courses in the State of Hawaii. By creating a single point-of-access for the State’s resident and non-resident golfers, the ASPGA Foundation will provide a valuable resource for the public to access interactive content. For GolfSwitch, the agreement is a natural partnership.
“The Aloha Section, as a steward-of-the-game in a state with both destination golf and a strong local community identification, is committed to maintaining brand integrity twelve months a year. The Aloha Section is the ideal partner with which to pursue this new association model,” said GolfSwitch CEO, Damian J. Greco. “The Aloha Section’s umbrella of golf courses and the golfing public will both be great beneficiaries of this new program set up by the people who know golf the best.”
Through the TeeItUpHawaii.com website powered by GolfSwitch technology, golfers can conveniently book their preferred tee times any day, around the clock. The one-network approach to booking tee times eliminates a time-consuming and labor-intensive chore for golf shop and hotel operators.
The site will give the golfing public the ability to see on one website, a comprehensive listing of all courses, pricing, specials, and then book online. The site will also showcase features like a social networking portal website that will allow its golf courses to link PGA professional Members and Apprentices with the golfing public.
“Hawaii is home to some of the most magnificent and renowned courses in the world,” observed Aloha Section PGA President, Matthew Hall. “By creating a site self-managed and controlled by our facilities and their managers, we will be able to maintain better brand integrity and organization management of tee time inventory, which is in keeping with Hawaii’s position as a premier worldwide golf destination,” Hall continued. “We look forward to working with GolfSwitch to establish a new standard for what a golf destination website can be.”
Ed Kageyama, Past President and current Secretary Vice President and Treasurer of the Aloha Section PGA, echoed similar thoughts about the community element of the project.
“This site truly represents Hawaii,” Kageyama said. “It will continue to evolve over time and get better and better; it will feel like home to the local Kama’aina golfer, while giving destination golfers a feel of the island’s unique and unsurpassed great golfing environment.”
TeeItUpHawaii.com will also feature facility and user-submitted content, including find a pro, ASPGA professionals, course directory, an events calendar, community message boards and real-time polling, along with course information and tee time reservations. For more information visit www.teeituphawaii.com.
About GolfSwitch, Inc.
GolfSwitch was founded in Arizona in 1998 by a team of golf, travel, and technology experts who were frustrated by the inefficiency they saw in the multi-billion dollar golf reservation business. Their vision was to create a global golf network, without software conflicts, that would increase tee times sales for golf courses while enabling profitable relationships between golf courses and resorts and buyers and sellers of tee times and golf vacations.
The foundation of the GolfSwitch network is a standardized communications platform that allows real-time access to over 60 tee sheet software programs, representing 95% of all automated golf courses in the United States and Europe. The patented GolfSwitch technology features one unified system with universal tee sheet compatibility, advanced tee time search and booking capabilities, unlimited distribution channels and comprehensive golf content from around the world.
The network also provides a browser-based booking engine called WebPro that enables any Internet web site to book tee times online. Golf course, travel and sports, and newspaper web sites can use WebPro to market and sell tee time reservations to their customers, under their own brand name, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
GolfSwitch’s marketing partners include some of the nation’s top travel companies. Among them are Expedia.com, Hilton Hotels, American Express Travel, TUI Travel PLC of England, the world’s largest travel agency operating in 180 countries, Spirit Airlines and several large U.S. newspaper companies. The company also provides services to major destinations such as Las Vegas, Palm Springs, and Orlando, its hometown area of Scottsdale/Phoenix, as well as Canada’s British Columbia and Prince Edward Island.
For more information visit www.golfswitch.com.
Contact:
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