Towards the end of the previous season, we had the pleasure of chatting with James Gill from Dunbar Golf Club about their experience using Handicaddie. Despite having a smaller caddie program with 35 caddies, they manage an impressive 1000 caddie rounds per year. It's a small program, but it packs a big punch!
During the course of this time we asked James a few questions regarding our service and what he thought about it:
Before the implementation of Handicaddie, the team at Dunbar were having to do everything very manually using a book to log all booking that required a caddie. Then the caddies would come in and mark their name against it. This whole process was quite prehistoric and lead to the team spending a lot of time trying to arrange caddies to take bags. James goes on to describe his disapproval of the way it's been done before using a very unique Scottish phrase.
“It was just s*** before, to be honest.”
Because of the sporadic nature of the way things had been done previously there was no structure which led to miscommunications resulting in caddies not turning up and the only way that they could be contacted was a phone call. We really do appreciate James’s honesty. Our goal was that we wanted to deliver a system that would make his job so much easier.
James explains that our system has greatly benefited the club in the way that everything can be done now all in one platform. As before they had to call caddies or message them. Now everything can be done with a push of a button making the whole process so much more effortless. Common themes that James mentions throughout this conversation when referring about our caddie app product was streamlining operations, time-saving capabilities, and improving job allocation efficiency.
James reported that Handicaddie has been successful in reducing the amount time spent arranging caddies to just a couple of hours a week! One use case that james says has really helped is for short term bookings. For example if he gets a request for a booking that is in 10 minutes, previously he would have made an assumption of who could do the job and be down at a moment's notice. Now with Handicaddie, he can see exactly who is available from the list of caddies we gather. What makes this even better is that we display their contact details also. A quick phone call and it can now be sorted.
James was very appreciative of Handicaddie expressing how user friendly the whole platform is and how it sped the whole process up.
James expressed his satisfaction with the app's current functionality and also highlighted the desire for the app to incorporate in-app payments. While the specifics of how in-app payments will be implemented are still being explored, the general concept revolves around caddies paying the club a bag fee for each job they undertake. Different clubs have varying approaches, with some opting for a fee per outing and others considering an annual fee structure to cover costs. Another pivotal aspect of in-app payments is enabling guests to effortlessly settle payments to their caddies through the app, eliminating the need for cash transactions. As society moves towards cashless systems, automating this process is crucial in enhancing the overall user experience.
The Dunbar Golf Club's experience with Handicaddie has been nothing short of transformative. Before implementing the app, the club's caddie program was running on manual labor, leading to inefficiencies and miscommunications. With Handicaddie, the club has streamlined operations, saved time, and improved job allocation efficiency. James Gill, from Dunbar Golf Club, praised the user-friendly nature of the platform and the time-saving capabilities it offers. The only improvement he suggested was the addition of in-app payments, which would further enhance the user experience. Overall, Handicaddie has revolutionised the way Dunbar Golf Club manages its caddie program, making the whole process effortless and efficient.