There are over 15,000 golf courses in America, and they all have one thing in common: tee times. Before you can tee up your ball and slice it deep in the woods, first you need a tee time. That’s what spreads a whole course full of foursomes around the links, separated by around 8 to 12 minutes of start times at the first hole.
But there’s the rub. To find a tee time, you have to wrestle with a course’s online booking system, which can sometimes be janky, slow, and confusing. Or you call the pro shop and get a harried person at the desk who has several real-life golfers waiting in line, while you beg for the tee time of your dreams (mid-morning, 72 degrees, before that thunderstorm hits 4 hours later). Then you get put on hold, or worse.
Lewisville-based Supreme Golf has a solution for this—both for golfers and for golf courses everywhere who want to book their rounds. The golf technology company has launched a “free tee time marketplace” which enables golf courses to market tee times to millions of golfers without cost or requested price advantage.
Tee times at 12,000 golf courses in 41 countries
CEO Jonathan Wride
In association with CBS Sports Digital—an equity investor and member of its board—Supreme Golf offers what it calls “the world’s most extensive inventory of golf tee times,” giving golfers the ability to search and book “over 16 million tee times at more than 12,000 golf courses in 41 countries.”
To provide the service, Supreme Golf leverages its own marketplace as well as the proprietary marketplaces of Barstool Golf Time—a collaboration of Supreme Golf and Barstool Sports—and GolfBook and Golf Digest’s Places to Play.
“We acquired GolfBook, a course direct tee time marketplace from CBS, a few years ago,” Jonathan Wride, co-founder CEO of Supreme Golf, told Dallas Innovates. “CBS liked what we were doing and became an investor in our company. They also joined our board of directors.”
Raising over $15M in ‘the golf capital of America’
Wride told us Supreme Golf has raised more than $15 million since its founding in 2011. “Our business is growing, as are the needs of golf course owners and operators,” he said. “We want to be an invaluable resource to our clients and will continue to develop market-leading technology to help them achieve their goals. In 2023, we will also dip our toe in the travel industry. We constantly look for great people to help us deliver our vision.”
He added that it’s no coincidence so many golf companies are headquartered in North Texas.
“I believe that the Dallas/Fort Worth area is becoming the golf capital of America,” Wride said. “In addition to Supreme Golf, Topgolf, the PGA of America, leading golf companies Century Golf, Arnold Palmer Golf Management, Driveshack [owner of Puttery and American Golf Corp.], Arcis Golf, Invited, Escalante Golf, Flite Golf, and others have chosen DFW as their headquarters.”
Golfers can find and book a tee time ‘within seconds’
[Image: Supreme Golf]
Through Supreme Golf’s marketplaces, golfers “can find and pay for a golf tee time within seconds” from anywhere in the world, the company says. Instead of navigating multiple websites and search engines trying to find tee times at various golf courses, you’ll find courses listed alongside other courses to show available tee times and pricing.
The company says the need is particularly keen for golfers who are traveling, and unfamiliar with courses at their destination. Supreme Golf, Barstool Golf Time, Golf Digest’s Places to Play, and GolfBook “engage millions of brand-loyal golfers across demographics who book tee times and spend money on food and beverage,” it says, noting that 85% of these golfers play golf when they travel, and 70% book travel with a golf as their driving goal.
Integrates with golf courses’ tee sheets
Supreme Golf says it integrates directly with a golf course’s tee sheet, giving the course control over pricing, data, and promotions. Its current tee sheet integrations include foreUP, Lightspeed, and ClubCaddie. The company is inviting all tee sheets to integrate with the marketplaces at no cost, with Supreme Golf completing the required integration at its own expense.
Supreme Golf says its open marketplace technology is based on National Golf Course Owners Association guidelines for online distribution of tee time reservations, and endorsed by the PGA of America. Supreme Golf is an Executive Partner of the NGCOA.
Advisors and investors
Supreme Golf has a pretty impressive lineup of advisor and investors, including top current and former CEOs. It includes business leaders such as Carl Sparks; former Travelocity CEO Sam Gilliland; former Sabre CEO Jeff Gerttula; CBS Interactive EVP Jay Bockhaus; Jeff Hinson, board member for Venture for America and former advisor to the board of Nicklaus Companies; Jeff Hinson, a board member of Live Nation and Windstream; and others.
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