Bird’s-eye view

Like many clubs, the Blue Ridge Trail Golf Club has been expanding and improving throughout the years. Set in rural Pennsylvania in a working-class environment just west of the Poconos, Blue Ridge opened in 1992 as a nine-hole facility. A second nine holes were added in 1998. Then, in 2005, a $3.2-million expansion made Blue Ridge a 27-hole facility. More recently, the addition of a global positioning system helped separate the club from its competition.

Tony Barletta, general manager of the privately owned public golf course, arrived there in 1998 and runs the facility, which offers annual memberships and has a maintenance budget of $700,000. The course, which is open mid-March to November, hosts many tournaments – about 90 a year – and generates about 40,000 rounds annually. Because of Blue Ridge’s terrain – there are big elevation changes and distances between greens and tees – about 98 percent of customers play golf with a cart.

When the facility opened the additional nine holes in 1998, it had a fleet of golf carts, but they weren’t equipped with a GPS. Barletta conducted research, and in 2002 hired Shortgrass Technologies to install a GPS for $200,000. Shortgrass went bankrupt, according to Barletta, so he hired GPS Industries to install a new GPS in the 105 electric Yamaha cars in July 2005 after the expansion. The cost spiked to $275,000, but Barletta says it was worth it.

“GPS puts us ahead of the pack to provide better customer service,” he says. “It helped speed up play 15 minutes a round.”

Golfers also can order food and beverage right from the cart. As a result, the facility is averaging $2.50 a player for food and beverage.

The GPS Barletta bought has a lot of bells and whistles, including graphics and the ability to sell advertising to local businesses. With the GPS, Barletta can track every cart from the pro shop and send messages to them. It also allows him to see if there are gaps between groups, which is the biggest asset of the whole system, he says.

The GPS purchase wasn’t difficult to pitch to the owner of Blue Ridge. Barletta did a lot of research and GPS Industries came to the course and did a formal presentation.

“Our business has grown since we put the GPS in, although the growth isn’t all because of the GPS,” he says. “We also have an advertising program that’s been effective.”

Barletta pays a maintenance fee for the GPS that includes software updates. Blue Ridge pays GPS Industries on six-month intervals because of the seasonality of golf in Pennsylvania.

“The feedback is fabulous,” Barletta says about golfers reactions to the GPS. “It’s a decision-maker for golfers when deciding where to play.”

The five-year lease on the current fleet of carts ends in two years, but Barletta says it won’t affect the GPS because GPS industries will take the system from the old carts and install it in the new fleet.

Barletta can’t think of a downside to the GPS. It’s not a cheap deal, but Barletta says golf course operators need to have foresight to be successful, regardless of cost.

“We gambled when we decided to add the GPS,” he says. “Even though I did the research, it was still a crap shoot. But I saw the value in this.”

Though not many other clubs in the area have added GPS, Barletta says the system has been reliable.

“It’s been a gigantic plus for us,” he says. “I don’t know how I would operate my place without it.” GCI