To increase traction in the French golf market Leadingcourses.com - the leading review and booking portal in Europe - has partnered with Netgolf to ensure more golf clubs in France will become bookable for local and foreign golfers. Netgolf offers golf management software (ERP) that brings together all golf operations into a single interface. By connecting the Netgolf software to Leadingcourses.com golfers are able to book a round of golf in a few simple clicks.

Positive signs for golf tourism in France
Leading Courses has a very positive outlook on golf tourism in France. Right now France is still undervalued as a golf destination and not yet considered a real golf destination like Spain and Portugal. But COVID-19 might have brought some unexpected help. Jeroen Korving, founder of Leading Courses and responsible for the number of bookable golf clubs on the site: “In the summer of 2020 - when COVID-19 was less prominent and people could travel again - we noticed a huge increase in demand for countries like France. People decided to travel more by car and France is easily accessible for tourists from many countries, like Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, The United Kingdom and even the Nordics. Golfers are discovering countries like France as a new golfing destination and initiatives like the 2018 Ryder Cup in Paris have definitely helped.

Great infrastructure for tourism
Leading Courses expects that this trend - people travelling more by car and to countries nearby - will continue in 2021. France is a country with a great infrastructure for tourism, the cuisine is great and France is also home to more than 650 golf clubs, with famous clubs like Le Golf National, Terre Blanche and Evian Resort. Quite a lot of French golf courses already use digital tee sheets and golf management software, like Netgolf. This enables companies like Leadingcourses.com to connect directly and in real-time with their tee sheets. The benefit for golf clubs is that they can sell more tee times - to local and foreigners golfers - without any effort. And, golf clubs will be paid upfront, as golfers will pay online, thus eliminating the number of no-shows.

Lower barriers for golfers
Golfers benefit because it will be easy for them to find and book the best golf courses, based on their location and the vast number of reviews on Leading Courses. Up till now, the language barrier was quite high in France. Many foreign golfers do not speak French fluently and are not willing to pick up the phone. But now they can find and book the best tee times online in just a few clicks. No need calling a golf club anymore, which saves the golf club a lot of time. Checking in at the golf course is also much easier. The confirmation number and voucher can be shown at the reception and golfers are all set to play.

First clubs are live, many to follow
Netgolf has been very helpful in assisting Leading Courses to grow in France. Netgolf understands that golf clubs need golfers to remain profitable and tapping into a large community like Leading Courses makes a lot of sense. Frédéric Blanc, founder of Netgolf: “We love to help golf clubs to succeed and working with the team of Leading Courses has been great. They have a lot of experience and really understand what they are doing.” Netgolf has more than 100 clients and many Netgolf clients have already signed an agreement with Leading Courses. One of the first to sign was Open Golf Club, a company that manages many well-known and popular golf clubs, like Le Touquet Golf Resort, Golfs d’Hardelot, Golf de Seignosse and Golf d’Opio Valbonne. Right now Netgolf and Leading Courses are working hard to put all the signed clubs live so that all these clubs are bookable online when the covid-19 measures are relieved.

Prepare now, profit later
Golf clubs relying on golf tourism were hit hard by covid-19, but this is the best time to prepare for the future. Jeroen Korving: “Now is the time to start using digital tee sheets and to use them wisely. Tee sheets help to increase insights into when members play and when they don’t. Knowing this and connecting to a portal like LeadingCourses.com will help golf course managers to increase their yield and thus overall revenue. And that is definitely something clubs can use after the last year. Connecting to Leading Courses is easy and is totally free. Netgolf and Leadingcourses do not charge for the connection, they only receive a commission when a tee time is booked.

ENDS

About Leadingcourses.com
With half a million monthly visitors who are inspired by hundreds of thousands of reviews of golf courses worldwide, Leadingcourses.com is Europe’s largest golf community platform, made for and by golfers. Leading Courses connects an active and fast-growing community of golfers with an increasing number of golf courses that can be booked online. For golf courses, this means an increase in reach, turnover, valuable insights and digital/e-commerce solutions. Golfers are able to discover more golf courses and golf experiences readily available in the palm of their hands.