Letter to Member Clubs announcing the Transition to BlueGolf
October 6, 2021
Dear Member Clubs,
We know we’ve communicated our potential switch to BlueGolf for tournament management previously but now we can confirm that this will take place in the new 2022 year. With this letter, we would like to provide further context as to this decision and the benefits to your club.
The MGA’s transition to BlueGolf follows the USGA’s decision earlier this year to no longer offer a USGA branded tournament management system. The USGA’s relationship with Golf Genius for USGA TM terminates at the end of 2021. The USGA is now advocating choice in the marketplace and the AGA leadership council has recommended BlueGolf as a choice.
The Mississippi Golf Association is one of seven Allied Golf Associations (AGA’s) that have made the decision to upgrade their services to BlueGolf in 2022. These new AGA / BlueGolf partners are in addition to the three AGA’s (Wisconsin State, Indiana Golf and Delaware State) that have utilized BlueGolf for many years. BlueGolf has partnered with more than 20% of AGA’s and expects many more to make the transition in 2023.
After doing our due diligence, it became clear that BlueGolf was the ideal partner for the MGA as we move forward. BlueGolf provides outstanding value and delivers a first-class suite of TM services that we are certain will position our Association and member clubs for long-term success. Here is some additional information on BlueGolf:
- BlueGolf has been delivering innovative systems for golf since 2000 and is recognized as the leader in tournament management in the industry. BlueGolf also provides a full suite of other integrated services that will help the MGA grow the game across the state.
- BlueGolf has a proven track record of innovation and developing products that significantly increase efficiency and deliver a great user experience to administrators and golfers. BlueGolf has a long list of innovative features that no other system has.
- BlueGolf has heavily invested in their infrastructure, providing the MGA and member clubs with exceptional speed, performance and reliability across all webpages.
- BlueGolf works with over 50 Amateur programs, more than 100 of the top Junior programs and 34 PGA Sections (over 80% of all Sections), including the Gulf States PGA. Most club professionals are familiar with the high-quality products and services BlueGolf delivers.
- BlueGolf’s customer support team comes highly regarded from other AGA’s and PGA Sections. They are an expert team of industry veterans that work tirelessly to ensure customer satisfaction.
AGA’s that have partnered with BlueGolf will be providing BlueGolf’s innovative TM Club system for FREE. We are excited to unlock these benefits to member clubs:
Easy-to-use. Member clubs will be able to significantly improve efficiency and reduce time managing tournaments with BlueGolf’s modern “card-based” layout.
Interactive Club Profiles. BlueGolf provides each member club with an interactive profile which includes Course Tours, Course Maps, Course Stats to showcase your club and provide useful information to golfers.
Full library of tournament formats. Member clubs are provided with an expansive library of tournament formats that are easy to set up in BlueGolf. Includes advanced formats like Parimutuels.
Great-looking, interactive leaderboards. Golfers will love the upgraded leaderboards which include tournament highlights, featured hole, complete hole-by-hole Scores and detailed analysis.
Fully Integrated with GHIN. Add GHIN members to club tournaments in seconds. Built-in handicap lookups, verifications and score postings ensure clubs have all the handicap tools available.
Affordable Digital Scoring App. Through our partnership with BlueGolf, Digital Scoring is now more accessible to member clubs. Digital scoring packs start at just $399/year, saving member clubs thousands of dollars each year.
Enhanced Digital Scoring App. Golfers will enjoy upgraded features in the live scoring App, including Hole Locations, Local Rules, Course Tour, Yardage Book, GPS yardages and Stat tracking.
Included Online Registration. Member clubs will enjoy complimentary access to online registration for tournaments (no upcharge). Standard processing fees apply if using a credit card for payments.
With any change, we understand there may be some concerns about transitioning and learning a new system. Below are some FAQs that will help bring some clarity to some of our questions about the transition. We thank you again for your continued support and look forward to working closely with your club to ensure a smooth transition. Please feel free to reach out to us with any other questions you may have.
In the meantime, please feel free to visit tm.bluegolf.com for more information about the new TM system!
Best,
MGA Staff
Carter Page, Executive Director
Adam Smith, Tournament Director
Emily Sullivan Wheeler, Director of Membership and Finance
Frequently Asked Questions about the BlueGolf Transition
How long will it take to learn the new TM System?
We thoroughly reviewed BlueGolf's products and the TM Club system that member clubs will be using is much easier to use and is very intuitive. BlueGolf has invested significant resources in deisgning a TM product that is made for clubs. The result is a TM system that you can learn in as little as 60 minutes.
What is the onboarding process like and what about training?
The MGA and BlueGolf will be creating a TM dashboard (or consoles) for each member club. We will be sending out a communication with a full webinar schedule for onboarding and training in early October. We anticipate training sessions starting in mid-November. With the learning curve being much easier with BlueGolf, clubs will likely want to join 2 webinars (30 minutes each) to learn the system.
Are there any instructional documents or training videos to review?
During the onboarding process, clubs will be provided with extensive resources to learn the TM system. These include knowledge base documents, videos and recorded webinars.
What if I need help using the new TM system?
BlueGolf’s support team is available to assist member clubs 24/7 with any TM questions. Additionally, you can always reach out to the MGA staff if you are in need of assistance.
My members already have accounts in Golf Genius. How will they get accounts to BlueGolf?
The MGA will be sending out an email to all members with their credentials to BlueGolf. Members will continue to use their email address as their login ID and can reset their Password when they sign in for the first time.