Digitalisation of payments for GolfBox is a “game-changer”: less admin, more convenience, happier customers

Problem: Needed a reliable, flexible and customer-friendly online payment for the golf world

The national and international world of golf is supported by old, proud traditions. This also applies to registrations and payments, which previously often took place physically in the clubs in the form of registration slips and cash. In recent years, clubs and organisers have gone through a digital transition, and the Corona pandemic accelerated the need for online payments.

“We felt a great demand for flexible and customer-friendly online payment, especially during Corona, when golf was one of the few sports and leisure activities you could continue to practice,” says account manager Michael Hansen from GolfBox, who has developed a complete software suite for golf clubs and organisers. He elaborates:

“With modules such as Golf Management, Tournament, ProPlanner, and Union Services, we have services for the entire golf world, and we have a wide customer base in all the Nordic countries. Our platform must be available 24/7, and therefore the payment solution must first and foremost be operationally stable. It is crucial if our customers’ customers – i.e. the players – are to experience a problem-free payment with the cards they want.”

As mentioned, the demand for flexible online payment increased during the Corona pandemic, and there were also other challenges in clubs and associations that an efficient online payment could help solve. With online payment in advance of tournaments or events, participants would be more motivated to show up, for example. In addition, the volunteers in the club would not have to handle large amounts of cash.

Solution: Nets Easy met all requirements and was the natural choice – also in the clubs

“We already had a Nets agreement, but struck immediately when Nets Easy was introduced,” says Michael Hansen from GolfBox. “It was a clear advance administratively compared to the previous solution. The clubs could offer members great freedom in paying with a wide range of cards, and it was easy to switch to prepayment.”

In many ways, Michael Hansen sees the unique services from GolfBox as a webshop, where, among other things, the tournament module, the PRO coach service, and the Green Fee service have associated Nets Easy online payment to make it easier and faster to pay.

How does the chosen solution work in the clubs?

Club manager Hans Henrik Brandt from Søllerød Golf Club: “We have a system for payment of dues, where we use e-conomic and have a redemption agreement with Nets, among other things. For our activities – tournaments, booking coaches, events – we use GolfBox software, which is why we also switched to Nets Easy when we had the opportunity.” “It was a quantum leap, which in one fell swoop made it faster and administratively easier to handle online payment, extract data, refund money and all the other things we have to sort out here at the club, where we have 11 employees to run the business,” states Hans Henrik Brandt.

Result: 100+% increase in the number of agreements in less than two years

With Nets Easy, members and guests of Søllerød Golf Club can pay with Visa, Mastercard, Dankort and MobilePay, whichever suits them best. That freedom elevates the user experience and is very valuable to the club management.

“It must be easy for our members, and we must be open to payment via as many channels as possible, it’s that simple,” states club manager Hans Henrik Brandt.

“Nets Easy has contributed to a better service to the members and eased the administrative burden for us in the office. And when we calculate everything, it is a cheap solution. If we receive cash, it must be booked and physically secured, and then an employee must spend time driving it to the bank. It is ‘the most expensive money’ we can get.”

For Michael Hansen at GolfBox, who has partner status at Nets, the transition to Nets has yielded a very measurable result.

“All the clubs had to ‘re-apply’ when switching to Nets Easy because of the money laundering rules, and it took a while because we had 100 licenses at the time. I just checked, and today we have over 230 agreements under our partner portal, and that is a huge increase in a short time. Turnover has of course also increased sharply, and we can note that it is no longer just the very large clubs and associations, but also the smaller and medium-sized organizations that have discovered the benefits,” says account manager Michael Hansen. At GolfBox, they experience a high level of service as a Nets partner, and they are not least happy with the operational reliability that supports their own requirements for accessibility.

Club manager Hans Henrik Brandt can also sign off on that. “I have a background as an IT manager for 30 years and find Nets Easy reliable and reliable. They are also good at informing when the system needs to be updated, and this contributes to us being well-run from an accounting point of view, with, among other things, codes on the orders, so that we have an overview of what each individual payment relates to. It simply makes life easier for us in everyday life,” concludes Hans Henrik Brandt.