This new technology could change the way you get drinks on the golf course

We’ve all been there: it’s a hot day and you’re six holes in the circle. Your first drink is long gone and beverage cart nowhere to be seen. Is there still one in service today? You are not sure. But you’re burned out and the club is miles away. The problem here is two-fold: missing a drink not only dulls the course experience for the player, it’s also a loss of revenue for the course. But thanks to a new technology called Zigit, an experience like the one described above may soon be a thing of the past.

What exactly is Zigit? Zigit is a patented mobile app-enabled retail platform that uses facial recognition technology to allow users to access beverages at Zigit-enabled dispensers. With Zigit, you can have one BEER OR mixed drink in hand in approximately 30 seconds.

How does it work? Let’s say you’re playing a course equipped with Zigit spreaders. All you have to do is download the Zigit app, scan your ID and face and voila. Your profile is now active. The process takes less than two minutes. At the dispenser, you scan the QR code to open the drink menu, make your selection, validate the purchase with a facial scan, and the drink is dispensed. Payment is processed via a card saved as Apple Pay.

Zigit is currently in his third year of service at the American Airlines Center in Dallas and made his PGA Tour debut at the Wells Fargo Championship last year. And thanks to an influx of interest from golf course owners and operators in recent months, Zigit may soon be available at a course near you.

The benefits are obvious: less waiting time for players and more revenue for courses. A win-win! But what about courses that have a robust beverage machine service? Won’t he steal Zig’s business?

According to Zigit co-founder and CEO Elsbeth Hurry, data collected from courses currently using Zigit paints a different picture: customer spending on those courses has GROWING by 30 percent, with vending machine sales rising simultaneously.

“Zigit is a nice addition to the beer carts,” Hurry said. “With a beer cart, obviously, it’s a great service. People expect to have that service. But they cannot be everywhere at the same time. If you know that on hole 5 and hole 10 you can still get a drink if you want, that’s a convenience and a guest experience.”

While dispensers typically serve drinks in sealed containers, Hurry said some courses are getting creative when it comes to cocktails, offering drinks and mixers in dispensers and glasses and ice machines within easy reach, meaning you can mix himself. transfusion. So what stops an underage player from participating? Unfortunately, you cannot prevent an elderly person from buying and sharing inappropriately. But minor app users can use Zigit to buy soft drinks and other soft drinks. And since the app knows which user makes which purchase, an illegal activator can be tracked and identified.

Consumption management can also vary by course, Hurry said. Some courses may choose to set a limit on sales for a certain period of time. The Zigit app is also capable of identifying fake IDs, so illegal purchase attempts can be thwarted. Zigit user profiles are also limited to one per phone. In fact, one of the keys to Zig’s success is the strength of the app’s facial recognition technology.

“The group that we work with is a group that works with the TSA, all the government agencies,” Hurry said. “We didn’t want to start with a startup because there are a lot of startups in that space. We went with someone who has been privately funded and established for 25 years. Outside of us, they do 2.5 million identity verifications per day and 250 million facial recognitions per day. The chance of a false positive is infinitesimally small. This is huge, because it’s really one of the main drivers of technology. It enables convenience, but it does so in a compatible way.”

Mike Miraglia owns and operates Eagles Golf Cluba 36-hole public facility near Tampa, Fla. Zigit first caught his eye when he passed the Hurry booth at the PGA Show earlier this year. He immediately signed up and currently has five dispensers in service.

“It’s been a shock to our revenue,” he said. “It’s a massive increase. It has increased sales above and beyond our beverage carts. We were a little worried because our drink carts are extremely profitable and they do very well. We were a little concerned that the girls in the drink cart might lose a little bit of sales. In fact, quite the opposite. They haven’t lost a penny. In some cases, surprisingly, sales have increased.”

Miraglia said the younger generation of golfers is so used to phones, apps and facial recognition that Zigit was easily embraced.

“Players love the convenience, simplicity and, frankly, the cool factor of receiving drinks via facial recognition,” he said. “Those people are not afraid of it. In fact, they’re so used to it, it’s just who they are.”

What will happen next for Zigit? Hurry said the continued expansion of the golf course is a major focus, but there is also an interest in adding resorts, arenas and other large public spaces to Zig’s client list. Once someone tries Zigit, she said, they generally come back for more.

“We have about an 80 percent return rate,” she said. “Once someone has used it once, they will use it again. It’s always there when they’re on the 7-hole and the 10-hole if they need something.”

For more information about Zig, click here.