Golfers around the world can now book their tee-off times at many Irish golf courses thanks to an innovative computer software package designed by a Derry company, Global Golf Ltd.
With new international partners, the company has just announced plans for a $5 million worldwide television marketing campaign aimed at establishing its website, www.globalgolf.com, as the world's top golf Internet site.
The website currently receives over 25 million hits per year, with the majority coming from north America. Liam Gallagher, who founded Global Golf almost five years ago, expects this to increase substantially with the current marketing campaign, which is expected to reach some 60 million households.
"It will provide a boost not just for Global Golf, but for local golf clubs. When the website is accessed, golfers can not only view the course they are interested in, but can also pre-book their tee times or buy golf equipment on line."
He said TeesRes, a computer software package developed by Global Golf, was available to clubs subscribing to the website, and would allow them to sell tee times on the Internet.
When he first started talking about Internet marketing from the company's base at the Northland Road Industrial Estate in Derry, he was ploughing a lonely furrow.
On a visit to the PGA Golf Show in Orlando, he met Michael Hanlon, an Irish-American who heads Beverly Hills Ltd. Hanlon liked what he saw and acquired Global Golf as a subsidiary of his company. Earlier this year, CNBC Sports acquired a 55 per cent shareholding in Global Golf.
The formal relaunch of Global Golf with its new international partners, including Andersen Consulting, will take place in Orlando in February.