Calgary cloud-based business management tool launched for golf industry

Calgary-based Club Unity has developed cloud-based business management tools for the private and semi-private golf club industry to help facilitate a smoother process for tee-time reservations.

Managing director Roger Kingkade and technical director Josh Fafard, who both love golf, developed the business concept after identifying a need in the market.

“We just saw an opportunity to create a much better online tee time reservation system, particularly for private golf clubs but also for semi-private golf clubs,” said Kingkade.

“Josh built a web application that handles golf tee time reservations and automates a lot of processes and makes a lot of things easier that pros and managers said they wanted help with.”

Kingkade said the software is being used in 12 clubs across Canada, including some private clubs in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Hamilton, and Toronto.

Kingkade said a very close friend of his is a general manager of a private club. The more he learned about golf clubs and how they operate, the more interested he became and the more relationships he built.

The idea began a few years ago when Kingkade and Fafard started a company making mobile apps for the golf industry.

“In doing that, we ended up learning a lot more about the golf industry than we did before and a lot of the shortcomings. We developed a lot of good relationships and we figured out where people were having problems, and we decided we wanted to take this to the next level. We had some good insight into how to make things better,” said Fafard.

“We came up with Club Unity as our tee time reservation software, and pivoted to that as our future going forward.”

The plan is to continue to roll out the concept across the country at a manageable pace.

“We’ve had a lot of interest already from some parties in the States, and we’re actually working in partnership with another software company that serves in the U.S., partnering with them to provide the tee time reservation system for the rest of their package,” said Kingkade.

Kingkade said Platform Calgary, a startup business incubator in the city, has helped Club Unity with some guidance and mentorship.

“Josh is possibly one of the best developers in the city as far as developing web applications goes. I’m pretty good at meeting people and making friends, but where we really lacked was operationally—running a business and learning those skills—so Platform has really stepped in to help us with that.”

Kingkade has a background in broadcast media. Fafard went to university for engineering, then software development.

“People in the tech sector in Calgary and Alberta, we really know what a strong sector it is here,” Kingkade said. “There are a ton of great tech stories, and as a born and raised Calgarian I know what the backbone of the business story usually is. I think there are a lot of really proud tech stories to be told now.”