INTERVIEW: Tyler Fitzgerald - Co-Manager, Carleton Golf and Yacht Club - Embracing AI and Using It To Your Full Potential

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How AI is Transforming Golf Club Management: A Conversation with Tyler Fitzgerald of Carleton Golf & Yacht Club

In this latest episode of The AceCall.ai Podcast, we sit down with Tyler Fitzgerald, Director of Golf and Co-Manager at Carleton Golf & Yacht Club, to explore how AI is revolutionizing club management and operations.

Tyler shares invaluable insights on:

✅ Embracing AI in golf club management – How Carleton Golf & Yacht Club has leveraged TrackMan technology to open up year-round operations and enhance the member experience. Also, Tyler shares about his own journey with AI and how it is helping him and his staff get more done easier, faster, and better.
✅ Operational efficiency & staff utilization – How AI-driven automation is helping free up staff from administrative tasks, allowing them to focus on member engagement.
✅ Challenges & lessons learned – The biggest roadblocks clubs face when adopting AI and how to get board members, staff, and members on board.
✅ The future of AI in golf – How AI-powered scheduling, food & beverage management, and even agronomy innovations could redefine club operations.

This episode is packed with real-world strategies, first-hand experiences, and practical advice for club managers looking to integrate AI into their daily operations.

Whether you’re a seasoned GM already leveraging AI, or new to the tech and looking for ways to enhance your club’s efficiency, Tyler’s perspective offers valuable insights into the future of golf management.

📞 Want to get started with AI at your golf club? Call +1 (866) 838-8581 to claim your free copy of The Golf Club AI Amplifier™, a short, high-value guide designed to help you maximize your productivity with ChatGPT—whether you’re brand new to it or already using AI.

🎧 Listen now and discover how AI can revolutionize your club’s operations!

🔔 Subscribe to The AceCall.ai Podcast for more insights on how AI is helping golf club managers win in today’s competitive landscape.

💬 Got questions? Want to share your thoughts? Call us today—we’d love to hear from you!

Podcast Episode Summary

How AI is Transforming Golf Club Management: Insights from Tyler Fitzgerald

Introduction Managing a golf club is no small feat, and in today's fast-paced world, the introduction of AI into club operations is creating exciting opportunities. In a recent episode of the AceCall.ai Podcast, hosts Clayton Elliott and Brad Milligan sat down with Tyler Fitzgerald, Director of Golf and Co-Manager at Carleton Golf & Yacht Club, to discuss how AI is changing the landscape of golf management.

Tyler Fitzgerald’s Journey in Golf Tyler Fitzgerald’s journey in the golf industry began at a young age, influenced by his family and an early introduction to the sport. From starting as a back shop attendant at 15 to holding leadership roles at some of Canada's top private golf clubs—including Banff Springs, Ottawa Hunt, Thornhill, Scarboro, and St. George’s—Tyler has seen firsthand how the industry has evolved. His current role at Carleton Golf & Yacht Club has given him a new perspective on club management and innovation.

How Carleton Golf & Yacht Club is Adopting AI Carleton Golf & Yacht Club is known for its exceptional member experience and has been making strides in integrating AI and technology. One of the club’s biggest shifts was transitioning to a year-round facility with the introduction of a Winter Golf Academy, complete with TrackMan simulator bays. This has not only enhanced member engagement but has also improved staff retention, allowing key employees to work year-round instead of seeking seasonal employment.

AI’s Role in Club Management and Member Experience Tyler highlighted how AI can streamline operations by automating administrative tasks like email management, budgeting, forecasting, and event planning. By leveraging AI tools to handle back-office functions, club managers and golf professionals can spend more time focusing on member engagement.

Voice AI is another promising technology for golf clubs. Tyler envisions an AI-driven system that could handle tee time bookings, member inquiries, and even assist with tournament planning—all while freeing up staff to provide a more personalized touch to member interactions.

Challenges of AI Adoption in Golf Clubs Despite the opportunities AI presents, there are challenges to adoption. Tyler pointed out that financial considerations, cultural hesitations, and a general lack of awareness often slow down technological progress in golf clubs. Many board members and older members are accustomed to traditional operations, making it crucial for club managers to effectively communicate the benefits of AI before implementing new systems.

AI as a Game-Changer for Club Operations AI has the potential to revolutionize golf club operations by improving efficiency in scheduling, food and beverage management, and financial tracking. For example, AI-driven scheduling could adjust staff shifts based on weather forecasts, saving clubs significant labor costs. Similarly, AI-enhanced inventory management could help clubs reduce food waste by predicting demand more accurately.

Looking Ahead: AI’s Future in Golf When asked about the future of AI in golf, Tyler shared his excitement for its potential in agronomy, golf course maintenance, and member experience enhancements. AI-powered analytics could help managers make data-driven decisions to optimize club performance, while new innovations in golf technology—such as AI-assisted coaching—could further improve player development.

Get Started with AI in Your Golf Club If you’re a golf club manager looking to get started with AI, AceCall.ai has created a free resource to help you. The Golf Club AI Amplifier is a concise, high-value guide designed to help club managers implement ChatGPT effectively—whether you're a beginner or already using AI to boost productivity. To claim your free copy, simply call 1-866-838-8581.

Final Thoughts The golf industry is evolving, and AI is becoming an essential tool for clubs that want to stay ahead. Managers who embrace AI now will gain a competitive edge in efficiency, member satisfaction, and overall club success. As Tyler Fitzgerald emphasized, the key is to remain open to innovation and take gradual steps toward integrating AI into daily operations.

Stay tuned to the AceCall.ai Podcast for more insights on how AI is transforming the golf industry!

Podcast Episode Transcript

Clay (00:02)

Welcome to the ACE Call AI podcast where we help golf club managers win with AI. Managing a golf club today is harder than ever. So we created simple AI solutions and a podcast to make it easier for you. I'm Clayton Elliott.

Brad (00:18)

And I'm Brad Milligan. Together, we bring a mix of entrepreneurial innovation and decades of golf club management experience to help you optimize your club, increase profitability and elevate the golfer experience. So let's dive in. Today, we have a fantastic guest, someone I personally go way back with. We have Tyler Fitzgerald here. Tyler Fitzgerald and I worked together at Scarborough Golf Club for a year in 2018, if I'm not mistaken.

And I can tell you firsthand, he's one of the most dedicated professionals in the industry. But I'll hold off on all the personal stories for now. Tyler is currently the director of golf and co-manager at Carlton Golf and Yacht Club in Ottawa, Ontario. Actually also worked with his other co-manager, Cam Gahl, and we were just talking about getting him on the show. Worked with Cam at Rosedale. So looking forward to getting Cam on the show at some point, if he'll give us some of his time.

Tyler has had an impressive career spending over 25 years in the industry at some of Canada's top courses Banff Springs, Ottawa Hunt, Thornhill, Scarborough and St. George's just to name a few. He's been at the helm of golf operations, member services and business strategy, ensuring top tier experiences wherever he's worked. At Carleton, a private member owned club known for its incredible conditions and warm welcoming culture, Tyler plays a key role in shaping the future of the club.

Tyler, my friend, welcome to the show.

Tyler (01:42)

Thanks Brad, thanks Clay, great to be here today. Looking forward to it.

Clay (01:48)

Yeah, thanks for joining us.

Brad (01:48)

Awesome.

Yes, sir. Thank you. Tyler, before we get into AI and all the fun tech talk that we love so much, I'd love for you to share a bit about your journey. You've been in the industry for over 25 years and we both know how much golf operations have evolved in that time. Can you take us through how you got started, some of the key moments in your career and how you ended up at Carlton and then maybe just tell us about Carlton and the operation you run there.

Tyler (02:16)

No, absolutely. Thanks, Brad. You know, I started golfing, you know, I was introduced to the game when I was quite young. So I've been playing golf since I was five years old. Quite fortunate. My uncle was a head golf professional here in the Ottawa area. So when I was young, he kind of introduced me to the game and, know, I come from a golfing family as well. So playing out through all my younger years and then...

I remember one summer distinctly, I used to play competitive baseball and what was presented to me was, you can spend a year playing competitive baseball and spend all that money traveling and all that, or you can actually start making money and work at a golf club. So when I was 15 years old, started working at golf clubs, scrubbing clubs in the back shop, doing all the driving range stuff. And that sparked something in me that I've never kind of experienced before.

Loved it, fell in love with the industry so much. that was my journey, that was the start of my journey. And then from there, moved out when I was 18 years old, spent a summer working at the Ban Springs. First time ever away from home, moving out to the mountains and living in such a beautiful, beautiful area. Spent a summer there, came back. Then I went through my education journey, went to Humber College, did three years in the PGM program, the professional golf management.

was

able to graduate with honours. While I was there, doing my internship at the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club, which is an amazing 27 hole facility here in Ottawa, Ontario. Worked three great years under an amazing head pro at the time, Tim Moore. And after three years, made my journey to the GTA area and became an assistant pro at the Thornhill Country Club. Worked five fantastic years there from

from being an assistant pro all the way up to the lead associate pro.

and then from there moved on to St. George's for two years as the lead associate. Talked about a very demanding golf club, but a beautiful, beautiful golf club as well. And after two years of St. George's was offered the opportunity to become the director of golf at the Scarborough Golf and Country Club. That was my first head pro director of golf position. Spent five years at Scarborough. That's where you and I, Brad, overlapped. And that was certainly a very

an amazing time, but being a first year head professional at a top-end private club, you certainly learn a lot. The learning curve happens very, very quickly, but I'll never trade that experience in for anything else. And then made my journey back to the Ottawa area, was the director of golf at the Ottawa Hunt Club for three seasons during COVID, which certainly had some challenges, but we certainly persevered. And then a great opportunity came up to move over to

and as one of the co-managers of the club and I've been here for the last three years and I'll tell you stepping into that manager's role has been quite the experience but what we've been able to create here at the club has been very special as well so that's kind of my path and career in a nutshell I can't believe that's over 25 years though, jeez.

Brad (05:39)

Yeah, that's a great career. You've worked at some awesome clubs there.

Tyler (05:45)

Thank you. Yeah, it's been great and you know the work we've been doing here at Carleton in the last three years

just has totally changed the culture and elevated the club quite a bit. we did start, so you mentioned Cam Gaul. So Cam Gaul is our other co-manager and just, you know, just changing, know, starting small, not trying to change the whole world overnight, just starting to put some new programs in, whether it's golf programs or, you know, we upgraded a lot of our leagues, started introducing new services at the club. We opened up a winter golf

academy three and a half years ago. The club used to close, it be closed all winter long. So now we're a 12 month a year facility. I saying earlier to you, know, our golf academy is so busy now over the winter time. Members are loving it. So it's really grown. It's really brought more attention and attraction to the club. It's all part of our tours now. So when we're showcasing the club to potential new members, they love the fact that we're a year round club.

Brad (06:49)

Awesome. It's really good stuff.

Clay (06:53)

Yeah, that's, that sounds like a great journey, Tyler. don't have that experience myself, but I've been speaking to more people and it's from five years old, five years old. You picked it up. You started swinging it you're like, this is, this is it. love it. Golf and family.

Tyler (07:09)

Yeah, you know.

Golfing family, you know what? you know what's golf was never my primary sport growing up. So I did play a lot of baseball. Certainly hockey was a big part of my life as well. I did martial arts for many, many years. But you know, once I was kind of like in my teen years, you know, started to, I want to make money. I want to, you know, be able to buy things and afford things. And the only route that I could take that was offering summer jobs was at golf courses. So everything then kind of funneled that direction.

Clay (07:42)

That makes total sense, right? If you're playing the sport, most sports cost money to play and there's no neutral. You're either spending money on it or you're making money on it. And if you're working in your sport and you get paid for a summer job, you get your pocket padded, but you're also getting more time to play. imagine you're out there, you're on the field, right? You may not be playing on the field, but you're on the field in some capacity, right?

So very cool. And it's just, it's interesting to hear how your path as a golf professional, has shaped your approach to, you know, now innovating in club management today. And I think that's, you know, we can segue now, I think, unless there's anything more pressing you want to talk to, but I am interested to hear about your guys' latest upgrades to full year round.

Tyler (08:38)

Yes.

Yeah, yeah, so we use

Brad (08:45)

Not yet. Not yet. One day we'll all just be sitting in chairs just...

Clay (08:53)

I'm not a VR

fan myself.

Tyler (08:55)

Sure, Sounds good

Brad (08:58)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's

it.

Tyler (09:00)

Yeah, so

you know what? I've been lucky playing. So Winter Golf has never been, it's not new to me, but it was certainly new at Carleton. And, you know, I introduced Winter Golf Academies while I was at Thornhill, while I was at St. George's Scarborough as well. But it was very new for the membership here at Carleton. We had to do a whole business plan just to kind get it passed. And we had people who certainly were for the idea.

had people who were not quite convinced that it would be successful, but I knew through my past experience, this was a no-brainer. So we introduced two Trackman simulator bays. Trackman has been great to work with. Every year they're launching more more golf courses to play. you want to keep things fresh and innovative, Trackman is a great company to partner with because every year they're launching another 50 golf courses now to their

library of golf courses. So our members will never get tired of that experience, right? But some of the other benefits of being open year-round and certainly what we found is staff retention, right? So now I have two assistant pros who work year-round at the club. You don't get that too often in the golf industry, especially up in Canada. Usually they have to, you know, maybe go on unemployment over the wintertime or they have to find other jobs. So I have my two key guys work

with me year-round. It also allows us to keep our food and beverage operation running over the wintertime as well. So our head chef, some of our servers, know our food and beverage manager, all that. So they're now part of this year-round operation where in the past a lot of them had to you know find other means to sustain themselves over the wintertime. So we're very proud of that.

Clay (10:55)

Yeah. And that's something to be proud of because it's one thing if you're making, you know, the member or the, the owners, the shareholders, profits and return on investment and business activities, but to really stabilize business allows you to stabilize employment for your staff.

Which for them, it's not, it's not like, how much more money can we make this season? They're like, how much am I going to pay my bills this season? Right? Like Canada is one of the most expensive places in the world to live. And if you're listening to this and you don't live in. Ontario or British Columbia or Alberta, any of these places you, you are lucky because it is one of the most, I heard somewhere say, said, uh, Ontario or Canada, Ontario, at least it's like New York.

City real estate prices with Alabama wages.

Brad (11:45)

Yep, that's right.

Clay (11:46)

So

it's like the cost of everything here is like you're living in New York, but the wages are equivalent of like, it's the same like median income of like Mississippi or Alabama. It's one of the poorest States in America to live as the average income here. So again, it's seasonal work. It's very difficult for seasonal employed people to, to make a predictable career plans, right. And predictable commitments for their career trajectories. So it's great for the club. It stabilizes income, but it also stabilizes employment. Like you said,

And now in regards to AI, like it's a big topic, many industries across the board, you can't find one where it's not, AI is not transforming, not even just like changing slightly, like radically transforming golf is, you know, no exception as you know, as we've been talking about, but what was your first real exposure to AI, like quote unquote AI, like, know, personal or professional, how did it change the way that you think about managing golf clubs and you know what ideas.

Inspiration did you get, innovative ideas.

Tyler (12:47)

Yeah, so you know, that is a great question. I think my first personal experience, I think we've all done this, is even just making phone calls to companies and getting that automated receptionist asking, you know.

and you're actually talking to a computer or to an AI agent and they're actually answering you back. So that's kind my most recent experience, calling Bell or Rogers and you getting that AI bot. But I think there's such an opportunity now to kind of, the door is wide open, how do we now bring this into the golf industry? And I think there's lot of cool concepts and I know it's just starting to...

Unroll itself in this industry. So I mean, you know, we talked about, know booking tea times or making reservations Even in simulated golf. I can see this taking so many different avenues. That's just right

I think enhance the member experience as well as maybe take a little bit of workload off the employees so that they can be focused on the member experience as well. So I think there's great opportunities out there and I'd love to hear your thoughts as well because it's something that's growing so fast. It's actually kind hard to keep up with because every week or every month I'm hearing new ideas or new things to go with.

Clay (14:17)

Yeah, that's the tech, right? And like anything tech, the people that get on early will reap some early benefits. And then people get on later, we'll still reap some benefits, but it won't be the same stack of benefits, right? The early adopters of technology can reap, not equivalent, but comparable benefits to the early investors in technology. People who bought Apple stock, bought Google stock, bought Amazon stock, bought eBay stock.

It's one of those things like people were like, Oh man, I wish I bought some of those stocks back in the day when they were IPO was $2 a share or $3 a share. It's $1,500 a share now. And you're just like, yeah, well hope maybe they split and you can get a little, a little bit of the action. Right. But the whole thing is the early investors make the bank, the early adopters can really get the breakthroughs. Um, but like you mentioned, there's, there's some direct benefits on operations, on management, on productivity of staff, all these things. Right.

There's AI with direct applications of that. Then there's AI with direct interfacing with the members and with the clientele. And there's a direct benefit to them of certain AI applications. But then there's secondary benefits to the members of the AI applications that help the staff. Because like you said, if you free up your staff and help them get their jobs done quicker and easier and faster and more proficiently with less error, and then they're free.

They've answered all their emails in an hour or half an hour or in 15 minutes. That would have taken them three, four hours before. Well, now they have more face time with the members. So the members benefit secondarily off of the staff's increased productivity. In addition to the way the members benefit off the direct use and interaction with whatever the AI application is. like, I'm going to, we're going to do an episode one day where we just do like a benefit and value stack of like each different application, primary benefits, secondary benefits, tertiary benefits.

or beneficiaries, if you want to use that word, right? Like there's all these different people within a club that can benefit off the AI application in each different department. be the primary beneficiaries, the secondary beneficiaries and the tertiary beneficiaries for each department in each application. And to have that all mapped out and really presented, I think would be very helpful to people in golf. Like we've discussed with other managers in many of these calls that we have before we record podcasts, we have

We had a call with you. have calls with tons of others, uh, just to get to know each other before they jump on a podcast and see if there's a good kind of a rapport and conversation. It makes for bad content for a podcast that people can't have a good conversation with each other. Right. So, uh, we have these kinds of qualifying discussions. So we're having lots of discussions behind the scene and the consistent thing we're hearing, which I imagine you can, you both can agree and wait from what you've seen.

Golf is a little slow to adopt technology because they don't have to be on the leading edge of technology for their game to be played. They don't have to be at the forefront of all the latest breaking technology for their business models to continue to function year over year as is like they say, if it's not broke, don't fix it. Right. And golf is not broke. It's working. It's been working for a hundred years or whatever long.

It's been a, a professional bit, 150 years. don't even know how long it's been a, professional game people have played for, for fun and for profit business model, but it's a long time. Right. And so it doesn't need to be radically overhauled year over year. And matter of fact, the members wouldn't want it. The clientele wouldn't want that. So as a, as a result, you guys are kind of lagging as an industry in the technological adoption. The things that are driving it, like you said, are the track men, the top tracers.

The actual hardware, the clubs, technique, the clothing, these things drive the industry as the technology, but it's not as, and then the few overarching kind of juggernauts in the industry as far as software management software. But other than that, the clubs can, like you said, Brad, you got, were raised on paper. was, it was years before you guys even got emails in your club. At that point, there was probably a whole industries where that could even, couldn't even consider operating without email. You guys were still just thriving without email.

So it's, it's a, it's another proof that golf can chug along without getting the tech and be fine until it's until they're not right until they're not until, until everyone else has the tech. And then that one club realizes like we are 10 years behind every other club in our, our, in our locality. Every club around us is light years ahead is certain service, not just in cool AI, but they perform better. Their staff like working there better. They make more money.

their members are happier. Every measure, every KPI that we use to measure a club, they're all doing better because they have the technology. Now we have to get the technology. So yeah, but just, you said something there, it just kind of spark a spark of thought. And I want to just kind of flow for a minute.

Tyler (19:18)

Well,

you know what, Clayton, I want to kind of, you know, stretch that out a little bit further. So, you know, if you break it right down, mean, golf is played obviously on a golf course. that, that is the most traditional part of the whole industry is the game itself. Like what we've done as club managers is we've made now golf.

an experience, destination place. So you're playing your golf, you're spending the four hours, four and a half hours on the golf course. What we're trying to do is everything pre-golf and post-golf. That's what's really grown. And I think that's where there's so much more potential to creating those memorable moments. You talk about AI and technology and how golf courses can be a little bit sluggish on making those changes. Well, I'll tell you, on a retail side of things, everyone wants the latest and greatest golf

I mean, I make a business of selling golf equipment year after year. So as much as there's traditions and not changed too quickly, everyone still wants that latest driver, you know, and they want that leading edge, whatever gives them a little bit of a competitive edge over somebody else. They're hunting for that.

You know, we can get into golf club technology if you want, because there's tons of AI integrated in that. But it's the, you know, it's that balance of, well, I want my traditional values, but those are changing every day. Every generation there's a jump in what that new generation wants. If people weren't open to change, we'd still be playing with wooden stick, hit-re-stick golf clubs, right? So there is change. It's just how we perceive it.

and the technology and just the equipment, the clothing, all of that has to be taken into account. There is a lot of change. Golf itself, played on a golf course, it's what I do, it's what club managers do for everything else, post-golf, pre-golf. That's what we try and touch on a lot with.

Brad (21:19)

Yeah, yeah, very good points. So, so Tyler, if you could, we always like to say this, if you could wave a magic AI wand for your operation, what's, what's a specific challenge you'd like to address with AI that could improve your day to day operations?

Clay (21:20)

Very cool.

Tyler (21:37)

You know, it's,

I would say obviously it's all the behind the scenes stuff, right? Like it's the admin stuff. It's the, you know, my budgeting, my forecasting, looking after emails. I don't want to give up any chance of missing an opportunity to connect with a member. I connect with members obviously face to face over phone calls, know, emails, certainly we connect with members, but certainly a lot more impersonal. So if I could find a solution

Solution to free up my time so that I don't have to be at my computer three hours four hours a day Just answering emails that would be an amazing benefit if I can type into a system, you know prepare a Function sheet for an event coming up that can just have a I look after it all for me Well, that's saving a lot of time as well So it's all these little bits of pieces that might take me half an hour an hour to do if I can find a program or an avenue

that can allow that to happen in a minute or two through AI, that would be a huge, huge benefit. I would definitely jump behind that.

Brad (22:50)

Yeah. And think of all those, you stack all of those up, if you're using AI for all these various applications that used to take so much time, because running a tournament does take a long time. If you're sitting behind your computer and you're on Golf Genius, and do you use Golf Genius there? Yeah. So it's kind of the standard now in the industry is Golf Genius, because it is a phenomenal product. But it requires a lot of back and forth. You're obviously sitting in front of the computer.

Tyler (23:07)

But we do.

Brad (23:19)

a lot of dragging, dropping, making sure things are in the right place, know, testing formats, so on and so forth, printing scorecards, all that good stuff. Those are necessities in the industry that you will have to spend some time on that they don't have AI yet for, but I could see it integrating eventually with Golf Genius. But it is all those like those medial tasks off to the side that take up your entire day and they don't put you member facing. And that's really what we're discovering here is that golf professionals

Tyler (23:45)

and

Brad (23:49)

general managers, even food and beverage managers, all the managers we're talking to want to be member facing. And members want that from them. They don't want them hiding in their offices. They want a lot of their job to be out and about with the members, interacting with them, adding that personal touch and creating that culture in the club. So I think that's where we're all discovering we can go with AI.

Tyler (24:12)

No, absolutely right. mean, my passion is dealing with the members and the people, right? Like that, when I learned at a very young age, what I was good at was being in front of members and that's what really drove me to continue in this career. then, know, getting up the ranks, you kind of find yourself being pushed into an office a little bit more and we're fighting to get out of that. So absolutely. And that's what it is. I mean, we got to create that experience for the members and for the guests. And the only way to do that is to be

out in front of them.

Brad (24:45)

percent.

Clay (24:46)

Yeah, that's a very good perspective to have. On a scale of one to 10, 10 being you built ChatGPT yourself and one being, you you're like a monkey just smashing the keyboard, right? On a scale of one to 10, what would you rate yourself as a prompt engineer, as a ChatGPT prompt engineer? You you tell it what you want and it gives you what you want consistently time over time.

Tyler (25:14)

You know what? I'm finding myself using it more and more.

You know, it me two years ago, I wouldn't have known what it even stood for. Now I'm writing my reports, I'm writing my e-blasts, I'm writing my emails, and I'm having chat to GTP either review them or write them for me. So I'm certainly not at a 10 where I'm fully dove into it, but certainly maybe halfway there. So I'm learning all the time on how to utilize this best I can. And I'm probably so, there's so much more I can be learning.

learning

about it, but you know, just want to take my time with it too, not to get too overwhelming, too overwhelmed with it because you go too far into it and then it's just like hands off. I can't do it anymore. just, you know, that gradual pace of learning how to use it, how to use it properly, starting to get there, which is pretty cool. I I type in a sentence in chat GDP, it'll come up with a new logo for new event, like in 10 seconds and they'll type

in write an email with this subject line that relates to golf and focus on these three points and then it'll do an email based on that. So that is amazing and I know that's just touching the surface of what it can do.

Clay (26:31)

But to add to that point, that's all technology. Like if anybody's listening to this right now and they're still like, I don't know, it's intimidating, it's frustrating, don't know, learning curve, I don't want new tech, all the things that go through all of our minds whenever we're looking at any new technology, the microphone that I'm talking on right now. We needed microphones. Brad got one. was like, Brad, I'm not even gonna read up on microphones.

Tyler (26:38)

Mm-hmm.

Clay (27:01)

Which microphone should I get Brad? And Brad's like, just this one, the HP fourth, the, what's this one? The hollaland. I don't remember which one it was, but, but, but Brad just told me and I was like, okay. So I get him set up and I'm just like, I'm looking at the instruction manual. It's like, just this. And I'm like, man, instruction manual. Like it's the tiniest little list of things. does resistance to new technology. It's natural, you know? but if you just open your inbox and your email,

Brad (27:08)

Let's go. Yeah, yeah.

Clay (27:30)

If you just open your computer to the open screen, right with your folders and stuff, the way we use a technology and the way we interface with it is one one millionth of what it does. All technology. We never need to know every in and out of all technology to make it use, to make it useful and for our needs. So like the needs of a golf club manager in chat GPT is not someone who

a daycare or is it another business? Like it's like, you're going to use it for similar business. Cause all business has finance, operations, marketing, administration. All business have these departments because that's the natural components of a business. All cars have the same, they have wheels, they have steering wheels, they have, they have engines because these are the natural components, but it's the assembly of those things that make them all completely different from, from one another. Right. And so as golf club managers with

AI, GPT, you don't even have to look at anything other than your immediate need. I need to write an email. Help me write this email. That's it. It'll write you the email. Go back to your life. Go back to your work. Go back to what you were just doing. You just saved an hour writing an email. It did it for you in 30 seconds. You reviewed it. You sent it. It was done. it's these applications that are so close to us and that are so easily experiment making up words, but you can experiment with them.

They're experimentable, but you can just tinker and you can just play with it for 30 seconds, for a minute and see what it does for you. And if it saves you an hour of work in one minute of time, you know, you got to keep going back to it and dabbling in it and trying it because over time, as proficient as you are right now with the hardest software that you're currently very proficient in, you'll learn this faster than you learned that.

Tyler (29:24)

You know, you used a great term, tinkering. And I think that is something that really resonates with me as well.

If something doesn't catch my attention in the first 30 seconds or a minute of something new, if I can tinker with it and fiddle around with it, I'm probably going to lose interest in it really quickly. So that is something that I love dabbling into new things such as that. Always keeping that curiosity mindset of what is new and what is out there. And if I find it's too difficult to navigate in the first minute or so of using it, I'll probably brush it aside.

with AI technology right now, it's captured me, right? Like it's like, okay, what else can I do? I'm actually challenging it to see what those limits are. And a lot of times it hasn't gotten to that limit where it can't do what I want it to do. Parallel that to golf swings and all that, know, like I'm a bit of a tinker with the golf swing. I'm always trying something a little bit different to see if that's going to make a better result. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't, but having that

open mindset, right? And I think that's where we really have to make sure or we have to let people know that's the right mindset to have, not to be closed off to new technologies, right? And see, that's my personality type, right? I always want to feed myself with all this new information when I can.

Clay (30:53)

Yeah.

And the, people that have a comparable personality type will get this faster, quicker, easier. If you don't have it, you're to have to push yourself a little bit to kind of get out your comfort zone into your zone of, they call it zone of proximal development is a term in like personal growth, professional growth. It's you're not in your panic zone. You're not like trying to hook your whole house up in your, your lighting and your heating systems up to AI. It's like, that's panic zone. You're like, this is too much. Is it too much too soon? I don't like it. Right. But if you're just like, I'm going to see if I can get it to write me an email.

Right now you're out of your comfort zone. You're into your growth zone and then your growth zone expands where you're not your comfort zone. What was before a stretch for you is now within your comfort zone. And then it keeps, it's like a contraction expansion, contract it. And you keep kind of getting out of your, it expands your comfort zone. The venture comfort zone is quite large. You know, it's not as small. So, but again, some people that's natural, comes more naturally. Some people, just maybe not as natural. don't give yourself a hard time, but, you know, we've talked about it.

Tyler (31:23)

Mm-hmm.

Clay (31:52)

AI it's going to, it is going to play a major role in everything that we touch, but in golf, know, from stream streamlining operations, like you mentioned, to enhancing member experiences, you know, we can talk for hours on this, but, we just talked a bit about what's good about it and why it's easy, but you know, of course no technology comes without challenges in your experience and your perspective and your observations. What would you say?

you see at some of the biggest barriers or roadblocks that golf clubs, you know, public, private, big, small, that they're facing when it comes to AI adoption, like are they financial, cultural, or is it just like a general lack of awareness? Like, what do you think of the main pushbacks, the main obstacles and roadblocks?

Tyler (32:40)

Yeah, no, great question. I think it's a lobe of column A, B, and C that you just kind of mentioned. I don't want to sound like my first thought is generation gap, right? And we have a membership, an average age of late 50s, early 60s, which is actually not that young. The older I get, I realize that's not that old, to be honest. But I guess it's just.

Yeah, I think, I think a little bit of it is that like certainly, um, you know, people who are a little bit.

later on in life, they've never been exposed to this before. So are they going to jump on this right away? Maybe, maybe not. Do they have kids who are pushing them to learn this? So I think every situation could be a little bit different. I think there's a fear that it might lose a little bit of the personal touch. if someone's calling the pro shop and they're getting an AI assistant, as much as it might be very, very helpful, but maybe they just want to talk to that human person who they might just

just

feel a little bit more comfortable with, you So that could be one of the other challenges there. And yeah, I mean, you look at other things, you know, is it cost prohibitive? Is it, where are we with, you know, how much does it introduce us at new clubs? Will the clubs adopt it? As much as I might have some excitement for it, I got to also now pitch this to my board of directors. Can we find room in our, our,

in our budget for this. like these are some challenges we have. think, you know, there's always a case to be had as to why it's beneficial.

Trying to do the mapping of when we can introduce something new isn't always right away, right? So we can say, well, okay, you know, let's plan for this for a 2026 release. And then at least then it gives us a little bit more time to maybe talk about it, talk it up, educate people as to why it's beneficial as opposed to just jumping right into it. So little barriers here and there. mean, I think you can make cases for all of them. I think it's always going to come down to who's used

it and if they can sell it, they can talk it up and tell members or communicate what the benefits are then you'll get buy-in from there. Like you don't just throw it at someone and hope it sticks you got to do a little bit of pre-planning as well with it.

Brad (35:05)

Yeah. Yeah. Great points, Tyler. there's always going to be hesitation when something new comes along. You've, you've basically, you've taken multiple clubs now and installed winter golf simulators. And I'm sure there was some hesitation when you, you first did that. There's always going to be people are like, we don't need this. This is not necessary. But then they're there. They're your biggest fan once they're in there and hitting shot after shot in there. And they're like, I'm having the best time of my life. Like I just played 18 holes in 45 minutes. Now I can go do something else. you can play.

Like TrackMan is so incredible now and it just keeps getting better. Like Tyler said, it just keeps improving more courses every year. You can play in tournaments all around the world. Like it's phenomenal. you know, people were definitely hesitant and in the early days of virtual golf, it wasn't very good. You'd go in there and it wouldn't, you'd hit a drive 600 yards and you'd hit the next one 100 yards. It was awful. But now it's at the point where it's like really dialed in and a very enjoyable experience and people love it. So AI is the same thing.

So there's always gonna be that hesitation, especially when it changes how things have always been done. And for anyone listening right now who wants to get started with ChatGPT and quote unquote AI, but isn't sure where to begin, we've got a free resource to help you out. Just call 1-866-838-8581 to claim your free copy of the Golf Club AI Amplifier, a guide designed to help golf club managers like you get started strong with ChatGPT, whether you're

brand new to it or already using it, but want to be more productive. We just finished it and we're very pleased with it. It's amazing. But back to my question, Tyler, when we look at club operations from a business standpoint, AI isn't just a futuristic luxury. It can be a game changer for financial and operational efficiency. From a general manager's perspective, how can AI help clubs make smarter business decisions? Are there areas you think AI is already proving itself to be indispensable?

to club managers and operations, maybe you can touch on that.

Tyler (37:05)

You know, that's a great point, Brad. And you know, the way I see this and, know, again, I'm just starting to learn more and more about AI in the operations as well.

But if I could have something that kind of, you know, I look at my biggest expenses, right? So, labor will always be my biggest expense in my budgets. Food costs, food waste is always a big one as well. know, making sure that we always have enough inventory on hand at any given time. Like I see these as big risk factors year after year. So, you know, if I could have a program that to, you know, help with my scheduling, for example,

and say, and you know, I'm just throwing ideas out here, but if it knew what the weather forecast was going to be leading up to a day, and it's prompting me like Tyler, you might want to cut one or two people off your schedule for the next day and giving them a heads up like, okay, don't come in today because it's going to be raining for the next five or six hours. That could be so valuable to have that just an AI prompt saying, hey, look at the weather. Food costs, another thing, you know, being able to track your

inventory in the kitchen knowing when to place that next order because supplies are running low. know like maybe we need to order some new kegs or when's our next

meat order might be coming in. So if there's little props that can get us going or even do it automatically for us, that would be a huge game changer. We're trying to obviously maximize profits and minimize expenses, right? So anything that can kind of cut that bottom line down a little bit could be huge. And like I said, labor is our biggest one. So all of that, like scheduling and finding ways to be more efficient with our time. If AI can reduce

my staff load from four down to three because I have an AI assistant answering phones, well there you go. So I'm saving money right there potentially and that could be offsetting the cost of this program, right? So there are ways of getting creative to make it work for you as well.

Clay (39:18)

That's Those are good points. That's very insightful. Okay, so.

We touched on it a little bit, but I'm just kind of want to hold your feet to the fire. Just a little, just a little, just a little bit. you know, with any shift to technology, there, was going to be some resistance, you know, with in a business, whether it's from your staff or your, members, your golfers, or even, know, or especially, you know, the board of directors and owners, have you tried to recommend any AI in your club or, or to your staff or introduced it to your board?

members and if so have you experienced any pushback about it?

Tyler (39:59)

You know what, great question. I actually have started that.

When we do our board meetings, even it's just actually our minute taking. So on our Zoom calls, we adopted an AI feature that records the Zoom call, does a full transcript of the whole meeting, and then actually breaks it down into a beautiful summary afterwards. even just showing our board that capability, they got pretty excited with that. It's saving my time on taking minutes or whoever might be taking minutes.

And then they get a full summary email to them of the whole meeting afterwards. And so not just board, but any committee meetings as well. So that's been already put into place and it's been a huge time saver and benefited. And they're thinking, I'm doing all this work. I'm like, well, I'll take credit for it, but it's really AI that's doing it, right? yeah, some early adoptions with that. And then, you you build that trust, you get that buy-in and then they might be more open to other opportunities and other other

features, right, down the road.

Brad (41:08)

Yeah, yeah, that's a great approach. I mean, change management is always it's always a balancing act, right, especially in a private club environment where traditions run deep. People have their own ideas. You have board of directors, a lot of strong opinions. Looking ahead, where do you see AI taking the golf industry in the next five to 10 years? Are there specific innovations on the horizon that you think will have the biggest impact on clubs like like Carlton?

Tyler (41:34)

well, know, Brad, I mean, I think there's lots of opportunities and, my mind starts wandering in all the different areas. I mean, I'm thinking about, we, even just like, even the agronomy side, like on the golf course itself, I can see AI taking over quite a bit in terms of their operation. You know, the drone footage we can get on the golf course is so great these days. Like the cameras are so good. And then integrating that into even just the topography of reading greens.

Could you imagine if you had an AI capability of helping a golfer while on the golf course saying, well, you're in this position now. We recommend you hit this type of shot to the green. The greens are going to slope this way. just, know, like, this is just, you know, talking out loud here and just getting ideas. Like that'd be an amazing opportunity for the enjoyment of the golfer. In the clubhouse, again, I think financials, running budgets, anything that

AI can maybe just, no not take over completely, but just keep us on the right track and maybe just having more as flagging things that I need to be more aware of or pick up on. It can see patterns perhaps before a human can see patterns and what's happening. So I kind of see this potentially as a great, you know, down the road ability that the AI can help with. Again, like I said, I'm learning all this as I go too. I think the more and more we go with this, the more ideas we'll get and

And hopefully that can all become a reality pretty soon.

Brad (43:09)

Yeah, yeah, there's just so much that it can be used for at a golf club that we're noticing. And again, it's improving everyone's experience. not just for your golfers necessarily. It's for your staff as well. It really helps with staff retention when they aren't spending their entire lives stuck behind computers. They're interacting with the members. The members are seeing that. It's a really huge value add for everybody.

These discussions are really, valuable. And we're learning that there's so many aspects here. We're getting some great ideas from people. Like you've brought up a couple of great, great ideas, you know, that we'll put in the data bank here because all of these things will eventually start interacting with each other. And we have to be open to adopting them at this point because it is coming, right? So you're, you're kind of, you know, it's here and you're making all of the right decisions, you know, to anybody who's listening this.

who is very hesitant and wants to bury their head in the sand, they are going to get left behind. That's the reality of it. the managers, the leaders in this industry who are, you know, they're aware of AI and they're looking into it and they're starting to learn about it, they're starting to implement it at their clubs, they're starting to see it really, really help the experience at the club. Those are the ones who are going to be there in 5, 10, 20 years are the ones who are taking AI.

and running with it as opposed to those who are just saying, you know what, let's put this off, let's put this off to the side. And then you know how it is, Tyler. One of the most embarrassing things is when a member comes to you and they know something that you should know and they're ahead of you because they've been looking into something. You know, when you have the, club has those members, the golf ball member who is obsessed with their club, obsessed with golf. Maybe they're retired. So they have just endless time and they're, they're, they're coming to you and looking to test you and you need to be that step ahead of them.

Tyler (45:03)

Absolutely, Brandon. That's what, you hit the nail on the hammer there.

you have to stay ahead, you have to be current. If you're staying current, you're probably not even doing enough. You have to say, well, what's the next innovative thing on the market and where is this industry going? You have to have that insight and say to yourself, like, okay, what do I need to do not just to be successful today, but be successful in five years, 10 years from now? Where is the industry going? And you're right, there's going be members who are going to challenge you. There's going be members who do all their homework and put you on the spot.

You gotta be able to answer that. You gotta be able to have an answer, an educated answer. might not be to the full extent of knowing everything inside and out, but you gotta be knowledgeable in it and have a conversation with them.

Brad (45:53)

100%. Well, yeah, we won't keep you too much longer, Tyler. This has been a great, really great chat, great conversation. It's always great catching up with you and hearing your perspective on AI at this point in golf management. This has been incredibly valuable to all of us, I believe.

Tyler (46:10)

Well thanks Brad, it's been a pleasure and it has been great catching up and chatting with you in play about this and again I just get pretty excited about all this and kudos to you guys for putting this together because I think this is certainly what the industry needs and you guys are doing an amazing job promoting it.

Brad (46:29)

Thanks Tyler.

Clay (46:30)

Thanks Tyler. And yeah, like to just kind of reiterate things we've said in previous episodes and things we've said in this episode is it's change. This is technology that's changing our way of life. It's, it's, they call it a.

This change, and then there's like rate changer. forget the exact term, it's, it's, it changes everything. It's like electricity, like before electricity and then after electricity, everything changes with the invent, the advent of the discovery of harnessing, generating and harnessing power. Right. It's like, it's an industrial revolution. I'm not a big fan of the term, the fourth industrial revolution.

I've been looking into it and there's a lot of parts of it that scare the, scare the, the daylights out of me. And I'm not, if, if, I, if I personally, like if I'm being totally honest, if I could snap a magic wand and go back to like a simpler time, like little house on the prairie, I might, I might do it, you know, like I might do it, but, it's not reality. We don't live in that reality that that that that's gone. You know, we live it, we live in reality and reality is it's changing and.

There is going to be three groups in the future. There will be the ownership class that, will be made up of people who own equity in the companies that make the AI and the robots. These are the people that will essentially live off dividends and shareholder, you know, payouts for their ownership in the stakes of the companies that are leading the future in this. The second group will be the different adapters, the adopters and the adapters who recognize.

And this is pretty much all of us, right? That we're talking about it. Like, you know, I'm not going to own a robotics company. I may buy a share or two, but like, it's not going to be my path. I'm an adapter. I'm an adopter. I'm a utilizer. I'm a user of these tools and AI is going to replace, it won't replace everyone's job. It'll just replace those who don't know how to use it. It's like, if you don't know how to use a computer and you refuse to learn how to use a computer, you're still a typewriter kind of guy.

Brad (48:17)

it.

Clay (48:40)

You might find difficulty finding employment, right? That's just a reality. You might find it difficult to remain gainfully employed if you insist on using typewriters over computers and email, right? So the last group, it'll just be the dependent class, right? And these are the people that will be living on some kind of universal basic income. They will be living on some kind of government welfare handout because they are entirely dependent.

on the adapters and adopters and utilizers of the AI, which would was created by the owner class of people who own these, these, these softwares and, and, and hardware and such. And so I don't want to be a dependent class on UBI who's dependent on people who understand software and better than me. And, know, are keeping the world going. Well, I just sit around and getting a government check, like, especially because I want to be gainfully employed. Like I don't want to, you know, be cast away to this.

UBI class, right? This dependent welfare class. And that's the way the world's going. That's the way of the world. It's the movement of technology for better, for worse. And, you know, some people will love being on UBI. They'll be like, wow, I can do my art. I can just make music and hang out and do my art all day. And like, I didn't really have a lot of marketable skills anyways. So this is great, right? It's like some people, they're going to love this new future and being dependent, being a dependent class, because they already are in a dependent class.

So it's not really big difference for them, right? But that's not my path. That's not Brad's path. And, you know, it doesn't seem like it's your path. like you, you you want to, you like to work, you like to build things, you like to create things and get you, you like to tinker, like to tinker with stuff, you know? So it's, we'll be part of the adopters and adapters, right? And the people that can find ways to do more with this in the years to come. So, yeah, this is kind of my, something you said in the end there just sparked that thought and I wanted to kind of just add it there.

Cool. I think, yeah, we're really, you wrapped up, can wrap it up there. We really appreciate you jumping on with us and sharing your insights and you have a lot to share. You've been, like you said, putting your reps in, putting your practice in, you put your swings in to not be totally in the dark about this and you're getting wins with it, sounds like. So that's really cool. We appreciate your insights.

And we look forward to chatting with you in the future more about these things as the technology accelerates. In six months we'll have a conversation. But can you believe what it's doing now? Six months later, you know? Cool.

Brad (51:07)

Yeah.

Tyler (51:08)

Yeah. No, that's great.

Really looking forward to that. yeah, it's been great spending some time with you guys here today. yeah, can't wait to see what the future holds.

Clay (51:21)

Yeah, it's exciting. It's not boring. No one can tell me that it's boring. They may not like it, but you can't tell me it's boring. That's for sure. It's not boring. No. And so cool. Before we wrap up for all the golf club managers still listening at this point in this podcast, as we close up and as Brad mentioned briefly earlier, if you want to maximize your, and maybe even your team's efficiency and effectiveness and productivity and competency.

Tyler (51:28)

It ain't

Clay (51:48)

with AI, particularly with ChatGPT, we have put together a special resource for you. We're calling it the Golf Club AI Amplifier. It is a free guide, short to the point, concise, packed with value that we've created to help you get started strong using ChatGPT.

you know, whether you're brand new to it, whether you've already been using it, it's available and it's free and all you have to do to get a free copy, call 1-866-838-8581. That's our toll free number, 1-866-838-8581. And we'll send it right over to you. You'll have a chat with our Voice AI receptionist and it will get your intel and your information and what you're looking for.

Pass the message on to us and we'll get it over to you. So that's it. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of the ACE Call AI podcast. If you enjoyed it, please be sure to subscribe. If you're not already subscribed, share it with your colleagues and your peers in the industry and stay connected with us as we continue to explore how AI is transforming the golf industry. Once again, I'm Clayton Elliott.

Brad (52:56)

I'm Brad Milligan.

Clay (52:57)

And this is the ACE Call AI podcast where we help golf club managers win with AI. Take care.