This new technology might change how you get drinks on golf courses

We’ve all been there: it’s a hot day, and you’re six holes into the round. Your first beverage is long finished, and the beverage cart is nowhere in sight. Is there even one in service today? You aren’t sure. But you’re parched, and the clubhouse is miles away. The problem here is two-fold: missing out on a drink not only puts a damper on 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 is Zigit exactly? Zigit is a patent-pending 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 a 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 dispensers. All you have to do is download the Zigit app, scan your ID and your 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 beverage menu, make your selection, authenticate the purchase with a facial scan, and the drink is dispensed. Payment is processed via a stored card like Apple Pay.

Zigit is currently in its third year of service at the American Airlines Center in Dallas and made its 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 car service? Won’t Zigit steal their business?

According to Zigit co-founder and CEO Elsbeth Hurry, data gathered from courses that currently have Zigit in use paint a different picture: customer spending at those courses has increased by 30 percent, with beverage car sales increasing concurrently.

“Zigit is a good augmentation to beer carts,” Hurry said. “With a beer cart, obviously, it’s a great service. People expect to have that service. But they can’t be everywhere at once. If you know that at hole 5 and hole 10 you can still get a drink if you want one, it’s a convenience and a guest experience thing.”

While dispensers typically serve closed-container beverages, Hurry said some courses are getting creative when it comes to cocktails, providing liquor and mixers in the dispensers and cups and ice machines within easy reach, meaning you can mix your own Transfusion. So what’s stopping an underage player from partaking? Unfortunately, you can’t prevent a person of age from purchasing and sharing inappropriately. But underage app users can use Zigit to purchase soft drinks and other non-alcoholic beverages. And since the app knows which user makes which purchase, an illegal enabler can be tracked and identified.

Consumption management can also vary by course, Hurry said. Some courses may opt to put a limit on sales for a certain time period. 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 key’s to Zigit’s success is the strength of the app’s facial-recognition technology.

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“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 up with a startup, because there are a lot of startups in that space. We went with somebody who’s been privately funded and established for 25 years. Outside of us, they do 2.5 million ID authentications a day and 250 million facial identifications a day. The likelihood of a false positive is infinitesimally small. That’s huge, because that’s really one of the key drivers of the tech. It enables convenience, but it does it in a compliant way.”

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

“It’s been a jolt to our income,” he said. “It’s a massive increase. It’s been driving incremental sales above and beyond our beverage carts. We were a little worried, because our beverage carts are extremely profitable and they do really well. We were a little worried that the gals on the beverage cart might lose a little sales. In fact, quite the opposite. They have not lost a penny. In some cases, oddly enough, sales are up.”

Miraglia said that golf’s younger generation is so used to phones, apps, and facial recognition that Zigit was easily embraced.

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

What’s next for Zigit? Hurry said continued golf course expansion is a primary focus but also has an interest in adding resorts, arenas and other large public spaces to Zigit’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 somebody’s used it once, they’re going to use it again. It’s always there when they’re at hole 7 and hole 10 if they need something.”

For more information about Zigit, click here.