Club Car unveiled Visage, a new mobile information system that evokes the iPad, but with different features, at the recent industry shows.
The system combines touch-screen technology with traditional GPS tracking, scorecard and tournament management, 3-D hole flyovers with audio, and two-way communications that allow golfers to order food, or the course to tell a golfer they are falling behind pace.
“For 50 years golf cars were simply considered a form of transportation,” said Gary Michel, president and CEO of Club Car. “Visage broadens the role of the golf car by making it the delivery mechanism for tools and services that help courses operate more efficiently and make the game more enjoyable for their customers.”
Visage, a joint development of Club Car and GPS Industries LLC, utilizes a combination of cellular, wireless and Global Positioning System technologies.
Courses installing Visage are not required to purchase hardware or license software. Instead, they rent the equipment required and receive service and support as part of an annual commitment.
The system is priced based on fleet size with monthly rental fees ranging from $40 to $55 per vehicle. The first Visage units are scheduled to ship by the end of March 2010.
“Visage leverages technology in ways that the golf industry never has,” said David Chessler, CEO of GPS Industries, a Sarasota, Fla.-based technology company. “It’s the right solution at the right time for operators who need to increase margins and create competitive difference that can attract more play.”
GPS Industries also helped develop Club Car’s Guardian Satellite Vehicle Control fleet protection system, which was introduced in 2009. Guardian helps courses limit vehicle access, control vehicle speed, review the history of where a golf car has been driven and monitor and diagnose vehicle performance.