There’s nothing golfers hate more than waking up at the crack of dawn on Monday, phoning the pro shop to get a tee time for Saturday and being told it’s not available.

That explains why iBookings.com president Martin Brown is banking that his Calgary company’s online teetime booking system will please golfers like a long drive down the middle of the fairway.

“The pros are loving it because they can walk in without answering one phone and four lines being (busy) for the next hour,” said Brown.

The iBookings.com Web site allows golfers to use their home computers or cellphones and other wireless devices to book times at courses in Canada and the United States.

David Lazarowych, Business Edge
Martin Brown says iBookings.com of Calgary is at the forefront of the competitive online booking game.

The bookings are transferred automatically into the golf course’s computer system.

“If you’re at home on the Internet and someone in the pro shop at Predator Ridge (near Vernon, B.C.) is on the phone (checking a time) and you’re both looking at the same tee sheet and 2:15 is available, it’s whoever hits the key first,” said Rick Bowie, vice-president of iBookings.com

The seamless booking process means it’s impossible to double-book a time, and pros and shop staff can spend more time selling equipment, clothing and accessories, or teaching lessons.

The growth of iBookings has been somewhat seamless since Brown and his buddy Eric Jensen, both 29, founded the company two-and-a-half years ago with limited resources.

“We got a HUGE business loan of $10,000, which seemed like a lot three years ago, but not at all any more,” chuckled Brown, a University of Calgary management information systems grad.

“We’ve probably raised close to a million bucks since then.”

The $10,000 loan came from the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, which provides startup capital and mentoring for entrepreneurs under the age of 30.

The rest of the money came from investors who wish to remain anonymous — except vice-president Bowie.

A former World Cup freestyle skier, Bowie, 46, took on marketing duties after starting out as a silent player.

With his help, the company has secured 80 golf courses (compared to 15 less than a year ago), including such prestigious links as Heritage Pointe in Calgary and Gallaghers Canyon in Kelowna, as clients. The courses pay iBookings a fee of $1 to $5 per golfer.

“We’re in a situation now where it becomes a year-round process,” said Brown, noting many courses are offering 365-day advance bookings and some U.S. courses are open all year.

“Although (most Canadian courses) are only open seasonally . . . we’re booking year-round.”

iBookings has also signed a deal with Telus to book tee times through Alberta.com, MyBC.com and myTO.com. Also, it has partnered with U.S.-based Positouch, which produces and sells touch-screen software to the golf industry. Now that the golf season is starting, unlike many other dot-com companies, iBookings.com is showing positive cash flow — which is a good thing, because the online booking game is becoming very competitive.

Another Calgary company, Triggered Events, has voiced plans to alert clients, through the Internet and wireless devices, to tee times that become available. (Brown said iBookings can offer alerts but hasn’t launched that service yet because there hasn’t been a need.)

Jencess.com, a 16-year-old Edmonton company, also provides an online booking service through Book4golf.com, a Toronto-based company that books tee times at golf courses across North America.

Several local Calgary courses offer their own online booking arrangements through IVR.net.

Brown, a former member of Mount Royal College’s golf team who worked in the Earl Grey pro shop when he was a kid, believes iBookings.com has an advantage because it uses its own software instead of linking to other technology. (Jensen, a U of C computer science graduate, serves as iBookings.com’s chief technology officer.

“And you can even talk to him,” quipped Bowie, no doubt referring to tech types’ reputation for being unsociable.)

But the company isn’t just banking on teetime bookings.

iBookings sells software packages — either a complete system or various parts — that can be used for point-of-sale or e-commerce purposes.

“We have the benefit of having, essentially, everything here,” said Brown.

“If we walk into a golf course and they have no software, we can provide them with every piece of software that they need.”

He predicts demand for software in the golf industry will increase dramatically.

“I think this is the tip of the iceberg.”