MUKILTEO – Golf course managers strive to keep the greens well groomed and their golfing customers coming back. Building attractive and useful Web sites isn’t high on their to-do lists.
Which is why Cybergolf is in business. The 12-year-old online enterprise creates and maintains Web sites for more than 600 golf courses in 45 states and five different countries.
“All they need to do is have an Internet connection,” said Dan Murnan, who founded Cybergolf 12 years ago and ran it for years out of his home in Edmonds. His firm is now “far and away” the largest of its kind in terms of clients, he says.
The Mukilteo-based venture also is adding daily Webcasts and other golf-related online content to attract more traffic and advertising.
A golfer since age 12 who bought his first clubs at a garage sale and caddied at Seattle’s Sand Point course, Murnan was working for the Datrek golf bag company in the mid-1990s when he saw an opportunity in the then-new Internet.
So, as a part-time job, he and his wife, Amy, started the Cybergolf site and began calling golf courses. Their pitch to create Web sites for the courses, however, fell on mostly deaf ears.
“Probably the most frequent comment was, ‘I’ve heard of the Internet, I’ve read about it, but I’ve never been on it,’” Murnan said.
Willows Run Golf Club in Redmond was the company’s first client. In the first four years, most of the five dozen courses that signed up with Cybergolf were either in the Northwest or the Southwest. Like other traditionally low-tech industries, golf courses were slow adopters, Murnan said.
But seven years ago, he was ready to quit his day job.
“In 2000, golf courses knew what the Internet was and many had high-speed connections to it,” he said. But Cybergolf was mostly a site with online brochures about client golf courses.
The past half-decade or so has brought in great growth, helping Cybergolf cross the threshold into profitability in 2002. The debt-free company’s gross revenue exceeded $1.1 million last year.
The last five years also have brought a revolution in what golfers expect to find on the Web and what Cybergolf provides.
In the past few months, the company has rolled out Cybergolf TV, which produces a daily program, on its home page.
“It’s roughly three minutes of daily golf news and a bit of edgy entertainment,” Murnan said.
Matt Biondi, an experienced TV sportscaster, hosts the five-day-a-week program in front of a green screen – actually a big green sheet of paper – in Cybergolf’s Mukilteo office. With the addition of computer-generated graphics, it looks like he’s on an expansive set, however. The rest of the program’s look is similarly slick and professional.
“There’s so many choices the golf fans have, but the way we present this is unique compared to things like the Golf Channel,” Biondi said.
He also hosts the program “Front Nine,” which profiles different golf courses around the world.
Murnan said he hopes to post more video Webcasts on the Cybergolf site as it attracts more traffic, advertising and sponsorships.
“We definitely see it expanding in a number of ways,” he said.
He also foresees Cybergolf producing more videos that individual courses can post on their Web sites to show themselves off to golfers.
Cybergolf’s base business of creating and hosting Web sites for courses also continues to grow, as golfers become more Web savvy.
“We found that golfers are using the Web more to book tee times and compare golf courses,” said Dale Folmar, vice president of operations for Texas-based EAGL Golf, which oversees 48 courses in 13 states. The company is a Cybergolf client.
Conversely, Folmar added, golf courses are relying on their Web sites more to market themselves and simply take care of golfers’ questions.
With 18,000 or so golf courses in the United States, the growth potential for Cybergolf’s core business also still is great, Murnan said.
“We still have a long way to go.”
The downside? Murnan, who recently moved from Edmonds to Mukilteo, said he has fewer hours to play the links at Harbour Pointe and other local clubs. Working to help golf courses and golfers, however, isn’t a bad way to spend the workday, he said.
“Obviously, I have a passion for it.”
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
Michael O’Leary / The Herald
Greens as far as you can see
Cybergolf of Mukilteo is teeing up new features for golf fans.
By Eric Fetters
Herald Writer
MUKILTEO Golf course managers strive to keep the greens well groomed and their golfing customers coming back. Building attractive and useful Web sites isnt high on their to-do lists.
Which is why Cybergolf is in business. The 12-year-old online enterprise creates and maintains Web sites for more than 600 golf courses in 45 states and five different countries.
All they need to do is have an Internet connection, said Dan Murnan, who founded Cybergolf 12 years ago and ran it for years out of his home in Edmonds. His firm is now far and away the largest of its kind in terms of clients, he says.
The Mukilteo-based venture also is adding daily Webcasts
and other golf-related online content to attract more traffic and advertising.
A golfer since age 12 who bought his first clubs at a garage sale and caddied at Seattles Sand Point course, Murnan was working for the Datrek golf bag company in the mid-1990s when he saw an opportunity in the then-new Internet.
So, as a part-time job, he and his wife, Amy, started the Cybergolf site and began calling golf courses. Their pitch to create Web sites for the courses, however, fell on mostly deaf ears.
Probably the most frequent comment was, Ive heard of the Internet, Ive read about it, but Ive never been on it, Murnan said.
Willows Run Golf Club in Redmond was the companys first client. In the first four years, most of the five dozen courses that signed up with Cybergolf were either in the Northwest or the Southwest. Like other traditionally low-tech industries, golf courses were slow adopters, Murnan said.
But seven years ago, he was ready to quit his day job.
In 2000, golf courses knew what the Internet was and many had high-speed connections to it, he said. But Cybergolf was mostly a site with online brochures about client golf courses.
The past half-decade or so has brought in great growth, helping Cybergolf cross the threshold into profitability in 2002. The debt-free companys gross revenue
exceeded $1.1 million last year.
The last five years also have brought a revolution in what golfers expect to find on the Web and what Cybergolf provides.
In the past few months, the company has rolled out Cybergolf TV, which produces a daily program, on its home page.
Its roughly three minutes of daily golf news and a bit of edgy entertainment, Murnan said.
Matt Biondi, an experienced TV sportscaster, hosts the five-day-a-week program in front of a green screen actually a big green sheet of paper in Cybergolfs Mukilteo office. With the addition of computer-generated graphics, it looks like hes on an expansive set, however. The rest of the programs look is similarly slick and professional.
Theres so many choices the golf fans have, but the way we present this is unique compared to things like the Golf Channel, Biondi said.
He also hosts the program Front Nine, which profiles different golf courses around the world.
Murnan said he hopes to post more video Webcasts on the
Cybergolf site as it attracts
more traffic, advertising and sponsorships.
We definitely see it expanding in a number of ways, he said.
He also foresees Cybergolf producing more videos that individual courses can post on their Web sites to show themselves off to golfers.
Cybergolfs base business of creating and hosting Web sites for courses also continues to grow, as golfers become more Web savvy.
We found that golfers are using the Web more to book tee times and compare golf courses, said Dale Folmar, vice president of operations for Texas-based EAGL Golf, which oversees 48 courses in 13 states. The company is a Cybergolf client.
Conversely, Folmar added, golf courses are relying on their Web sites more to market themselves and simply take care of golfers questions.
With 18,000 or so golf courses in the United States, the growth potential for Cybergolfs core business also still is great, Murnan said.
We still have a long way to go.
The downside? Murnan, who recently moved from Edmonds to Mukilteo, said he has fewer hours to play the links at Harbour Pointe and other local clubs. Working to help golf courses and golfers, however, isnt a bad way to spend the workday, he said.
Obviously, I have a passion
for it.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
Cybergolf
Headquarters: Mukilteo
CEO: Dan Murnan
Founded: 1995
Employees: 11 full time
Web site: www.cybergolf.com
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