Here we are in 2020 a new decade and 23 years since the inception of Golfaround Inc. Back in 1997 Golfaround wasn’t incorporated and looking back we had many a chuckle about how we did things then and now.
Up until 2014 the registration process was not an e-commerce process as it is now. We did have a website where you could download the form and utilizing the lesson and league data on the site you would manually complete the form, indicate if you were paying by check or credit card and if a credit card you would include your number. We would receive the completed form by mail, fax or in person. We then would have to complete credit card deposit slips for each transaction and phone this into a processing company. Checks would be recorded, batched and taken to the bank….all very labor intensive. In addition back then only about 35% were online so we also had to provide hard copy for those without internet. These folk also would phone in their league requests vs doing it by e-mail, today there is not one person without e-mail and many send in their choices using their smart phones.
While we are talking about phones, think about it, in 1998 cell phones were still a rareity and today everyone has a cell phone and some have smart watchs that they use to communicate. I must be dating myself but once when I was teeing off I noticed one of the gals talking to her wrist and she informed me her friend had arrived and was at the range. Twenty years later it’s obvious how much our world has changed.
The internet has transformed virtually every aspect of our lives from the way we communicate to how we consume news, research and navigate. Remember when we used a paper map to find where we were going? We also used to have written directions to all the golf courses, now we hyperlink the golf courses on the schedule to the websites for directions. Just last season one of the beginners had forgotten her phone at home and she told us she had quite the challenge using her paper map to get to where she was playing. With step-by-step directions on Google Maps we don’t have worry any more.
I think all our workplaces were a lot less tech orientated, where before, all of our communication took place over our landline or in person, today the phone hardly rings and most of our communication takes place on-line.
Once upon a time pictures actually had to be taken to a centre to be developed (unless you were lucky enough to have a Polaroid), and couldn’t be uploaded on a screen. Nor checked right away to see if a retake was in order–what you snapped was what you got. Now we regularly take selfies (with or without the stick), and have various duck faces to help set the mood.
It was great fun thinking about how we used to do things and I must admit some things I could not really recall with total accuracy. All in all we feel we have come a long way in 23 years and can be proud of how we have evolved.
So here’s to another decade and more changes I am sure….lifetime learning is what it is and we love the challenge.