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AGL CEO, the Golf Tech Company that Conquered Google

Bringing a New Breeze by Introducing Airline Reservation Systems to Golf

Book and Pay for Golf Courses Worldwide with a Few Clicks

“Foreigners Will Soon Flock to Domestic Golf Courses as Well”

“We had been negotiating with Google headquarters for over a year via Zoom meetings and face-to-face meetings, and we launched the service ahead of schedule. I believe the global golf market will grow to more than three times its current size within the next five years.”

Jim Hwang, CEO of AGL, met recently at the company’s headquarters in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, and said, “Since the company was founded in 2019, our goal has been to work with Google.” He expressed satisfaction, saying, “Now, the era has arrived where you can easily book and pay for golf courses worldwide directly from Google.”

A Korean golf tech company is making headlines for breaking through with Google. Just as searching for restaurants on Google brings up immediate reservation screens, you can now simply type in the name of a golf course and start booking and paying for it from this month. This system is provided by the domestic golf tech company AGL.

Hwang explained, “When you book a desired golf course via Google Search or Google Maps, a voucher is instantly sent to your phone or email, and the same information is also sent to the golf course. We support six languages, including Korean, English, and Spanish, and offer choices in major currencies, making payments and cancellations simple from anywhere in the world.” Currently, over 1,600 golf courses in 160 cities worldwide are available for booking, with the list continuously expanding.

Having established reservation and payment systems for airlines and hotels early on, Google was seeking another sector to introduce its automation services. CEO Jim Hwang proposed the golf industry and offered their own system for this purpose.

AGL, a Korean venture company with 60-70 employees, caught Google's attention not just for its size but for its impressive numbers. While the annual tee times for domestic golf courses average around 20,000, AGL generates 830,000 tee times per day. Additionally, AGL holds content for over 32,000 of the world’s 38,000 golf courses. They track not only course and facility information but also price changes due to operations and exchange rates.

Hwang reflected, “When I worked in the U.S., I realized that the key to low-cost airline AirTran always filling its flights was the intermediary service (GDS) between airlines and travel agencies. I thought, ‘This is it,’ and started considering the introduction of GDS to the golf industry, which is inseparable from travel. After bringing in skilled developers and setting up the system, I focused on finding ways to integrate it with Google.” He has worked at golf courses in the U.S. and Japan and has experience with golf course mergers and acquisitions (M&A) at Golfzon County in South Korea.

Before the contract with Google, AGL had already partnered with over 50 online travel platforms (OTAs) such as Expedia, Agoda, and Klook, and received simultaneous investments from the four major financial groups' venture capitals (VCs) in South Korea. These accomplishments became the ‘reference’ that persuaded Google. Hwang noted, “Since integrating with Google, traffic has increased more than tenfold. Australians can easily book golf courses in Thailand, and Americans can book courses in Ireland, making borderless rounds a reality. The golf market is expected to grow significantly, and it will become much easier for foreigners to visit golf courses in South Korea.”

Sources : Sedaily (https://www.sedaily.com/)

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