Golface KK

“Cart navigation systems of other companies only guide golfers around the course, but our system benefits the golf course management companies as well,” says Morris Chen, Country Manager of Golface KK.

Golface offers services for golfers using not only smartphone apps but also devices such as iPads and wearables, GPS and aerial images. The app “Golface” provides players with accurate strategies based on each hole’s features and assists in keeping score. Golface also plans to introduce its smart cart navigation system in Japanese golf courses. In addition to providing services for golfers, the company analyzes players’ location information and data stored in the system and provides feedback to the golf courses, contributing to more efficient management. It has largely improved the sales of Taiwanese golf courses.

“Once you use our service, you will never use any other again,” Mr. Chen says smiling. Golface boasts a 100% contract renewal rate with Taiwanese golf courses. It also has a 70% share in the golf app market, with 1.3 million users in Taiwan.

Services offered by Golface are all interconnected, and users need to just download each app to use the one-stop service. “Our company is a ‘smart golf service pioneer’ in Asia,” Mr. Chen says proudly.

The app “Golface” and the smart cart navigation system allow players to check the course map with strategic information such as yardage to a hole as well as aerial images of the whole course taken by drone. These functions that delight golfers are all programmed into the system designed by Golface’s engineers. Course maps were initially transcribed from hand-drawn plans at the time of the company’s founding, but now it takes only an hour to create data necessary for the app, thanks to AI technology.

However, a full-scale introduction of such new systems has not been easy as many Japanese golf courses are hesitant to use them.

Golface’s office is located in the “Science Room” at Fukuoka Growth Next, a startup facility built by Fukuoka City in a former elementary school building. Operations in Japan are currently being conducted by Mr. Chen; Penny Chen (Country Specialist of Golface), who is fluent in Japanese; and Ian Liao (Co-founder of Golface), who comes to Fukuoka every month.

Golface’s relationship with Fukuoka City began when the company participated in a seminar aimed at attracting startups that was organized by Fukuoka City in Taipei in 2016. Golface then visited Fukuoka, and, after comparing other options such as Beijing and South Korea, decided to establish an office in the Japanese city. “In addition to having stable weather, which is important for golf, Fukuoka is very close to Taiwan in terms of distance and living environment. The rent seems cheaper compared to other cities like Tokyo,” Mr. Chen says. The sense of trust inspired by the city’s startup support program, the high level of expertise and the quality of the staff, led by the mayor himself, were also important factors when choosing Fukuoka. For establishing an office, Golface used the startup visa offered by Fukuoka City as a Special Zone for Global Startups and Job Creation.

Golface hopes to organize more tours in cooperation with Japanese travel agencies and telecommunications companies and improve its visibility for nationwide expansion. It aims to introduce its smart services to at least two golf courses during fiscal 2019, with the tour business as its stepping stone. To do this, it plans to recruit two more staff members: an engineer and a liaison to golf courses. Golface is also on the lookout for a partner company that will sell its services in Japan to increase efficiency of its sales activities. “We first aim to introduce our smart services in Kyushu. We will then expand from Fukuoka City to other parts of Japan and to other Asian countries such as China and South Korea,” Mr. Chen says.

From Fukuoka to all over Japan and to Asia. Should Golface’s plan be realized, it will become a good example of global services successfully developed from a local city in Japan.