Wisdom Series: Scott Strong on technology advancement and growth opportunities in the next five years

We sat down with Scott Strong, CEO of foreUP, at the Golf Inc. Summit in September 2025 and talked about technology in golf course operations, growth opportunities in the next five years, advice on how to navigate the intersection of golf and technology and more.

Full transcript below (lightly edited for clarity):

During your time in the golf technology space, what’s the biggest change you’ve seen in how courses run their operations?

The biggest change obviously occurred, what seems like a long time ago, was COVID. COVID really drove the entire industry to move toward technology. So the way the golfer interacted with the operators really became prevalent at that time as everyone sought to engage in a more technology-based way, touchless way. So that really drove the change. And then what’s occurred over the last few years is via technology, beyond that tipping point, the data that’s built up has been insurmountable and has allowed us to make different decisions and created different opportunities for us as we go forward to both increase the experience the golfer has with the golf course and the operational efficiency that an operator can have in a golf course.

Tee sheet pressure is a challenge many operators talk about. How do you think courses can strike the right balance between accessibility for golfers and profitability for clubs?

Yeah, this is a big thing right now. Whenever demand outstrips supply, you’re going to see both opportunity and challenges in an industry and an environment. And that’s clearly seen with the fortunes that golf has right now with the increasing demand. But what we’re seeing right now with operators is there are increasing ways to increase the supply out there with the different formats that are evolving, anything from screen golf to range golf to different yardage sizes for play, as well as the number of holes that are allowed to play. So we’re seeing that create different dynamics to create more supply for the appetite that’s ferocious out there for golf right now, which is wonderful.

The other thing that’s evolving, which operators should definitely pay attention to, is the discipline of revenue management. The interesting thing is, as people have used these platforms for years now, there’s multiple years of data that can help you optimize this price point, very sensitive price point challenge. And there’s ways now with revenue management to be…