ClubSoft North America, which provides software used by golf clubs to run their operations, has merged with Back 9 Links, a Boston company that offers a tee time reservation system that is tied to a private social media network.

ClubSoft is owned by McConnell Golf, the Raleigh company founded by serial entrepreneur John McConnell. McConnell Golf owns seven courses in the Carolinas, including the Raleigh Country Club and Durham's Treyburn Country Club.

ClubSoft and Back 9 Links had been partnering for the past three months prior to the merger. Terms weren't disclosed.

Back 9 Links' two employees will remain in Boston, said Ray McDonald, ClubSoft's CEO.

McConnell Golf has completed its second acquisition in less than a week with its purchase of the Reserve Golf Club of Pawleys Island on the South Carolina coast.

The deal gives the company founded by serial entrepreneur John McConnell a total of six courses in the Carolinas, including the Raleigh Country Club and Durham's Treyburn
Country Club. It also demonstrates McConnell Golf isn't taking its eye off its core business following last week's diversification into a new realm -- selling software private golf clubs use to run their operations -- with its purchase of ClubSoft, a Kansas company whose revenue approached $2 million last  year.

Reserve, which was owned by its members, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December. A federal bankruptcy judge in Columbia, S.C., approved the sale to
McConnell Golf on Tuesday.

Ray McDonald, vice president of sales and marketing at McConnell Golf, said Reserve’s more than 300 active members weren’t able to invest in needed upgrades. “We’re committed to making the capital improvements they weren’t able to make,” he said.

A Triangle technology entrepreneur who is now building a golf empire is getting back to his software roots.

John McConnell previously started and ran several successful Triangle companies in the medical-software industry. His McConnell Golf venture now owns a chain of golf clubs, including Raleigh Country Club, Treyburn County Club in Durham and Cardinal Golf & Country Club in Greensboro.

This morning, the company announced it has acquired a stake in ClubSoft North America, which sells software that helps manage private clubs.

"We have experienced how technology can assist clubs in containing cost and providing a high level of service to the membership," McConnell said, in a prepared statement. "We feel there are many clubs today that are looking for state-of-the-art technology as well as a company that understands the challenges of operating a membership club in these tough economic times."