Golf club websites

Basher

Basher

Tour Winner
Joined
Jul 15, 2007
Messages
2,627
Location
Yorkshire
yorkshiregolf.proboards.com
I've been compiling lists of golf club websites in the area.

As the compilation was ongoing I saw varying qualities. Some were very good. Others were downright shabby with little information, images or news included.

This got me wondering. :D

I know what I do, but if you were to play an unknown course, what would be the first thing you would do?

I get on their website first and check out the course and everything else about the club.
How on earth can a club promote itself when it has no, or a totally naff website, especially nowadays.
 
Ours isn't particularly good but I believe that it's because of a lack of funding. The guys I spoken to at the club who monitor the website know it's not very good but the owners won't allocate more cash to it.

A vicious circle I guess. Keep the website as is and not many people will want to play. Splash the cash and you might get more interest - no guarantee though...
 
Basher, I am the same,If playing somewhere new,have a look on the website,course layout,clubhouse facilities,pro shop things like that,If there is not much info or the website crap,dont normally bother,if they cant be bothered updating the website,what will the course be like.....
 
Don't get me started :mad: :mad: :mad:

Too late.
Most of them are awful.
Little or no photos of the course. Those pics they do take are of old people with trolleys wandering up the fairway, normally taken in winter.
Then they have huge sections about the committee members and captains, then the manager, the chef and maybe one page about the pro shop.
How could we forget the members area which is locked with a password. WHY???? Is the winner of last month's medal really a secret?

Where's the pictures of the juniors having a laugh, the 30 somethings enjoying a nice meal and a young ladies section to encourage future ladies to join?

Dont get me wrong, some are brilliant, but others...oh dear.
I mean, weddings at a golf club????? (I know, it's all bums on seats)
 
I'm talking websites specific to clubs, not plugging.
My club website is crap, hasn't been updated in ages and has very little content.
I contacted the club about the state of their site, to be told that plans were afoot to launch a new one. They couldn't tell me when the new site would be launched or what it contained as it hadn't been designed yet!
Can't see the masses flocking to my track for a round.
 
Ours although isn't the best has gotten a lot better over the last 6 months, including a new hole by hole guide which is basically our strokesaver in pdf format.

Club Website

Hole Guide

The only things I'm bothered about initially is seeing the course guide. If that interests me I'll look for prices pictures, then only if I'm going to play it I'll have a look round the rest of the site.
 
I think a golf clubs website is one or should be one of a golf clubs top priority to get right.

As others have said as well, when i go to a course i check out the website first and its my first perception of the place, yes playing it it is the most important but i think if you go looking forward to something it is usually better, and the website can offer that.

Also it gives the club a chance to show off if you like, you can advertise your course, its opens whats great about the place and it is on offer to a massive number of people.

IMO golf clubs do not take enough time in their websites when they should.
 
I am playing a new cousre tomorrow and did the norm - looked at their web site. An odd few pictures but no detail about the layout, no yardage chart, no copy of the score card. I hope that it's a decent track when we get there, I hope they do a breakfast.

A good web page would have been so much more help

My own clubs one is no better than ok though

Chris
 
Firstly, yes, there are some terrible examples out there but to spring to the defence of some clubs I don't think it's necessarily fair to compare golf clubs websites by simply saying which is the "best" site. Like anything else it comes with a cost. Development, hosting, time spent updating etc. Of course it will be important to a high class club who make a sizable amount of money through vistitors to invest in a decent site but for many smaller clubs an all singing and dancing site simply isn't worth the investment.

Having been involved with a golf society for many years, websites are undoubtedly a valuable tool when picking courses though. But if they tell you the location, the prices, the catering packages and some information about the course then the rest doesn't really matter, it's just nice to have. Far too many clubs (and this can be true of websites in general particularly internal company ones) fall into the trap of going in with far too much detail and then do not have the resources to keep it up to date. An immediate turn off for anyone viewing.

We try to keep ours generic as far as possible so that it needs updating once a year for the next season. Total cost to the club is less than £100 a year. It generates a lot of business and enquiries, particularly about membership and represents (for us) very good value.
 
One problem i have found with alot of golf course websites, especially over the last few weeks with all the snow not very many have a little section telling you if the course is open/closed, on temp greens/winter tees.

Surley the most simplest of websites could be updated by the greenkeeper/pro shop first thing in the morning to let people know the condition of the course.
 
Good post !

I have recently offerred to help our club by updating the website FOC.
They got it as a package and its an off the peg thing so I am a bit limited as to what i can do with it.
If i had time (which i don't sadly) I would totally redesign it.
A lot of our pictures were taken out of season and some were so bad I have even deleted them but we will need to wait until the summer to get some of the course looking her best.

What i am interested in is what golf club websites do you really rate ? and more importantly why ? What features would you like to see on your website ?
 
A lot of NI clubs that use the BRS booking system have websites tied in with the BRS servers. This limits what software etc can be used but to be honest, a clean looking non faffy layout with plenty of updates as and when they happen will endear it with current members and make it attractive to prospective members alike.

Faffy examples: http://www.ballymenagolfclub.com/ apologies BGC, just the first overdone one I found.
http://www.shandonpark.net/ Shandon Park, great inland course that just throws everything onto the front page, messy.

How it should be done: http://www.belvoirparkgolfclub.com/
Note course conditions etc, all updated daily.
And to show it doesnt need a big budget, this little 18 holer overlooking Greater Belfast... http://www.mountober.com/home.asp

The likes of Turnberry etc do blow you away (very arty photos etc) but they have had a fair few quid thrown at them as they really are media gateways to the club.
 
What i am interested in is what golf club websites do you really rate ? and more importantly why ? What features would you like to see on your website ?
Click to expand...

Bit of market research eh Wolfman!!! :D

IMO a club website should have the usual nonsence such as an introductory home page giving a bit of history.
Green fees, package deals etc. It should also include lots of pictures of the course (looking its' best of course!)
I believe a members area lends a bit of ownership to the members of the course so should be included.
Clubhouse info and a few photos.
More so at this time of the year it should also inform of course condition, ie open/closed, temps or full greens etc.
A pro page, professionally presented with services available and of course shop photos.
Scorecard, or even better in conjunction with a shot saver.

The list could be endless!

NB, just clocked Brendy's post! Excellent web site.
Now that is a first class club website, tells you everything, looks clean and professionally designed.
 
Well I'm a web developer. Which I let slip at my local golf club.
Hence me volunteering to re-do the website.
Currently it has a decent amount of information but no style to it.
Not being a designer I've hacked apart an existing template and applied it to a content management system.
I'll be launching it in a few weeks so no doubt I'll ask your opinion of it then.

Finally since I'm now involved I can implement a Content Management system for the site, allowing non-techy individuals to add updates. unfortunately a lot of web sites for golf clubs are straight html, either hacked together by an amateur, or created by an outside agency, which invariable means that they're difficult to change or keep up to date unless you know what you're doing.
 
Some nice new pictures of the course on our website. When i go on a website it is pictures of the course that either make me want to play it, or give it a wide birth.
 
I really can't understand why some of you guys are getting so up your own about this.

If I am going to play a course that is new to me, it's either because it's been organised through a club friendly/league match, society, Forum meet, by a friend/member, recommended, etc, etc. I might check out the web site to find out where it is but that's about all. I'm not going to decline playing the course because their web site is rubbish, or they don't publish a scorecard, whatever.

If the weather is a bit dodgy, I'll ring to confirm conditions or make my own decision. You guys seem to want the club to have someone at the course updating their web site from 1st light onwards. Come out from behind your screens and join us in the real world for a change.

:D :D
 
I really can't understand why some of you guys are getting so up your own about this.

If I am going to play a course that is new to me, it's either because it's been organised through a club friendly/league match, society, Forum meet, by a friend/member, recommended, etc, etc. I might check out the web site to find out where it is but that's about all. I'm not going to decline playing the course because their web site is rubbish, or they don't publish a scorecard, whatever.

If the weather is a bit dodgy, I'll ring to confirm conditions or make my own decision. You guys seem to want the club to have someone at the course updating their web site from 1st light onwards. Come out from behind your screens and join us in the real world for a change.

:D :D
Click to expand...
Its the 21st century Leftie, the age of the phone only is gone, multimedia is the current fad and being able to see the course (even if the photos were taken on the one great day of the year) helps you see what you are in for if you have either never played or want to know dress codes, facilities and prices. Remember, websites are ways of releasing information to the masses, not one or two guys.
I can imagine that this cuts the amount of unnecessary calls into the club by quite a bit.
Last thing, if a club decides to have a website, then make the most of it. Better to have no site than a rotten outdated page.
 
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