Ideas for Golf website

[jamstorr86]

Morning folks,

I am thinking of creatingmy own golfing website, with focus on reviews of local courses and possibly products.

I was hoping to get soem feedback from this community regarding what they would like in a website such as this, and what they don't like about the current websites out there that already provide this type of service.

Also, volunteers who would like to write reviews on their local courses will be needed. so let me know if you would like to help.

Cheers

James

 

[richart]

Course reviews are great, as long as they are not years old. Loads of reviews on here on courses and clubs that could be all put together ?

 

[muttleee]

Are you planning to put advertising on your site and thus attempt to make money from it? If so, asking for volunteers to submit content for free is a bit cheeky!

 

[jamstorr86]

That is the plan.

It is great having personal reviews from people who are playing on the courses. Problem is, these reviews don;t normally come with pictures, videos and other useful infromation. That is the problem I want to tackle.

I was also hoping to have a video review of products. I just need a few people onbaord to help provide the content.
the more user generated data the better really.

A review website for players, by players?

 

[jamstorr86]

I don't plan to make money from it.
Although, if I did, I could pay users who submit reviews and such? That way there are incentives.

That way, the quality of the content would be better.

 

[diesel75]

Hi

are you planning on developing or designing yourself?
are you going devlop using existing system or develop from scratch?
will you be doing this yourself or paying others?

things to consider:
- your intended audience
- scalibility for your application
- website optimisation
- search engine optimisation
- ease of use & sticky content (getting users to come back)
- security/user registration

In terms of costs:
- hosting costs
- development costs
- your time in creating and administrating the site
- paid advertising
- social media utilisation

 

[jamstorr86]

are you planning on developing or designing yourself?

I will be using Joomba on a web host

are you going devlop using existing system or develop from scratch?

Will develop template and content manage

will you be doing this yourself or paying others?

I will be doing some myself, and hoping others in the golfing comunity will contribute. It is in the interest of clubs and players to contribute, as this will make the site more useful.

things to consider:
- your intended audience: Golfers!!!
- scalibility for your application: Although the focus will be on courses, if the site is succesful there is no reason why it won't expand
- website optimisation: like above, it depends ont he success, but there are option to upgrade the web hosting package
- search engine optimisation: this can be implemented as a pugin
- ease of use & sticky content (getting users to come back): That is where feedback will come in. A forum and user generated contents is key to this.
- security/user registration: will be built in

In terms of costs:
- hosting costs: shouldn't be too much
- development costs: not a lot. more time than money
- your time in creating and administrating the site: that will be the biggest pain in the bum
- paid advertising: depends on the success of the site.
- social media utilisation: this is key and will implemented.

 

[CliveW]

Morning folks,

I am thinking of creatingmy own golfing website, with focus on reviews of local courses and possibly products.

Surely if you are only reviewing local courses your audience will be rather limited?

 

[granters]

While in no way do i want to discourage you, if i want a course review why wouldn't i ask on here first? The chances are there will already be one, or someone will have played it. I know that i can generally trust the review, although they are all down to personal opinion, as you get to know the "cyber" personalities on here. Would you not be in competition with the GM website to some extent?

Just a thought

 

[jamstorr86]

While in no way do i want to discourage you, if i want a course review why wouldn't i ask on here first? The chances are there will already be one, or someone will have played it. I know that i can generally trust the review, although they are all down to personal opinion, as you get to know the "cyber" personalities on here. Would you not be in competition with the GM website to some extent?

Just a thought

Well I am trying to adress the limitations of reviews on forums and other mainstream sites.

You read a forum review, all you get is text. You are trusting someone's point of view. What I plan to create is more visual; images and videos of the courses being reviewed, perhaps a picture from every hole?

The problem with this, as others have pointed out, is that I am relying on other golfers and people with interest, basically the people who attend forums such as these, to help provide content.

Basically, I want to adress the issues I experience on other review sites. Lack of detail, no images, no information from the club itself. I look on course reviews on sites such as Golf Monthly and Today's Golfer, and I am underwhelmed. I don't get a good impression of the courses.

With the problems experienced by some clubs, such as fewer members and such, I would have hoped a fresh new site such as the one i want to create would be welcomed.

 

[richart]

While in no way do i want to discourage you, if i want a course review why wouldn't i ask on here first? The chances are there will already be one, or someone will have played it. I know that i can generally trust the review, although they are all down to personal opinion, as you get to know the "cyber" personalities on here. Would you not be in competition with the GM website to some extent?

Just a thought

Well I am trying to adress the limitations of reviews on forums and other mainstream sites.

You read a forum review, all you get is text. You are trusting someone's point of view. What I plan to create is more visual; images and videos of the courses being reviewed, perhaps a picture from every hole?



Basically, I want to adress the issues I experience on other review sites. Lack of detail, no images, no information from the club itself. I look on course reviews on sites such as Golf Monthly and Today's Golfer, and I am underwhelmed. I don't get a good impression of the courses.

Surely you would go to the club website for that sort of information. Look at my clubs, it has pictures of every hole plus a lot more.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I have to be honest there are a lot of websites out there that already do this, including a rather good one called Golf Monthly. I don't see how you'll attract sufficient web traffic to compete with the likes of GM, Todays Golfer, National Club Golfer etc who already have established sites and loyal fanbase when you aren't actually offering anything unique.

I don't want to come across as cynical or harsh and admire the idea and the work you've clearly already put in but in my humble opinion you are better off looking to create something with a little more of a niche to offer something that will attract more people in. Only my view of course and if you do go ahead I hope it works out

 

[chiv]

J stating the obvious but make something in it actually original...bit like the pro's tip yardage cards that tell you to 'hit a straight one and avoid the tree'!!
Maybe personalise it with other bits like
-dont forget to try the bacon sarnies
-good times for visitors
-members club or business/country club format
-maybe make more of the SSS/yardages for example
-club legends
-how good is the kit in the pro shop?
good luck

 

[muttleee]

The problem is that it's almost impossible to come up with anything truly original. I once wanted to build a site on a particular topic and I asked on a related forum what people would like to see. Some kind soul pointed out that no matter what I wanted to do, plenty of other sites had already done it. I built a site anyway and it's still going after 11 years.

Go ahead and make a golf site if you want to and it's something you would enjoy. It doesn't have to compete with GM.

 

[Basher]

Getting info from a golf club is like getting blood from a stone.
I run a golf forum and more recently started a free site. The site has virtually non existent traffic whereas the forum has very slowly gained membership.
I e mailed virtually EVERY golf club in Yorkshire promoting the site and requesting they look up their club details to check that the details I had were current. Up to press I believe I have 3 replies from all the clubs I e mailed.

Clubs have their own sites and are loathe to provide info to anybody remote from their committee.

There are quite a few professionally run golf websites out there with top class graphics and up to the minute updates. (We're on one right now!!!)

For sure go for it, creating one is great fun if time consuming!
If you choose to add a forum, be very patient and don't expect members to come flocking. Even GM took some time to take off and become the forum it is today, and that is with the massive promotional clout the magazine has.

Be careful how you promote your site. Don't blatantly promote it on similar sites without permission. (I'm right there aren't I Brendy?)
Get site admin's backs up and it's ta ta time, you'll be banned.

Best of luck with your project mate.

 

[thecraw]

I'll start you off.

DALMAHOY.

Greens like shag piles that haven't been hoovered in 6 years.

AVOID.

 

[MashieNiblick]

OK one thing that is hard to track down in one place and you could look into, is listing all the different manufacturers' demo days, the latest offers and competitions from the big retailers, magazines, courses and resorts, etc, etc. You could get clubs and pro's to let you know about any specials they are doing too and do a list of charity days and open events that people can play in. Have a post code search so people can see what's coming up in their area. You could maybe carry some golf related ads to generate some income.

I don't think there is already a site doing this. Someone will probably tell me I'm wrong though.