Suggestions please

[ainley87simon]

So when I am not playing golf, I earn my money to be able to play golf by being a web developer. At the moment I learning some new languages, and to aid with my learning I am making a real life system. I have decided that I am going to create a golf mobile website.

My idea is something that you can access from your phones internet browser and network with other golfers, while tracking your game etc. So my feature list is as follows. It would be great to know what other golfers would like to see in this kind of system.

Feature List

• Check In / Checkout (tell golfers where you are)
• Log Score
  • Strokes
  • Putts
  • Penalty Shots
  • Drives
  • GIR
  • Fairways Hit
  • Stableford Points
• Share your score
• Request a partner (playing on your own. Post on our diary find a partner)
• Handicap calculator (might not go in the final version - HDID seem to have this covered)
• Course Leaderboard ( Through checkins, and posting scores I thought it would be good to see how members fair against each other on a leaderboard for each course.)
• Networking (Create friends, message people, create statuses, etc)
• Post Pictures / Videos

So all of the above would be available on the mobile version, there would be a desktop version also this would include the following,

• Course Reviews
• Monthly golfing articles
• Some kind of shop (potentially sell your clubs online, no ebay, no paypal money straight into your account).

Is this something that golfers would use? What other functionality would you like to see. This is something I am really passionate about building and get released.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

First off I don't use any phone golf apps - in fact I don;t use any phone apps at all. However that puts me in the position of looking at your list of features and thinking would I use this if I started using apps on my phone.? And I don't think I would - because I have access to all features through other channels. Do I need them all in one place. Maybe - but I can easily set that up myself. Would i use them inaddition to what I already have access to - duplication of data entry - so unlikely.

BTW - one feature that seems like it should be really useful would be the 'find a game' - but we have that on our club website and nobody uses it. I want a game I roll up. Also not interestedc in letting users of the app know where I am - security etc. If I am such and such a golf club I am not at home.

Sorry - though fairly open-minded about such things I don't think I'm your target market - I don't see the poiint. However I'm sure phone apps users and others of a less technotard mentality than I will be more positive.

 

[ainley87simon]

Thanks for your feedback, I understand that the app will not be "everyones cup of tea". It is probably something I will pursue any way regardless of uptake as I need to learn this new stuff. Just thought it make it more enjoyable if it focused on something I love doing in my spare time, and could be opened up to the wider community.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

Thanks for your feedback, I understand that the app will not be "everyones cup of tea". It is probably something I will pursue any way regardless of uptake as I need to learn this new stuff. Just thought it make it more enjoyable if it focused on something I love doing in my spare time, and could be opened up to the wider community.

Absolutely - and as others on here will confirm - I will take a 'do I really need it?' view as opposed to a 'how can I use it?' view

I'll also note that I am not the sort of golfer who has ever bothered recording his scores, numbers of putts etc - so I guess you know that your market is not the likes of me - however there are many golfers out there not a bit like me (you'll be glad to hear)

 

[ainley87simon]

Ha ha! I am bit anal when it comes to stats I could tell you exactly where my drive on the 3rd landed 18 months ago - I record absolutely everything about my round.

 

[TheClaw]

Thanks for your feedback, I understand that the app will not be "everyones cup of tea". It is probably something I will pursue any way regardless of uptake as I need to learn this new stuff. Just thought it make it more enjoyable if it focused on something I love doing in my spare time, and could be opened up to the wider community.

I see it as a sort of golf Facebook, in which case I think it's a good idea (although like Facebook, not for everyone). I was lucky to play at a couple of nice courses this week and I would have definitely "checked in" and posted my scores. If any friends have played the same courses there could maybe be a leaderboard or if not I could start one.

Also, I'm off work now til August and all my mates are still working so if I had a friends list on the app I could possibly arrange a game through this. Maybe I could do all of the above on regular Facebook but then a lot of my friends don't like golf and I wouldn't want to be "that guy".

 

[dufferman]

The only thing I would say is do all courses have enough coverage of 3g / 4g to handle this? Most of the time I'm out on the course and have little or no signal for internet browsing, so it could be a non-starter...?

 

[Ian_S]

Sounds like it does a lot of what other apps do. If I could offer my thoughts, what I'd want would be an app that can integrate with my Facebook and could post up scores as I'm going round.

Say for instance my brother and I are having a match, I can go to the app, choose myself and his Facebook profiles, start the game and as I enter and upload scores into the app, it connects to my Facebook and broadcasts the match score, possibly producing a scorecard and stats summary along the way.

If your app did that, and logged stats for analysis later, then I'd give it a look.

 

[Foxholer]

Developing a 'realistic' app is an excellent way to learn new languages/processes/techniques. But I believe that it should be kept relatively simple if that's all you are trying to do.

I used a 'Wine Cellar' app to learn several Mainframe and PC languages/DBMSs many years ago

Admittedly, launching the App and the interaction service between users is an important part of the process, so I'd suggest you find a mate who is prepared to be a user/alpha tester initially.

There are plenty of Stats gathering about btw.

If you really want to encourage SwingsLikeHogan to use it, I'd suggest you include a DMD tool. If you could turn off/exclude all the options that make a phone illegal in comps, that would be pretty good too!

 

[londonlewis]

Interesting post. I know a couple of people who use golfshake's handicap system a lot to track their game. They will input all sort of data into the system to be able to analyse their round, weaknesses, areas to improve etc..

But the majority of people I know that play golf a lot don't tend to use any tracking software.

I love golf, I am infatuated by it and I have started a website so I have another outlet to talk about it but even I wouldn't be bothered to use an app to track all this info. When I first got into golf I downloaded a number of scorecard apps but I stopped using those within weeks - they just became a complete pain to use whilst on the course.

Good luck though - there is a huge market out there I am sure for something like this.

But

 

[Val]

A find a game feature would be very good especially if it was embraced by golfers.

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

If you really want to encourage SwingsLikeHogan to use it, I'd suggest you include a DMD tool

:thup::rofl::whoo::ears: