Wednesday, February 10, 2016

How to get the most of your Gold Tee Membership.




How to get the most of your Gold Tee Membership.





In previous blogs, League Management Part 1 and Part 2, we concentrated on your league and how the League administrator can use the features of Golf GamesKeeper to run his/her league quickly and efficiently.  

However, after talking to many of our members, I realized that there was a need to help them get the most out of their Gold Tee Membership.  

So here it is:


The Gold Tee Membership

Every league membership includes Golf GamesKeeper premier individual membership; "The Gold Tee Membership" !  
Here are some of its features as listed on our website:


  • Create Multiple Groups (unlimited)
  • Scoring for 5 players or more.
  • Companion Mobile App (iOS & Android)
  • Personalized Dashboard
  • Skins (Gross/Net) calculation after every round
  • Stroke Play, Stableford, Chicago, Best Ball, Shamble, Nassau (only on companion mobile app), etc. Gross and Net
  • Tracks and calculates friendly, competitive games between players
  • Multiple Tees in your group events
  • Live On-Course scorecard (gross & net)
  • Live On-Course Leader-board (gross & net)
  • Live Pace of Play
  • Hole-by-Hole Scorecard with Handicaps
  • Score History (all rounds use Equitable Stroke Control)
  • Current Handicap (Recreational or USGA Handicap Index depending on geographical location)
  • Personalized Web Portal - Setup games in advance, view completed rounds, post scores for handicap, view/print handicap information, invite friends to join, etc
  • Group options: Track Handicap, Self-Registration (with registration deadline), net skin handicap %, scorecard playoffs, set multiple administrators
  • Event options: Number of foursomes, private events (invitation only), multi-day/multi-round
  • Notification Center to accept/decline group and/or event invitations
As you can see, you get a lot features from this membership.

What should I do first?

You should start by creating a group and start inviting players that you play with on a regular basis.  Since the player invited HAS TO (Through our notification center) accept your invitation to be part of your group,  you want to start setting up your group as soon as possible.  Also, if you invite a person that is not yet a Gold Tee Member, they will be asked to join Golf GamesKeeper as a Gold Tee Member (at a cost of $26.99).  

You will notice that setting up a group is very similar to what we did in Part 2 of the League Management series, with the exclusion of Logos and Sponsors.


For a group, we suggest a different approach in creating and managing the options.

Group Name
First, you should create a group name that represent your group, not a specific event; For example, Wager Group or Wednesday Cash Game, or even JF Bertrand's Group.  This way you create your group once and people will relate to it from now on.  Also, please note that once a person is added to your group, they will be able to see and watch live ANY events that you create.

Allow Self Registration
When allowing self registration, it's important to understand how this option works, and for a group of friends, you want to allow them to register up to the last minute, so I suggest 0 days prior to event.  However, if you have a more structured group that requires tee time confirmation, 0.5 days prior to event (12 hours) should work just fine.  It's really up to you and the course you play on to come up with a number that will work for everyone.

Net Skins % and Scorecard Playoffs
These are pretty easy to setup and should meet your group's players skills.  If you play in a Net only league, you may want to set the Skin % at 100%, however if you have a mix of Gross and Net players, we found that setting the Net skins at 50-60% is usually best.  

We only support 2 formats for scorecard playoffs: 

  1. Hardest to easiest hole, or
  2. Hardest, easiest, 2nd hardest, 2nd easiest, etc ...
Once again, the decision should fit the players skill

My group is Created, now what?

Once your group is created, you may have to wait a few days for everyone to accept your invitation.  This shouldn't take long, however, if you don't wait, your players that haven't accepted the invitation will not show up in your event roster.

Your players all responded, it is now time to create your event.  When you create an event you have a few different types of events;

  1. Outside registration event - This is an event where the group organizer doesn't use the tools provided by Golf GamesKeeper to track event registration.  This means the event is tracked and organized by email or text.  To create such an event, you need to have Self Registration turned off at the group level and simply create an event.  The Group Administrator will be responsible for adding each player 1 by 1 into the event from the Players tab.
  2. A public Self Registration Event - This event will take advantage of the Notification Center built in the Golf GamesKeeper website.  To create this type of event, you first need to have Self Registration turned in your group settings.  When you create an event, the system will automatically send an email to all the players in your group, they will then have up to your self registration deadline (also group settings) to register for the event.  Note that if you always add a player manually from the players tab as part of event creation.
  3. A private Event - You want to create an event with only a subset of your roster, or you only have 2 foursome and don't want to create mayhem.  You can accomplish this by creating a private event (checkbox on event creation page) and selecting the players you want to invite from the Players tab.  Only the players selected will be allowed to join your event, however every other player in your roster will be able to see an follow the event.
Regular event creation is a 7 step process presented to you in the form of a wizard:


  1. Event Information - This is where all the basic information about your event is defined; Name, Number of foursomes, private (public), date, time, tee time (or shotgun), scoring (strokeplay, team event, scramble, etc), and the course and tees. 
  2. Scoring Options - On this tab you can select additional games like 2 men best ball or 4 men 2 best ball, Gross and Net etc.  You can add as many as you want.
  3. Players - On this tab you can add players to your event.  You simply click on the player to move him from the roster to the event.
  4. Players Option - This tab allows you to change options for a specific player. Options include Index, Tee Box, Gross Skins, Net Skins and Prize pool participation.  You can also remove a player by click the Garbage can on the right hand side.
  5. Flight - First select the number of flights you need, then Press the Reset button.

  6. Hole Assignment - For a shotgun you can modify the starting order, there are 2 quick click button for Forward and Reverse shotgun.  You can also assign a starting hole for a tee time event if your group starts from both tees.
  7. Pairings - On this tab you can move players from foursome to foursome.  To move multiple players at a time, hold the shift key and select all the players you want to move from the originating foursome, then, while still holding the shift key, select the players in destination foursome.  Once you have selected the same amount of player in the destination foursome, the player will swap places.



When you have completed these steps, you can simply hit save or Pairings Details and you will be taken to the Pairings sheet.  This page allows you to print a multitude of media to setup your event, from scorecards to cart signs to Alpha list.

Your event is now created, your players added, all you have to do now is wait for the day of the event.


During the Event

One of the best features of Golf GamesKeeper group membership is the ability to keep track of live scores and view results as you play.  Before this can happen, make sure that all your players have downloaded the app for their respective phones, you can download it here:


App Store Google Play

New players will have their user name as their email and their password as their last name. If a player successfully logs in to the app 2 hours prior to the event start time, any action on the home screen will automatically take him/her to the event.  The event will not be accessible until then.

From the home screen

  • If a game is active, pressing 'Current Game' or 'Check In' button will automatically direct the user to the current event.  
  • The 'Rounds' button allows the player to see his last rounds and add rounds as needed to keep a proper handicap index.
  • The 'Events' button allows the player to see future events and look at the results from past events (you also have the ability to calculate Nassau from this screen)
  • The 'Logout' button will log the user out of the app
The 'Current Game' and 'Check In' button should take you to the start game screen




















On this screen you can:

  • Add bets with player in your foursome
  • Remove a player from the foursome if they are a no-show
  • Change the starting hole
  • Start the game
After you start the game, you will be taken to Scoring screen:



















You will be on this screen for the duration of the round, for every hole, starting on your starting hole until the end of the round, use the +/- buttons to update each players score and the < > button to move from hole to hole.  The 'gear' button in the middle is your options button, you can access the scorecard for your foursome and the leader board for the event.

Once you have completed the event, verify the scores with your peers and click the 'Save and Close' button to make it official.  Even though you will not be able to update scores after you Save and Close, the event organizer can always change a score as he/she verifies the event.

During the Event (part deux)

You can always watch an event live as it is being played using your smart phone or your computer (if you weren't lucky enough to participate).  To do this, simply login the the web site (www.golfgameskeeper.com) using the same credentials as you would to login to the app and select Watch Live off the event Menu.



Verifying an event

After the round is completed, you can chose to verify the scores (or change them) if you see fit.  This is an optional step, and we provided a Verify All button for your convenience.  To do this, as an administrator of the event, you can select the Verify button off the event menu, or the Enter Score menu item if your players did not score the event using the app.  This step is useful to resolve conflict, however, not necessary.

What now?

After you have completed (and verified) your event the system will automatically calculate all of your games and resolve ties based on your group settings for scorecard playoffs.  Please note that for some games; Stableford, Chicago, 2/4 men events, you will need to Verify your event to initiate the calculation.

Your players can now enjoy a screen that looks like this



As an added bonus, players will have the ability to share on Facebook and Twitter after the round is completed.

Enjoy your round and don't forget to use Golf GamesKeeper.

Visit the golfgameskeeper.com website to get started.


No comments:

Post a Comment