Wednesday, May 1, 2019

Run your golf league like a boss in 2019.


How to manage a Golf League Efficiently

 

You love playing, and managing your golf league, but being the organizer takes so much time. When you’re not helping your players with registration, sending emails, reading replies and matching pairing requests, you’re verifying scorecards, cross-referencing player indexes, setting up flights and – everyone’s least favorite part – collecting money.

You get a break from all this – to enjoy the reason you do it all, actually playing golf – but then right after you’ve got to get back to work collecting scorecards and combing through them hole by hole to calculate skins and prizes. It’s all very time-consuming.

The time it takes to organize a league can take away from the enjoyment you get from playing with friends. Sometimes, complacency kills the fun – your group might be limiting yourselves to game formats you know to avoid spending even more time learning new games.

Whether you’re a seasoned organizer or are setting up your first league, it always helps to take a step back and look at some best practices for not only running seamless league play, but also giving yourself the time to actually enjoy it!

Keeping Score: Modernize How You Keep Track of Everything

These days, if you can’t find a machine to do something for you, you can usually find software to make it much easier. There’s never been a better time to run a league because as long as you’ve got the basics down, you can skip the most tedious work. You don’t even need to be the most organized person – league management software will help you keep everything together. After creating an account online and then setting up your event, you can download an app to score while on the course, and just enjoy the game.


Comparison of a Few Software Options
There are multiple options online when it comes to league management software. Here’s a detailed look at three of those options to provide examples of this type of software’s general functionality.

Golf Genius
Golf Genius has been around for over 10 years and is a pioneer in league management software. However, their website is old and difficult to navigate. It offers all the formats you could possibly imagine (and probably some that you can't even phantom) but with that comes complexity. They have an add-ons mentality to pricing – one entry fee plus more fees for more functions. They have an app that is more complicated to use than it needs to be, and do not seem offer on-course betting options.

18 Birdies
Newer to the game, 18 Birdies came to the market by pushing users to download their app first. They now have a complete suite of products (club, tournament and league management software) but their pricing structure is complicated and difficult to understand upfront. Their app works well but offers only a few betting games for free. You have to pay for upgrades for some of the most common games like Nassau.

Golf Games Keeper
This software seems to be more directed towards leagues and trips. They have a straight-forward pricing structure, based on a pay-as-you-play approach. It is free forever for a foursome and charges a simple monthly fee based on the number of players per events. The app is simple to use and offers all betting games for free – it’s focused on data entry for leagues and groups. Based on its affordability and ease of use, it’s this writers favorite ;)

Game Formats

If you have a group that meets regularly enough and is willing to try out something new, it can be fun to challenge yourselves with a formats that you haven’t tried before. Once again, league management software makes life easy since you won’t have to spend time double-checking a scoring method you’re less familiar with.

Stroke Play. Perhaps the most common method of scoring, is mostly used for individual play. It’s pretty uncomplicated – the person with the lowest number of strokes at the end of the day/tournament wins. Stroke play incorporates handicaps, so the person with the lowest net score (once they’ve subtracted handicaps from gross score) wins.
Match Play. Match play is based on winning individual holes. This means that if you score 5 and your opponent scores 4, your opponent wins the hole and is 1-up. Overall scoring looks at the total holes won by each player. You can get more information about match play and some of its major key points here.

Foursome Play. This type of play relies on teams of two. Players take alternate shots, meaning one tees off and the next player takes the second shot. Players trade off taking the tee shot for each hole. Foursome play can be stroke or match scoring rules.

Scramble. This type of game is less common but works well for league play. A team can have as few as two players. Each player gets to tee off, and once all players on a team have done so, the team decides who had the best stroke. The other players on the team then relocate their balls to the position where the best shot’s ball is. Once all players have taken a shot from that position, consensus is reached again, and all balls are shot from the position of the best shot once again. This type of game is more fun than it is competitive, and is great for the social aspect of league play.
While it’s always a good idea to try a format that’s new or that you’re less familiar with, you don’t have to stick with the same format once you’re started your league. You can alternate from one to another during the course of your season.


A Few Additional Considerations

Running a successful league takes more than passion on the part of the players and administrators. Here are a few additional best practices to consider that will help your group not only get started, but actually maintain enough regular outings to ensure that you progress as a league.

Plan Ahead. Courses get busy quickly, so make sure you have your spot reserved at least 2-3 months ahead of time. The last thing you want is to finally put together a committed group of people only to lose momentum and see drop-outs as you wait for a convenient place to play to be available.

Meet at the same time each week. As with any hobby or regular activity, building a routine is key. By dedicating the same block of time each week, you and your league will find it easier to make sure non-league life is taken care of and that you’re each able to get together as promised. It can also be difficult to find an open time at your course of choice, meaning you’ll need to book in advance to avoid long waits between games.

Pay green fees and league fees in advance of league play. This ensures you are committed to the length of league play and that unforeseen circumstances don’t come up during your weekly meet-ups that prevent someone from being able to finish. It also locks in your price and time slot on the course. Paying league fees in advance ensures there is no difficult mid-season second round of collection, which may result in drop-outs.
Regardless of whether you’ve run leagues for years or are just getting started setting up a new league, it never hurts to brush up on your knowledge of best practices. It might be time for you to try out some league management software for the first time, or set some new ground rules for players. The name of the game is being flexible and trying something new – you might be surprised how much effect an upgrade to your organizational style has on your overall game.


Thank you for reading and enjoy your league this summer.

 JF Bertrand
Owner - Golf GamesKeeper, LLC
www.golfgameskeeper.com