Last week my guest writer Anthony Douglas from Hole19 Golf started to talk about golf mobile applications and in general about golf mobile application market. We believe there are lots of opportunities in this area to exploit for our business goals. Needless to say. that his thoughts are not neccessarily in line with my opinion totally. Anthony will continue his writing in this post:
In last week’s post I presented some figures for both the golf industry and the mobile industry. I highlighted the fact that mobile presents a huge opportunity for golf, much like it has impacted other industries (social, photos, internet, etc.). This week I will briefly touch upon some of the key benefits that mobile apps can bring to the game of golf.
With smartphones becoming more accessible and screen sizes becoming larger (see Apple’s iPhone 5), we are seeing a shift of desktop activity moving to the mobile platform.
This is why we at Hole19 – Smarter Golf and many other mobile app developers have identified the opportunity to create platforms that can add value to the game of golf using mobile technology, in this case, I would like to focus specifically on performance optimization.
For starters, something that is probably on many people’s minds right now is how mobile usage fits into the rules of golf:
The R&A and USGA have effectively banned smartphones to be used on the course (which is odd, considering the R&A has launched its own official Rules app for iPhone, designed for “quick and easy reference”, that, under their own rules, now becomes illegal to use).
I honestly don’t believe that this rule will stand for long, mainly because it is simply not good for the game of golf. We need to keep up with the pace of times if we want to attract the new generation to play the game of golf. Rules like this will do more harm than good.
Nevertheless, nothing stops golfers from using mobile applications during their casual rounds of golf or during their personal training. Key benefits of using golf applications on the golf course are:
- GPS functionality (dramatically increases pace of play, no more searching for yardage markers, wondering what club to hit, etc.)
- Statistics tracking through simply designed mobile applications, the tracking of key statistics is facilitated, thereby helping golfers gain detailed insights into their game.
Tracking statistics = Improving golfers
Improving golfers = Better golfers
Better golfers = Happier golfers
Happier golfers = More rounds of golf
More rounds of golf = Growth
What is the best result for the golf industry…?
I think this one is a no-brainer.
Mobile apps for the world of golf are here to stay and app developers will continue to innovate in order to add value to those golfers with an open mind-set and most importantly, give amateur golfers the same kind of tools and information that pro golfers have when playing on tour.