What is GolfLists.com?

Introduction

Greetings fellow golfers!

If you are reading this blog, then hopefully you are visiting golflists.com because you are interested in joining a network of British and Irish golf club members in the Golf Lists Club.

In this blog I will talk about what I hope golflists.com will develop into over the coming years.

What is golflists.com?

In the initial phase of golflists.com, it serves as a platform for golf club members to connect and share local knowledge. The website is built on three pillars of functionality: Lists, Profile, and Connect.

1. Exploring Golf Lists

The website enables users to plan golf trips using "golf lists", making it simpler to compare and research golf courses.

Golf lists are essentially filterable tables of golf-related information, as you can see in the screenshot below.

A typical Golf List:

Some of this data is being incrementally built, because we encourage verified golf club members to edit our records (similar to Wikipedia) and contribute their local insights directly to the site.

While some doubt whether golfers would be willing to contribute, I believe that a golfer's nature encourages them to generously share knowledge with fellow enthusiasts.

I'm confident that numerous club members would willingly spend 10 minutes enriching their club's records. I know I would do it!

This collaboration benefits both fellow GL Members and their golf club because a richer record will enhance their club's appeal to visitors. It is my responsibility to make it easy for them to do this.

How is Golf Lists different?

If you're questioning, "But what about Top 100? Or GolfShake? Or countless other websites that compile golf course information?!" Let me share my perspective on why we are different.

While these websites are great at qualitative visitor reviews, they are not as good at facilitating comparison and they overlook the member's perspective. In my view, they lack the level of detail we aim for and they have a journalistic focus rather than being designed to be a user focussed tool.

My goal is for GL to be the most comprehensive repository of local knowledge and data for British and Irish golf courses, trips, practice facilities and entertainment venues.

Golf Lists will be more focussed on objective data than the opinion of visiting golfers. However, I do want to capture the golf club member's view of their own course. I love meeting people who are passionate about their golf club and course, and I love hearing what they think makes their course special.

2. Profile

Golf Lists enables users to document their golfing adventures. In the beta version, this functionality allows users to track the golf courses they've played and those on their bucket list. Additionally, these can be visualized on maps.

A Golf Lists Dashboard:

A Golf Lists Played Courses Map:

Users can also create and share a personal ranking of golf courses they've played. This idea stems from the diverse opinions found in various golf course rankings today.

While Top 100, Golf World, Golf Monthly and Golf Digest compile valuable golf course rankings, our aspiration at GolfLists.com is slightly different.

More on this in a future blog. In brief, we aim to establish a 'people's ranking' devoid of political inclinations or biases. Our "personal rankings" feature will play a pivotal role in this endeavor down the line.

Golf Lists Personal Played Course Rankings:

We also intend for this ranking to apply to every golf course on our list, not just the top 100. Achieving this while upholding integrity presents a challenge that we will overcome using technology and input from our members.

Another noteworthy feature is the personal golf dashboard, which catalogs all the courses a member has played and awards golflists.com badges. In the future, these badges will carry tangible golf-related benefits. One of my dreams is for a badge to qualify a member to play a round at Augusta National. So, Bill Gates, if you're reading this, let's talk!

Golf Lists Badge Examples:

I believe there is demand for gamifying and enhancing the shareability of the modern pursuit known as 'golf course ticking.' Tickers are golfers dedicated to playing all the courses in the top 100, or all the Mackenzie courses in England, or all the esteemed Golden Age courses, etc. I aspire to create a gamified experience and a hub for these golfers.

3. Connecting with Golfers

The beta version of GL includes a Discord forum where users can connect with other verified golf club members.

In the future, I will switch on our matching technology that helps users grow their own reciprocal golf network, fostering new connections across the UK & Ireland. This feature requires a critical mass of users to be useful, so it's currently waiting in the wings for us to get to 1000 users.

You may be familiar with the Thousand Greens app which has a similar purpose, with more of a focus on the USA. Golf Lists will be aimed at British and Irish golfers and it will also automate the matching process by identifying "mutual matches".

A mutual match is simply where two golfers have each other's home golf course on their respective bucket lists. As such the connection will definitely be mutually beneficial, rather than relying on one user to be "charitable".

I hope this will attract members of top golf clubs to the site, whilst protecting them from a flurry of requests.

Over time, I envision organizing in-person events at top golf courses to reward our active early adopters, contributors and to facilitate "golf networking" across our members.