Article From Fairways Magazine – Summer 2008

—— Technology: Live Scoring ——

—— Brantford Men’s Night Scores With Live Leaderboard Feature ——

All Pat Alpaugh wanted was to make Men’s Night a little more fun for his fellow members at the scenic Brantford Golf and Country Club. Not just a night out for the boys, but rather an event. Thanks in part to an innovative online scoring program that features actual “live scoring” in the lounge for their Men’s Night suffice to say it is mission accomplished.
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About a half a decade ago, Alpaugh was looking for a way to enhance the Men’s Night at the Brantford track and began toying with the idea of developing a more streamlined and entertaining method of running the event. There was really no incentive for the person who just didn’t feel like playing to make that extra effort, says Alpaugh. Also, nobody knew the results for a day or two, so to deal with both of these issues, we came up with a concept based on teams rather than individual play and a scoring system that allowed us to track and display the scores as the players came in.”
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After speaking to a designer friend of his, Alpaugh eventually introduced golfscroring.net and developed a unique scoring system for the club. As the saying goes, the rest is history.
“Like any idea we’ve massaged it from year-to-year, he adds. Right now, it looks and works very well. It has the look of a PGA Tour leaderboard except it’s our names that are on the website and the TV.”
And the numbers – as in those turning out for Men’s Night – don’t lie. Four years ago, Alpaugh figures they were lucky if they attracted fifty players on Men’s Night. These days, the club is averaging 190 each Wednesday prompting the club to block off tee times after 1:00 P.M. because of the demand. In addition to the cool scoring, Alpaugh introduced the concept of teams which he feels is and extremely important part of their success. “Because the scoring is based on both performance and participation, people feel compelled to play. They don’t want to let their team down by not showing up. “Alpaugh claims. Who can argue with those numbers?
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The participants, it seems, don’t want to go home after putting out. With a dazzling 58″ TV in the lounge, business is booming post-round. Alpaugh says the Men’s Lounge punches up four times the sales on Men’s Night than the next busiest night of the week.
“With this system, you literally know the scores in real-time. After your round, you can sit, have a beer and a bite to eat and the scores are updating right before your eyes. Guys don’t want to leave. I still have players who sit and watch and can’t believe what they are seeing.”
As an added touch, a draw is held among the Brantford members at season’s end. The winner gets to take that 58″ television home with them.
And it seems the live scoring and a focus on participation has caught on with other clubs too. Alpaugh indicates over 30 other clubs have introduced the golfscoring.net system, including several Women’s and Mixed leagues, and the feedback he’s been getting indicates they are experiencing a similar level of success, on and off the course, as Brantford.
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“When we first started this thing, we thought if we got 100 players out that would be a staggering success. Now we regularly have double that number on a Wednesday. Sure we give out the usual individual prizes like closest-to-the-pins and such but supporting your team has become the entire focus of our program. We get guys who play 9-holes first thing in the morning before heading straight to the airport or players who are literally finishing their round in the dark because they are so committed to trying to help their team. It would have to be a catastrophe before some of these guys would dare miss a night,” he says with a laugh.
At the end of the day, Brantford Golf and Country Club has benefited most from Alpaugh’s vision for the weekly get together through a significant increase in food and beverage sales, and, of course, improved camaraderie among the members. But it’s more than just supporting the club. Members have embraced the team-first mentality.
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“In my opinion, people want to feel like they are a part of something. There is a big difference between participating in a league and belonging to one. I think we’ve addressed that.” The members at Brantford certainly know the difference.
- Marty Henwood

Article from the Hamilton Spectator – Summer 2008

—— Computer Program and Net are catching on with Golf Leagues ——

Men’s and Women’s golf leagues are becoming increasingly popular. Golf courses everywhere are starting them as a way to fill tee times and increase food and beverage income.
Most of the leagues are nine holes, based on individual play and pretty much pencil and paper but, according to Pat Alpaugh, the forward-thinking ones are taking it online and making it all about the team.
The problem, until recently, was that whoever was running the league probably did the scoring in the evening and it was difficult to find out how you or year team did until the next day at the earliest.
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Pat Alpaugh knew there had to be a better way. So he and a couple of associates created golfscoring.net.
“We came up with the concept of a computer program that was simple when it came to entering the scores but entertaining and timely when it came to posting the results,” he said. “A friend of mine suggested we take this one step further and run it through the TV in the bar at the golf club so we could broadcast the scores. The whole thing took off when we did that.
“Players finish their 9 or 18-hole game and turn their score cards in to the Pro Shop. By the time they’ve changed their shoes and sat down in the bar for a drink all of the league scoring information is being displayed on the club TV in the lounge. The program is quite remarkable; it tracks and displays the entire scoring history of every player (gross and net), separates notable individual performances (good and bad), who beat the Pro, scoring averages, how the team Captains fared and, in my opinion, best of all, it calculates a separate league handicap based solely on your league scores. Great stuff.
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At the Brantford G & C C, where Alpaugh is a member and the Men’s League uses the program, they’ve even added some colourful terminology. Players who didn’t have a good day and didn’t help their team are referred to on the screen as ‘Useless (expletive deleted)’. The designation proved to be very popular with the boys in the bar.
“The wonderful thing about the program is that it’s great for our golf course. It adds to the camaraderie and you can log on to the Internet at any time to see your scores, your friends scores and the scores from all of the teams.”
“And the club is the ultimate benefactor. Our sales on Wednesday’s in the lounge are approximately four times what they are on the best day and we put about $35,000 through the Pro Shop in prizes.
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“The golfscoring.net system is now available to other clubs through a unique ‘only pay for what you use’ program and, so far, about 40 clubs throughout southern Ontario and as far away as Ottawa and Thunder Bay are using it.
- Garry McKay