Project:

BRS Golf Scoring

The Problem

Scoring within BRS Members Module
BRS Scoring Solution

Before the global pandemic, it was usual for golfers to input their scores on a touch screen in the locker room, or submit a physical paper scorecard to the Match/Handicap Secretary. With locker rooms closed for the foreseeable, and physical scorecards or touch screens off limits, some clubs tried to get around this by asking golfers to text/email their scores. This was obviously incredibly time consuming and labourious.

Research

Scoring within BRS Members Module
BRS Scoring Wireframes
  • Competitor analysis - there are a plethera of apps with scoring products on the market such as Hole19, W.A.M.P, Golfshot, Swing U to name a few.
  • User interviews - we discussed with both golf club staff and golfers to see what the most important aspects of a scoring facility would be, and what features they would expect to see.

Requirements

Scoring within BRS Members Module
BRS Scoring Wireframes
  • Ability to who in the round you are scoring - From 1-4 players
  • Easy to use and snappy interface - scoring is taking place during matchplay. It needs to be simple and quick
  • Clarity - The golfer scoring should be able to see at a glance, who they are scoring, and what hole.
  • Highlight a "Ding" - a lower score is the aim of a game, but a zero score for a hole isn't ideal. This needs to be higlighted in the final score

There were also some constraints with this project:

  • Time - As the government had decided to allow golf to return at quite short notice, we were under a time crunch to get this to market as quickly as possible. Especially as one of our biggest competitors were releasing a similar product within their members software. This meant that some of the more out there ideas would have to be shelved at this early stage.
  • Technology - The solution needed to be implemented within both the BRS Golf Members App and the BRS Golf Members website

Solution

BRS Scoring Prototype

As this was a fairly straightforward project with an industry standard scoring system we went straight to white boarding after user interviews. The aim was to make the design fairly simple and uncomplicated for phase one so that it could be implemented quickly.

From the initial sketches, we wireframed the solution and tested it with some of our target users, using the feedback to create the final high fidelity wireframes.

Testing

After the first phase of the scoring feature was released we conducted some user interviews and came up with a list of additional features for phase 2:

  • The ability to only submit scores on verification of another user. Traditionally paper scorecards are signed by two golfers as a means of verification. This is important if we would eventually like to be able to use the scoring system for official handicapping.
  • A custom keyboard with an indication of the number of shots played is above or under par. The scores could also be highlighted in the same fashion upon entry.
  • GPS/AR feature for helping golfers navigate around the course if playing away from their member club.