Road test – Golflink Mates Online
November 22nd, 2009 by Doogs
Golflink is the central handicapping system, devised by Golf Australia to centrally process scores for the National Handicapping System. Most golf clubs in Australia manage player handicaps via the Golflink system. Any club member can access the basics of Golflink which is essentially viewing current handicap.
Golflink also offers an upgrade called Golflink Mates. For an annual fee of $29.95, a club golfer can upgrade their Golflink account to include: * Competition ranking as well as national, state and club ranking * Hole by hole stats to track your form * Message friends, form groups and view their handicaps * video tips and instruction
Ive upgraded my Golflink account to the Mates subscription, heres an initial road test review:
Competition rank – Usually this will be provided by the club anyway, this provides a summary of club competitions showing all of the players and scores. Find out who burgled their way to 45pts and who had a shocker (Saturdays comp was won by a 16 handicapper who scored 45 points, he is now off 14!) It also ranks by handicap grade.
Hole by hole stats – Quick and easy to fill out round stats. The stats include gross score, fairways hit, Greens in regulation, accuracy, putts, sand saves, up and downs etc. Fairways hit needs an option for hitting fairway bunker off the tee, as I hit a LOT of fairway bunkers yesterday and its deceptive to say I missed the fairway right/left, as most of my drives werent bad (its just that the sand at the Frog is usually 220m out right on my line!)
Stats charts – Considerable number of charts recording progress over time, plus you can compare with any other golfers who you have as ‘Mates’
Handicap – charts and details showing the handicap over time. Mine starts at 16.9 and is now down to 15.1, if only I had a short game!
Rankings – According to Golflink, I am ranked 89,660th in Australia, 23,332nd in Victoria and 78th in my club. Need to practice more!
Updates – Golflink will email a Monthly stats update providing year and quarter to date summary of your handicap and stats. In addition you can optin to receive an automated SMS of handicap changes.
Overall, the Mates subscription looks pretty good. Is it worth the $29.95? Probably too early to tell, the stats and mates features could be useful, will continue to road test and report back later.
