About Golf Done Better

I've been playing social golf for about ten years. I'm not particularly good at it but I love everything about it. I try to get out for a round with friends whenever I can. Usually it's just a quick twilight round at the weekend, but occasionally we'll organise a golf trip over a few days.

We've done all sorts over the years. Sometimes renting a house and playing a few reasonably priced courses nearby, followed by a barbecue and a few beers. Other times we'll spend a bit more and stay in fancy golf resorts. For me it's as much about the time with friends as it is about the golf.

As for work, I've spent over 20 years in the travel industry and travelled a lot along the way. My jobs have covered everything from designing itineraries and working with suppliers to sales and managing a travel company. I've also worked in travel tech, data analysis and business development, so I've seen the best and worst that websites and companies have to offer.

When it comes to organising family holidays, business trips or golf trips, I actually enjoy looking at different places and working out where to stay and what's around. I'll happily spend hours researching before making a decision.

There are plenty of golf websites around. Some are really good at what they do. But there was nothing with the tools, filters or functions I wanted all in one place.

I'd moan about this to friends and they'd do the same. We'd end up jumping between websites trying to find golf courses and accommodation in the same area. Then we'd have to look up individual club websites to find out more about them. Sometimes we've already picked somewhere to stay and want to see what golf is nearby. Other times we start with a course we want to play and work everything else around that. Even with AI it's a struggle to find exactly what we're looking for.

I got talking about it with a colleague at work who shared my love of golf. We were discussing what we'd want from a golf website and I made the comment that I reckoned I could put together a basic one in a day.

It was one of those things you say without really thinking about it. But I was curious whether I could actually do it.

I did manage to put together a basic website pretty quickly. The problem was that once I'd started I kept thinking of things I wanted to improve and I couldn't stop.

The biggest job by far was the golf course information. I hadn't appreciated just how much work would go into researching courses across the UK. Every golf club presents its information differently. Some make everything easy to find. Others really don't.

I've spent a lot of evenings going through course data and trying to present everything in a way that's actually useful when comparing different places.

I also wanted to include courses that aren't listed on the usual golf booking websites. I wasn't just interested in places you could book online. I wanted to see what else was out there and have enough information to decide where to play.

It's taken a lot longer than the original one-day idea, but I've really enjoyed building it. And I've ended up with a website I actually enjoy using.