What do you wnt from your clubs website

Kingswood Rover

Evening all, i always like looking at what is going on in other golf clubs through browsing their websites. The variety and quality varies enormously the lack of activity on a lot of club sites is something that really sticks out. So my question is what do you want from your clubs website?

Beaulieu

Scrap it and have an updated FBook page instead. Much easier to manage and more consistent from one committee to the next.

Senna

Club website's main purpose should be as an advertising tool for visitors and potential members.
News page for members is great, but too many clubs set the page up and then never update it, so it looks worse when a potential member looks at the news and see its hasn't been updated since open week 2013. As above, a good Facebook page, howdoido and brs really covers the members.

dan_ep82

Beaulieu wrote: »

Scrap it and have an updated FBook page instead. Much easier to manage and more consistent from one committee to the next.

Visitors book a tee time through Facebook??

Not everyone is on Facebook nor would I trust a link from it with my debit card details. I do think social media has its place but the club should still have a website.

Actual pictures of the course and facilities. So many have a Gallery section that is just presentations. IMO keep that in the members section or have a separate section for good quality course pictures.

Course condition including when sanding/pole forking is due and most importantly if its open or closed.


Rathcore recently ( i think) released a Club App giving details of the course,weather etc. Great idea imo

https://www.clubapplive.com/golf/index.html?clubid=355

Boskowski

Club news, fixtures, results, score card and course book with pics ideally, gallery, join & teams info, links to howdidido & brsgolf. My club has most of that but its a little disjointed, other than that no complaints. In fact since its probably stitched together by people in their spare time its not fantastic but a fairly decent effort.

CMOTDibbler

A club should never rely on social media for its web presence. All of the SM platforms have a part to play: Facebook for photos, member info and general info, Twitter for announcements and other notifications (again mostly for members). The website should always be looked at as a permanent location on the web (a bit like the clubhouse) where the most important information and member facilities on the club can live.

So the BRS booking, the membership information and application forms, green fee rates, contact information, location, map, score card etc. Links to the SM pages should also be on the club website.

Social media trends can change and not everyone changes with them or even bothers with them in the first place.

Hoof Hearted2

CMOTDibbler wrote: »

A club should never rely on social media for its web presence. All of the SM platforms have a part to play: Facebook for photos, member info and general info, Twitter for announcements and other notifications (again mostly for members). The website should always be looked at as a permanent location on the web (a bit like the clubhouse) where the most important information and member facilities on the club can live.

So the BRS booking, the membership information and application forms, green fee rates, contact information, location, map, score card etc. Links to the SM pages should also be on the club website.

Social media trends can change and not everyone changes with them or even bothers with them in the first place.

You're selling yourself short if you're not utilising social media, even if as you suggest it may be a trend or passing fad, if you don't adapt, you lose.
Also Facebook tee time booking is a link to your clubs booking system e.g. BRS etc., it's not an independent booking system offered by Facebook as someone above suggested.

OP, the least I'd expect from my clubs website administrator is that they are literate or at the very least knows how to use spell check:pac::pac:.

CMOTDibbler

Hoof Hearted2 wrote: »

You're selling yourself short if you're not utilising social media, even if as you suggest it may be a trend or passing fad, if you don't adapt, you lose.
Also Facebook tee time booking is a link to your clubs booking system e.g. BRS etc., it's not an independent booking system offered by Facebook as someone above suggested.

OP, the least I'd expect from my clubs website administrator is that they are literate or at the very least knows how to use spell check:pac::pac:.

If you read my post correctly, you'd see that I'm advocating the use of social media. But as an adjunct to your website, not as a replacement as some are suggesting.

dan_ep82

Hoof Hearted2 wrote: »

Also Facebook tee time booking is a link to your clubs booking system e.g. BRS etc., it's not an independent booking system offered by Facebook as someone above suggested.

Its very easy to set up a page linking to a fraudulent site. I see loads of people following .CocaCola , .DunnesStores etc.

All they have to do is put a fullstop before the name and link to your own version of BRS.

I'd much rather use the main website, I know I can trust the links

I never suggested it was FB hosting BRS, I just said I wouldn't follow the link from Facebook

bustercherry

dan_ep82 wrote: »

Its very easy to set up a page linking to a fraudulent site. I see loads of people following .CocaCola , .DunnesStores etc.

All they have to do is put a fullstop before the name and link to your own version of BRS.

I'd much rather use the main website, I know I can trust the links

I never suggested it was FB hosting BRS, I just said I wouldn't follow the link from Facebook

Do you, how?

I'd say the majority of bodged club websites contain security holes you could drive a Dublin bus through.

CMOTDibbler

bustercherry wrote: »

Do you, how?

I'd say the majority of bodged club websites contain security holes you could drive a Dublin bus through.

By definition, all bodged websites would have security holes...

bustercherry

CMOTDibbler wrote: »

By definition, all bodged websites would have security holes...

You know that how?

dan_ep82

bustercherry wrote: »

Do you, how?

I'd say the majority of bodged club websites contain security holes you could drive a Dublin bus through.

Most probably do, although HTTPS will help.

The chances of someone getting access to the admin side of a club website are much lower than using a phishing scam via Facebook though. 90% of the successful scams I would think come from inept users. Give them one platform to use and they can't really go wrong as long as the security is decent enough to deter a serious attempt to gain control.

CMOTDibbler

bustercherry wrote: »

You know that how?

Because the definition of 'bodged' is badly put together. Badly put together implies badly maintained as well.

Kingswood Rover

Thanks for all the opinions, the reason i ask is that we are reformatting ours, (Blessington Lakes) this week as it has be corrupted a couple of times in the last month so we needed to beef up our security. We are using the Wordpress platform to host our site which is really easy for people to use which is great so you are not depending on the one person to post the latest news, results and important notices etc. I think its important that the site is very active and up to date all times. There should also be a story for each comp that tries to have a little humility and humor.The facebook pages of sites are a great way to see all the club photos throughout the year and it amazes me how some clubs are not even using this tool. back to the drawing board.

CMOTDibbler

Kingswood Rover wrote: »

Thanks for all the opinions, the reason i ask is that we are reformatting ours, (Blessington Lakes) this week as it has be corrupted a couple of times in the last month so we needed to beef up our security. We are using the Wordpress platform to host our site which is really easy for people to use which is great so you are not depending on the one person to post the latest news, results and important notices etc. I think its important that the site is very active and up to date all times. There should also be a story for each comp that tries to have a little humility and humor.The facebook pages of sites are a great way to see all the club photos throughout the year and it amazes me how some clubs are not even using this tool. back to the drawing board.

Just a bit of advice on using WordPress. It's extremely popular and because it's open source is constantly being hacked at. It's vital that you keep the software up to date and make sure that admin passwords are strong and regularly changed.

Have a read up on additional security measures you can take and check that your hosting company does automatic backups as well.

Kingswood Rover

Thanks CMO, yes just changed them all there this evening and the chap that is doing the hardening up knows his stuff, we were just complacent as the site problem free for the last 13 months, on reflection we need to change the passwords every month at the least.

bustercherry

CMOTDibbler wrote: »

Because the definition of 'bodged' is badly put together. Badly put together implies badly maintained as well.

Just because something badly put together doesn't mean it's insecure. Just means there is more risk of that occurring.

morrga

Kingswood Rover wrote: »

Thanks for all the opinions, the reason i ask is that we are reformatting ours, (Blessington Lakes) this week as it has be corrupted a couple of times in the last month so we needed to beef up our security. We are using the Wordpress platform to host our site which is really easy for people to use which is great so you are not depending on the one person to post the latest news, results and important notices etc. I think its important that the site is very active and up to date all times. There should also be a story for each comp that tries to have a little humility and humor.The facebook pages of sites are a great way to see all the club photos throughout the year and it amazes me how some clubs are not even using this tool. back to the drawing board.

I look after a club website for the Hibernian Golf and agree completely, constant updates, course info, results summaries etc are important to encourage regular hits to the site. By nature we all feed off new reading material. Gives positive signals to potential new joiners as well.

billy3sheets

The information provided by http://www.masterscoreboard.ie/about.php looks really great.
You can see each round by each player, hole by hole, playing history, player handicaps including historical handicaps.

You have to use the Handicap Master system to update it.

(I've no connection with these btw)

Kingswood Rover

billy3sheets wrote: »

The information provided by http://www.masterscoreboard.ie/about.php looks really great.
You can see each round by each player, hole by hole, playing history, player handicaps including historical handicaps.

You have to use the Handicap Master system to update it.

(I've no connection with these btw)

Hi Billy, totally agree i think its far better than how did i do, we use this and also leave it open for people to view. IMO all clubs should be able to see each others results down to actual score per hole.

HighLine

dan_ep82 wrote: »

Rathcore recently ( i think) released a Club App giving details of the course,weather etc. Great idea imo

https://www.clubapplive.com/golf/index.html?clubid=355

Just on the live scoring aspect of Club App... does anyone use it at their own club? I think it would be very useful for the likes of majors and big matches.. especially having the app streamed on the TV in the bar.

I have used it before but each group needed a designated marker for the app... don't think this would work in a lot of clubs because of lack of smart phones/interest from older members. I guess you could have some juniors marking at every few holes perhaps?

Wichita Lineman

I appreciate that this might be a case of careful what you ask for but would anyone like to give their opinions of our website. I'd appreciate the good and the bad points - constructive criticism rather than silly comments.

http://www.moategolfclub.ie/

In reference to the OP's question, I want results posted quickly and kept up to date, club information for both members and visitors, photos, news and the odd novelty item.

Wichita Lineman

I appreciate that this might be a case of careful what you ask for but would anyone like to give their opinions of our website. I'd appreciate the good and the bad points - constructive criticism rather than silly comments.

http://www.moategolfclub.ie/

In reference to the OP's question, I want results posted quickly and kept up to date, club information for both members and visitors, photos, news and the odd novelty item.

Kingswood Rover

Wichita Lineman wrote: »

I appreciate that this might be a case of careful what you ask for but would anyone like to give their opinions of our website. I'd appreciate the good and the bad points - constructive criticism rather than silly comments.

http://www.moategolfclub.ie/

In reference to the OP's question, I want results posted quickly and kept up to date, club information for both members and visitors, photos, news and the odd novelty item.

yes Moate's website is really active and informative, you really get the sense the sense of "Club" when you look in.

bustercherry

Kingswood Rover wrote: »

yes Moate's website is really active and informative, you really get the sense the sense of "Club" when you look in.

No offence to Moate but the site is a mess. Also it looks like something built in the 90's.

I dunno how you get any sense from that. Each to their own I suppose.

bustercherry

Wichita Lineman wrote: »

I appreciate that this might be a case of careful what you ask for but would anyone like to give their opinions of our website. I'd appreciate the good and the bad points - constructive criticism rather than silly comments.

http://www.moategolfclub.ie/

In reference to the OP's question, I want results posted quickly and kept up to date, club information for both members and visitors, photos, news and the odd novelty item.

You need to get someone to look at the IA on it. Only committee members would design a site with their names the most prominent :P

Golfgraffix

Wichita Lineman wrote: »

I appreciate that this might be a case of careful what you ask for but would anyone like to give their opinions of our website. I'd appreciate the good and the bad points - constructive criticism rather than silly comments.

http://www.moategolfclub.ie/

In reference to the OP's question, I want results posted quickly and kept up to date, club information for both members and visitors, photos, news and the odd novelty item.

Had a quick look on my phone and closed it straight away. It's not responsive so almost impossible to navigate on a mobile device.

By the way about 65% of all your views will be on mobile.

Have great info is not enough, it needs to be accessible

Wichita Lineman

Golfgraffix wrote: »

Had a quick look on my phone and closed it straight away. It's not responsive so almost impossible to navigate on a mobile device.

By the way about 65% of all your views will be on mobile.

Have great info is not enough, it needs to be accessible

That's interesting. I didn't build the website but I know who did and to be fair it's better than it was a year ago. More to be done, appreciate the feedback.

Kingswood Rover

bustercherry wrote: »

No offence to Moate but the site is a mess. Also it looks like something built in the 90's.

I dunno how you get any sense from that. Each to their own I suppose.

oh dear, its a golf club and its quirky 90's format vibe gives it that sense of club i am talking about, plenty of stuff going on and lots of info. i like i have to say.

Kingswood Rover

Golfgraffix wrote: »

Had a quick look on my phone and closed it straight away. It's not responsive so almost impossible to navigate on a mobile device.

By the way about 65% of all your views will be on mobile.

Have great info is not enough, it needs to be accessible

yes agreed, just as golf clubs get their act together somewhat on websites they need now model them on how they look and feel on mobile devices.

dan_ep82

Wichita Lineman wrote: »

I appreciate that this might be a case of careful what you ask for but would anyone like to give their opinions of our website. I'd appreciate the good and the bad points - constructive criticism rather than silly comments.

http://www.moategolfclub.ie/

In reference to the OP's question, I want results posted quickly and kept up to date, club information for both members and visitors, photos, news and the odd novelty item.

Definitely a cluttered feeling at the top and then a huge page with some bits on the edge.

I would,

Put the news ( bits on the left edge) behind a link to another separate page only, don't leave them on the main page.Same goes for other links. You have two links to the same things on one page.

Update the UI. As above, very 90's / cheap looking by todays standards. I hope that isn't too harsh sounding.The biggest bold writing is the club news which draws your eye, I'd rather have the links doing that or the background being a nice photo of the course

Make a mobile version thats much more simple and easy to use.

Make the pictures of the course more prominent

Keep the contact and location details behind another link or at the bottom of the (shortened) page. Again , numbers in numerous places on the same page.

Pictures of the course. Host the fly over on the website itself.

When I'm looking at a website I usually want to

• Book a tee time/ check prices
• Look at pictures of the course
• Check sub prices
• Check facilities
• Location
• Course condition
• Look at course card

You have some of the above but it would be nice to have an easier to use page.

Headforts I think is done well although I think some things could be done better

devildriver

Wichita Lineman wrote: »

I appreciate that this might be a case of careful what you ask for but would anyone like to give their opinions of our website. I'd appreciate the good and the bad points - constructive criticism rather than silly comments.

http://www.moategolfclub.ie/

In reference to the OP's question, I want results posted quickly and kept up to date, club information for both members and visitors, photos, news and the odd novelty item.

As others have said this is pretty awful.

- Visually it's difficult to read and does not seem to have a consistent structure or grid.
- It's not responsive (mobile friendly).
- The inclusion of Google ads does not help matters and makes it look cheap.
- The code is bloated and has lots of Microsoft Word cruft in it. And tables are used which is a big no-no for modern websites.
- There are no meta tags at all to help search engines find the site.
- There are blank pages and bad links throughout.

I'm struggling to find any good points - well at least there are some recent news entries so that's a plus.

Hope that helps.

redzerdrog

My club recently updated the website and have to say I like it.

http://www.seapointgolflinks.com/

bustercherry

My advice is listen to none of that.

Get someone to do the Information architecture right and you'll find none of the guff is required on the top or first level pages. Once you figure out what content is needed then get someone to design it properly.

bustercherry

redzerdrog wrote: »

My club recently updated the website and have to say I like it.

http://www.seapointgolflinks.com/

Those quick menu links which a mega menu combo is terrible on it. Don't think it improves on the previous site at all.

redzerdrog

bustercherry wrote: »

Those quick menu links which a mega menu combo is terrible on it. Don't think it improves on the previous site at all.

A lot easier to use on both mobile and laptop though I think

Also visually looks better than previous imo

bustercherry

redzerdrog wrote: »

A lot easier to use on both mobile and laptop though I think

Also visually looks better than previous imo

Bit better on the phone but still don't get the need for 2 menus. Also the contrast ratio is wrong on the menus on mobile.

I particularly hate the word home on the front page. If you need a visual cue for that, then I'd argue the designs is flawed.

It's not terrible but I just don't think it offers anything over the previous site bar the responsiveness is better.

CMOTDibbler

Wichita Lineman wrote: »

That's interesting. I didn't build the website but I know who did and to be fair it's better than it was a year ago. More to be done, appreciate the feedback.

Your best option is to use one of the many content management systems that are in use these days. WordPress, Joomla, Drupal etc. or you can go for a bespoke one which would be a bit pricier.

The main thing with a CMS, you will be able to keep the site up to date without a huge amount of effort and constantly having to go back to the guy that built it.

All the CMS offerings have responsive templates, so your site will work on any platform out of the box.

JIdontknow

Wichita Lineman wrote: »

I appreciate that this might be a case of careful what you ask for but would anyone like to give their opinions of our website. I'd appreciate the good and the bad points - constructive criticism rather than silly comments.

http://www.moategolfclub.ie/

In reference to the OP's question, I want results posted quickly and kept up to date, club information for both members and visitors, photos, news and the odd novelty item.

Please don't think I am knocking the website or developer of it, I have zero knowledge of website design etc, just wanted to give my personal feedback. To be fair the content is there which is all good, it is more just the layout that I don't find easy to navigate to the content. Responsiveness is good and fast which is important.

For me, when I first look at it (First time I have been on Moate golf club website), I am looking for a picture of the course which invites you, you see it, think this course looks great, lets look around the site more, I couldn't find pictures of the course just a fly over from briefly looking on the site.

Also the black boxes with captain, president, etc I would initially be drawn towards these as drop down menus. The actual menus in front of me look more like text boxes and not a clickable link, for me personally I think less is more, if people want to know who captain, president etc is they can search, but straight off the bat they want to see a flattering picture of the course. Also two seperate menus to me is a little confusing, as you have some options in front of you, then another menu down the left if you can't find what you're looking for.

For me, visiting a different website, the very first thing I want to see is some nice pictures, to make me think, I want to play this course sometime! Secondly then I will be interested in the layout of the course / scorecard, and contact details / booking a tee time. Then I will be interested in the smaller details. I guess I am personally more in favour of something along the lines of these typical layouts:

http://www.arklowgolflinks.com/
http://www.waterfordgolfclub.com/
http://www.enniscorthygc.ie/
http://www.braygolfclub.com/
http://www.newrossgolfclub.ie/

Please don't think I am being harsh or knocking anybodies effort, as I said I never saw the website or course before so just wanted to give feedback from a first time visitor to the club website.

Seve OB

Beaulieu wrote: »

Scrap it and have an updated FBook page instead. Much easier to manage and more consistent from one committee to the next.

that is the most ridiculous suggestion.

A club needs a proper website, not just a facebook page.

By that logic, every company should just close their websites and just run pages on Facebook. :rolleyes:

it might be easy to manage, but it is not a proper website and they are never easy to navigate. they are nothing more than an information feed

devildriver

Seve OB wrote: »

that is the most ridiculous suggestion.

A club needs a proper website, not just a facebook page.

By that logic, every company should just close their websites and just run pages on Facebook. :rolleyes:

it might be easy to manage, but it is not a proper website and they are never easy to navigate. they are nothing more than an information feed

I would have to concur with this.

If you want to be taken seriously as a club (or any kind of business for that matter) you will need more than just a Facebook page.

bside29

I'd like to put together a full list of the "best golf websites of 2016", (good websites that golf lovers should follow).

So far, these are on my list:

http://www.skysports.com/golf
https://www.Golf.com/
https://www.GolfChannel.com/
https://www.GolfDigest.com/
https://www.PGATour.com/
https://www.GolfWRX.com/
https://www.reddit.com/r/golf
http://www.cbssports.com/golf/
http://espn.go.com/golf/
http://golfweek.com/
http://www.pga.com/
http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/
http://www.sportinglife.com/golf
http://www.golfgearlab.com/
http://golf.about.com/
http://www.wgt.com/

I belive that my list is not yet complete, any golf websites I'm missing?

Seve OB

bside29 wrote: »

I'd like to put together a full list of the "best golf websites of 2016", (good websites that golf lovers should follow).


I belive that my list is not yet complete, any golf websites I'm missing?

Without thinking to much about it, 2 obvious ones you left out
www.europeantour.com
www.owgr.com

Boskowski

http://thesandtrap.com

3putt

http://www.thehackersparadise.com/

alxmorgan

http://www.mygolfspy.com/