Why Golf Outing Tracker Was Developed
26 years ago some friends talked me into going on a 2 day jam-packed golf outing in western Michigan. The place was called Gull Lake. The four of us left at 4:45 am on Thursday morning and arrived at the club house at 7 am. I went around and met some of the other golfers (32 total). A fellow named Chet approached me asking for $165 (remember this was 26 years ago). The money was to cover golf (36 holes each day), one night stay at the villas and prize money. The prize money was for various golf games assigned for each round: skins, reverse-skins, points and scrambles. The tournament director, Jimmy, walked up and handed me a sheet of paper showing all of the pairings for each round and what games were being played. Players were split up into 4 flights: A, B, C or D. You were placed in a flight based on your average score in the past 10 rounds at this tournament. Back then they met in the spring and fall each year. If this was your first time you were given a best-guess average. Of course, I was a D player back then. Before long we were beginning to tee off on the West course. The golf games assigned for the morning round were: team points, individual skins and reverse skins. After the first 18 holes we had a short time to eat lunch before teeing it up for the afternoon 18 on the East course. Jimmy (the tournament director) asked us to be sure to hand in our score cards after each round. The golf games assigned for the afternoon round were: skins and reverse skins. Once the afternoon round was completed we went back to the condos for a short time to clean up for dinner. We walked across the main road to the Gull Lake View Inn. After dinner we walked back to the condos. We had a putting contest before dark and then settled down for some cards. A few liquid sedatives were necessary, too. During this time Jimmy and an assistant were back in their condo painstakingly entering the hole-by-hole scores onto a piece of paper and figuring out who won the golf games for the day. After figuring out the results Jimmy came around to each condo and handed out the prize money to whoever had won anything.
The next morning we went over to the restaurant (on the West course) for breakfast. We had a short drive down the road to Stonehedge South for the morning round. Skins and reverse skins were the only games assigned for the morning round. Afterward we had to hustle down the road about 20 minutes to a course named Bedford Valley. The afternoon round was a team scramble and skins event. Everyone was done by about 5 pm. Afterward we had to sit around while Jimmy and his assistant figured out who won the golf games for the day. Everyone was pretty whipped out by this time: after playing 72 holes in 2 days. Finally, the winnings were dispersed and we were able to start the trek back home. I arrived home at about 10:30 that night. It was a burn, but tons of fun, too.
I have attended every Gull Lake outing with this group (except one) since that first time. We decided about 10 years ago to skip the spring event. The spring outing was always scheduled for early May (before the summer rates go into effect). If you live in Michigan you know that the weather is not always that great in early May. I remember going up to spring Gull Lake event and playing in SNOW! The Gull Lake event has become an annual event, in early September.
Back in 2004 I decided to develop a software application to make it much easier to handle the Gull Lake event. The tournament director at the time, Rick, agreed to try my application. He loved it! We have used the application, Golf Outing Tracker, ever since. If you are currently managing a similar type of golf outing by doing everything manually please try Golf Outing Tracker. There are many video examples on this site. You can download the application and get 10 free entries (one player's scores for 18 hole round). Give it a test drive today!