Local golfers hooking up online - why no activity.

[mygolfbuddy]

Hey fellow golfwrxers, why no activity here? What is it about forums and local golfers? Hundreds of people send golf playing invites daily via the MyGolfbuddy.com member messenging service, but there is very little activity here or on the sister golf forum at mygolfbuddy. Why the resistance among us to post tee time partner requests on golf forums? Are there any partner hookup boards that are used heavily at all? Neither I, nor the Golfwrx owners have seen a successful playing partners forum on any website. Its interesting, in light of the heavy usage that the mygolfbuddy.com player invite system gets. People hook up constantly through the MGB search engine, but not on most of the forums that attempt to provide a place for connecting. My guess is that it's a very different user base.

[Gxgolfer]

I moved this to the Golf Style section to see if we can get more feedback. I'm curious to hear what the drawback, if any, people see. Is registration too hard or not working???

[raehtz10]

I just think that it may take too much coordination for a couple of strangers to get together and play...most often people have a group to play with. I sure would like to hook up with some people in Ann Arbor, I was just looking on there yesterday.

[Gozz]

I enjoy playing golf with friends and family. The times that I have been paired up with someone at the course it has not been a pleasant experience. It's either been a decent golfer but talks non-stop about anything and everything, a guy that is two beers in before we even tee off and would get a DWI by 18 or someone who puts up a 150. Playing golf with a complete stranger does not appeal to me, but that is just me.

[PGMlady]

The last few times I've tried to sign up I couldn't get it to work. But I'm probably too busy anyway to meet up with other people.

[Sam-Tee-Time]

I just think that it may take too much coordination for a couple of strangers to get together and play.........

 

DITTO THAT. I noticed the same thing on MANY golf boards - everyone is either too busy, schedules conflicting, or for whatever reason -t hey have resistance to meeting online buddies in person, who knows why.

 

I frankly attribute it to the super-busy lifestyle most of us lead. Myself - I'm far too busy for too many scheduled meetings and events. Most of my golf is "ad-hoc" at the private course I play at, NOT with coordinated rounds with others.

[jmc]

Hard to disagree with the above... I just get the urge and jet to the course.

[Big D McGee]

I tried to sign up for the last five minutes, and it's not working. I keep getting bounced back to the registration screen AND IT DOESN'T TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG/MISSING.

 

Here's a tip: If you're gonna shill for a site and ask people why they aren't joining, make sure the site WORKS first.

[mygolfbuddy]

Hi,

 

Thanks for your message.

 

This is a browser specific problem. It has to do with the way your browser handles Javascript. Because was affects only a limited number of users and we were getting brisk daily signup numbers, we procrastinated on implementing a solution. There is a bailout button that sends an email with our registration details, and these are hand added and contacted weekly. .

 

 

Your poignant and direct message has stimulated a response however, so thank you. We will resolve this browser specific issue by the end of this week, so that everyone can signup without problem. In the meantime if you send me your email via PM I will hand register you with dummy values that you can change after you log in. Or you could try to use Netscape or Mozilla FireFox to register.

 

Paul

[mygolfbuddy]

Actually, if you read my original post, lots of folk already use the MyGolfBuddy playing invite system to hook up. I was wondering why online golf playing partner forums are not as heavily used.

 

Why the discrepancy? I think its clearly because the core users of golf forums are an entirely different "crowd" that than the users of MyGolfBuddy.

 

I know that the 'golf dating' crowd are heavy users of the MyGolfBuddy site. Many beginning golfers use it as well. Not everybody has friends and family that golf. I actually created the site because I was in that predicament when I first started playing.

 

Beginners use MyGolfBuddy to try and meet golfers to help them get into the game. I recently played with a "hacker" who contacted me cold from the site. We played a nine hole round at a local municipal and the other guys in our twosome grew frustrated by his poor play and played on ahead (although they didnt get far as they go jammed by a slow foursome immediately ahead of them). It felt good to stay with my new "golfbuddy" and make him feel more comfortable with his swing and help him get through the round. :drinks: . He wrote me a profuse thank you note shortly after our round, and I will likely play with him again sometime.

 

Given the rapid growth and heavy use of MyGolfBuddy vs. the failure of virtually every online golf forum's playing partner subsection, I think it is clearly a case of different market segments.

[Big D McGee]

^^I'd use your site in a heartbeat, and I shoot in the 90's still. It's frustrating to either go as a single and play by myself, or get paired up with a couple of Tiger Woods wannbees who aren't that much better than me, but act like they're ready for Q school.

 

I once got paired up with 2 college-aged guys who had the WORST manners, so much so that I skipped a hole to get away from them.

 

I think something like mygolfbuddy would be good for paring up golfers of like abilities.

[mygolfbuddy]

That is precisely the spirit of MyGolfBuddy. Golf has a long history of "elite-ism". and can be daunting for someone trying to get into it, especially if they have little support for golf among family and friends. This is even more true for women. Lots of women use MyGolfbuddy to find other women to play with, because they are tired of being "hit on" and/or flirted with every time they walk on and get paired up indiscriminately. In fact "golfbeauty" one of the moderators of the womens section here was first a MyGolfBuddy member who uses the site to find regular female playing partners. She has since migrated over here and gotten busy after we formed our partnership with golfwrx. Finding partners online clearly is a hit, just not seemingly with many of the online golf forum types. We are all still wondering why this might be. Possibly the average Golfwrxer tends to be more experienced and has developed a network of playing partners? These people might only need partner connection services when they travel. Any ideas?

 

.

[mygolfbuddy]

The registration problem that was affecting some browsers has been corrected.

If you've had trouble in the past, please try again.

[Big D McGee]

I registered the other day, and there are TONS of golfers in my area! I'm going to try and set something up for next wednesday, when I take a "sick day". :drinks:

[mygolfbuddy]

Anybody else willing to give the search engine a try?

[Big D McGee]

I tried it last weekend. While the site is very easy to use and very useful, I was NOT happy with my playing partners. I won't go into detail, but suffice it to say that the next time I use the service, I'll do more "due diligence" about my playing partner.