Golfstat is gone?

[TripleBogeysrbetter]

4 hours ago, leezer99 said:

Ok, last post on this today... It looks like the Valero Texas Collegiate decided to only report scores to Golfstat. The spikemark site is empty. And this is a pretty significant event with the winner (Joe Sullivan) getting an invite into the next PGAT Valero Texas Open.

 

Golfstat site:

 

Spikemark:

 

 

 

 

You what we should do to spikemarks right?  I mean the new rules you are entitled to repair them.

 

Golfstat I just want you back sweetie.  I was wrong.  I miss you!!!! XOXOXO

[Jkhogbear]

It’s confusing.  It’s looks like golfstat is back?  No official word from anyone.  It’s so strange.  It’s working great though.   Golfstat is loading fast and   Spikemark still not working.  They have a few random tournaments on their website but seems all college teams have abandoned Spikemark which is great.  The question is , who is in charge of rankings?   I wouldn’t trust anything Spikemark puts out.  

[leezer99]

Spikemark is turning the rankings on their heads.  Mark Brodie has been hired and they are changing everything up. And the first rankings won't be out until October 15th.

 

v6 - Spikemark Ranking - FAQ (collegiategolf.com)

[Jkhogbear]

Thanks for that find.  Most on here agree that rankings based on points systems are severely flawed.   The best ones are like golfweek where it basically goes by who you beat.   For instance, a player with only 10 players in the field and against poor competition got  more WAGR points for winning as did someone who qualified for the US Amateur and finished middle of the pack. That’s not right and Spikemark is bakscially using a system like this. 

Edited September 13 by Jkhogbear

[Tugu]

1 hour ago, Jkhogbear said:

Thanks for that find.  Most on here agree that rankings based on points systems are severely flawed.   The best ones are like golfweek where it basically goes by who you beat.   For instance, a player with only 10 players in the field and against poor competition got  more WAGR points for winning as did someone who qualified for the US Amateur and finished middle of the pack. That’s not right and Spikemark is bakscially using a system like this. 

The hiring of Mark Broadie in a world full of statisticians is akin to suggesting only Butch Harmon/David Leadbetter is capable of coaching golfers.

Spikemark sucks not because Mark Broadie is not on board.

[Jkhogbear]

Fill me in on Mark Broadie.  I don’t know who is he is or who hired him?

[leezer99]

5 minutes ago, Jkhogbear said:

Fill me in on Mark Broadie.  I don’t know who is he is or who hired him?

He is (was?) a professor at Columbia that was also an avid golfer that invented Strokes Gained. He basically invented Moneyball for golf. Wrote the book "Every Shot Counts". 

[TripleBogeysrbetter]

13 hours ago, leezer99 said:

Spikemark is turning the rankings on their heads.  Mark Brodie has been hired and they are changing everything up. And the first rankings won't be out until October 15th.

 

v6 - Spikemark Ranking - FAQ (collegiategolf.com)

Live scoring wont even be fixed by then.  And they think rankings will be out.

 

They can't even do the basically yet.

[Jkhogbear]

Agree with this.  That’s why I don’t understand why college coaches aren’t extremely mad at this and demanding a different system.  Their careers are going to be in the hands of a

shoddy website that has already lost the trust of the community.

[Medson]

https://www.mondayq.com/posts/ncaa-we-have-a-problem

[TripleBogeysrbetter]

Great article.  Problem is the NCAA isn't going to move.

 

Spikeman is still s***.  NCAA needs to void the contract as they didn't deliver.

 

Best part of the article.

 

"Coaches had full access to the platform beginning on Aug. 1. Nearly a month later, the platform began providing live scoring for tournaments, or at least tried. Buggy pages, 404 errors and other hiccups prevented the platform from performing smoothly, if at all. “I think we all assumed some bugs would pop up, but it’s been largely non-functional,” one D-I assistant said.

One coach mentioned that the process felt rushed. “We thought we would have a test year where they ran both Golfstat and Spikemark to get their feet wet before just throwing us in there,” the coach said."

[leezer99]

2 hours ago, TripleBogeysrbetter said:

Great article.  Problem is the NCAA isn't going to move.

 

Spikeman is still s***.  NCAA needs to void the contract as they didn't deliver.

 

Best part of the article.

 

"Coaches had full access to the platform beginning on Aug. 1. Nearly a month later, the platform began providing live scoring for tournaments, or at least tried. Buggy pages, 404 errors and other hiccups prevented the platform from performing smoothly, if at all. “I think we all assumed some bugs would pop up, but it’s been largely non-functional,” one D-I assistant said.

One coach mentioned that the process felt rushed. “We thought we would have a test year where they ran both Golfstat and Spikemark to get their feet wet before just throwing us in there,” the coach said."

 

Derek Freeman (founder of Spikemark) was on the NCAA Golf committee when the decision was made to only extend the Golfstat contract for one year. 

[TripleBogeysrbetter]

58 minutes ago, leezer99 said:

 

Derek Freeman (founder of Spikemark) was on the NCAA Golf committee when the decision was made to only extend the Golfstat contract for one year. 

Makes it sound even worse.  Sounds like  a conflict of interest, but of course I don't know anything details.  What we do know is the Spikemark product is junk.

 

It should have been ran in UAT environment (User Acceptance Testing Environment) over the summer and fall for coaches and see what bugs are out there.  Then in the Spring run it as a non prod/ prod system along side golfstat like the article states.

[cubuffs]

12 minutes ago, TripleBogeysrbetter said:

Makes it sound even worse.  Sounds like  a conflict of interest, but of course I don't know anything details.  What we do know is the Spikemark product is junk.

 

It should have been ran in UAT environment (User Acceptance Testing Environment) over the summer and fall for coaches and see what bugs are out there.  Then in the Spring run it as a non prod/ prod system along side golfstat like the article states.

Spoken like a true IT expert!

[Tugu]

On 9/19/2023 at 8:06 AM, cubuffs said:

Spoken like a true IT expert!

According to the article, after 30 years in operation Golfstat had 10 employees only. This is a clear indication how small an IT job that Spikemark has royally f**ked up. 

 

It is not a site that requires serious experts. But perhaps more than a golf coach.

[leezer99]

3 hours ago, Tugu said:

According to the article, after 30 years in operation Golfstat had 10 employees only. This is a clear indication how small an IT job that Spikemark has royally f**ked up. 

 

It is not a site that requires serious experts. But perhaps more than a golf coach.

 

I just found it really funny that they didn't even bother to create an android app for spikemark. Players showed up with android phones and couldn't find it in the app store because it didn't exist.

 

Also, the website was designed mainly around not being able to be scraped for data. Just look at any text page on there and it's just an image that has been posted. You can't even right click on a tournament to open in a new tab. 

[TripleBogeysrbetter]

Listening to an interview and reportedly they started development in the summer of 2022.  Would love to see what the development lifecycle was(not) like.

[MahalNeneng]

Looks like spikemark has most their issues sorted. 

[leezer99]

1 hour ago, MahalNeneng said:

Looks like spikemark has most their issues sorted. 

 

You sure about that?

 

 

 

[Jkhogbear]

4 hours ago, MahalNeneng said:

Looks like spikemark has most their issues sorted. 

They aren’t even close to functioning.  Their website is still a disaster.  There is still no app for the kids to use to input scores. Scores are being manually sent in and tournaments are still missing.  You still can’t look at past results.  Just an utter disaster and it’s a shame because these kids deserve better.  I wouldn’t trust their rankings at all when they come out.  

[TripleBogeysrbetter]

Got lucky with live scoring for my daughter last week. Local farmer was sending me messenger pigeons.

 

So much better than Spikemark.

[Tugu]

Can anyone tell me where I can find D1 rankings?

[leezer99]

2 hours ago, Tugu said:

Can anyone tell me where I can find D1 rankings?

 

Team rankings are on Golfweek. They haven't done individuals yet.

[Tugu]

13 hours ago, leezer99 said:

 

Team rankings are on Golfweek. They haven't done individuals yet.

Again I am confused, the golfweek college ranking includes Brown University. To the best of my knowledge, Brown does not have a D1 golf team anymore.

[leezer99]

1 hour ago, Tugu said:

Again I am confused, the golfweek college ranking includes Brown University. To the best of my knowledge, Brown does not have a D1 golf team anymore.

 

I dunno man, you wanna speak to the manager?

[TripleBogeysrbetter]

On 10/7/2023 at 6:10 AM, leezer99 said:

 

I dunno man, you wanna speak to the manager?

I literally spit out my coffee reading that. Thank you!

[leezer99]

13 minutes ago, TripleBogeysrbetter said:

I literally spit out my coffee reading that. Thank you!

 

I'll be headlining at the Residence Inn next weekend. 

[golferdad8]

On 10/7/2023 at 1:52 AM, Tugu said:

Again I am confused, the golfweek college ranking includes Brown University. To the best of my knowledge, Brown does not have a D1 golf team anymore.

You're correct as Brown no longer has a D1.

However, they have a very active "club" team with a few players leftover from when they were D1. 

 

The good news is that due to prior coaches' relationships, many of the colleges have continued to invite Brown to their tournaments - and Brown has done well in them. 

This is why they show up on golfweek since they play in these tournaments. 

 

The current Brown club golf coach (who was the UPenn D1 golf coach when his wife was the UPenn Athletic Director) followed her when she became Brown's AD. From what I've heard, their plan (hope) is to get D1 golf reinstated for 2024...but they can't offer any spots yet, so stay tuned. 

[Jkhogbear]

In the least surprising news ever, Spikemark will not release their rankings tomorrow as promised and have pushed it back to mid November .

[Oliver Klozoff]

 

On 10/14/2023 at 5:55 PM, Jkhogbear said:

In the least surprising news ever, Spikemark will not release their rankings tomorrow as promised and have pushed it back to mid November .

 

A complete disaster to the coaches, kids and those that root for them.  My kids are in club golf and even they know they are a top 5 team in those rankings.  I mean if meaningless club golf where my kids are drinking High Noons and riding in carts blowing out 72s from only 6600 yards can get it right, how the heck does this get messed up at the top level   Most schools maybe it doesn't matter, but the top 30 programs where kids are subpar and fighting it out for NCAA bids and many thinking pro golf after college ... just a total disaster.  

 

 

Edited October 16 by Oliver Klozoff