So…why are you doing this?
I get this question quite a bit. Heck, I wake up some mornings and ask myself this very question.
Well, here’s the SocialPutts origin story:
A long time ago…in a galaxy far, far away…
Actually, it was in the Tampa airport.
Coming back from a rare guys weekend golf trip, we were doing what everyone else does. We were having a few beers before our flight, reliving the weekend and telling ourselves that ‘we HAVE to do this more often. This was so much fun, we HAVE to play more golf together!’
You can guess what happened next, right? Absolutely nothing changed. We all returned home, immersed ourselves in our normal routine of work, chauffeuring the kids around, coaching baseball, honey-do lists, etc. and went back to playing golf together once every few months, if we were lucky. Every time we saw each other at a birthday party or a cookout we’d always talk about playing golf soon…and it would never happen.
But WHY? (I can no longer type the word ‘Why’ without thinking of Simon Sinek) https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action
My golf buddies have flexible schedules. They can usually go into the office late or leave early without getting harassed by their bosses. Some buddies work remotely and don’t go into the office at all. We live ON a golf course, 5 minutes from each other in a neighborhood with hundreds of other golfers…so what the heck was our problem?
Not surprisingly, it turns out that we had a few problems.
First, any one of us could have played golf more often by ourselves, but for us golf is more than just a game, it’s a social event. Truth be told, we’re not great golfers, so for us playing golf is about more than just shooting a good score.
We’d rather not play alone and we don’t want to chance being paired with someone we might not get along with. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not anti-social…we’re far from it, but if we’ve managed to set aside four hours to play golf we want to KNOW we will be playing with people we like!
But didn’t I say we have flexible schedules? Our second problem wasn’t flexibility, it’s that our schedules were so fluid. They changed a LOT, and often last minute. Conference calls, meetings, soccer/baseball games rescheduled, business trips, sick kids or work piling up … these are among that we just couldn’t ignore. When we booked a round of golf 5-7 days out, more often than not one or two of us would have to bail.
These first 2 problems made coordinating golfers + course + date + time nearly impossible. This led to seemingly countless group texts and emails every time one of us unexpectedly had a free afternoon.
——————–
Me (9:55 am) – ‘My wife’s working from home today, I don’t have to pick up the kids, who’s up for golf this afternoon?’
Larry (10:04 am) – ‘I’m in! I’ve got a late call at 4:30, can we tee off at noon?’
Moe (10:04 am) – ‘Excellent! I have a late lunch meeting downtown, done at 1:30. I can be at the course by 2:30ish. That work? Can’t wait!’
Curly (10:04 am) – ‘I can bug out of work early and get 9 in before dark. If you’re playing 18 I can join you at the turn around 4ish. That work?’
Larry (10:10 am) – ‘Let me see if I can move my call.’
Moe (10:11 am) – ‘Lunch meeting just got cancelled! Woohoo! I am wide open this afternoon!’
Larry (10:15 am) – ‘Done, moved my call to 2pm, can tee off at 3. Should still be able to get 18 in before dark!’
Moe (10:16 am) – ‘Awesome, Larry!’
Me (10:04 am) – ‘Just remembered that I need to be back by 5 for baseball practice, so maybe just play 9?’
Etc.……..
——————–
You get the idea.
Out of this chaos, SocialPutts was born.
SocialPutts is a free app. that I developed to make it easier to play more golf with your buddies. Simply use the SocialPutts calendar to block out when you can play golf. SocialPutts will check your buddies’ calendars and propose a day, time and course to play.
You can also use SocialPutts to connect with other golfers who play your favorite courses, join free Beginners’ groups or Ladies’ groups and much more. We’ve kinda gotten carried away with development, but that works out well for you, because it’s all free.
Check it out today and let me know what you think!
SocialPutts on the AppStore: http://bit.ly/SPAppStore
SocialPutts on Google Play: http://bit.ly/SPDroid
