TD Question - What makes you remember an event?

[JC17393]

Having done live scoring from my phone while playing, it does not necessitate letting anyone else use your phone. How it worked in my group was I did the live scoring and in exchange, I didn't have to handle the paper card during the round. It always works out fine.

The PDGA has taken steps of late to make it easier to allow for players to live score their rounds. There is now an interface separate from the main tournament manager (pdga.com/score) and a password that can be set by the TD just for that interface (no more sharing the password for the entire tournament). And the interface is extremely light (no graphics) so it does not require a high bandwidth connection to be updated...if the phone has signal to text or make a call, it can update scores.

The only disadvantage to live scoring through PDGA.com (and probably uDisc as well) is that it requires some pre-round work to set up. If your tournament has too much morning walk-up traffic, there may not be time to set up live scoring unless you have a volunteer dedicated to setting it up separately from whatever other preparations are needed for the first round (someone doing the online work while others do the scoreport and scorecard prep). But if the field is pre-registered and all players are entered online in advance, live scoring is fairly easy to set up even the morning of the tournament.

With this new interface, my intention is to offer live scoring as an option at all my future events, provided there isn't a lot of morning-of changes needed. It only takes a line or two on the player program/caddy guide or a separate business card sized hand-out with the link for scoring and the password, and maybe some short instructions (though it is fairly intuitive once logged in). I think it makes a great additional feature for players that want it, and as it becomes a bit more commonplace, it won't be much of a burden either. The key thing is that it can't be expected to replace paper cards.

 

[bschick]

Thanks, JC. It will be pre-reg only.

 

[scarpfish]

Overreact much, scarp?

I never overreact to anything on DGCR, ever. In the nine years I've been on this site any criticism I've given to not well thought out ideas, crappy reviews, vertically shot course pictures shot in the middle of winter, people can't post without a stupid Tapatalk signature following their comments, I assure you it was warranted, as well as any salt I poured over that criticism.

It says not mandatory, so I would assume there will be scorecards. Who says someone else has to use your phone?

If everyone is not on the same system, then it greatly devalues the whole point of going to electronic scoring. In which case, why do it?

Even if my phone isn't used, someone else's would be. Maybe they have the same reservations that I have.

And even if they're okay with it, we're only going to need the scoring app about every ten minutes or so, and quite possibly every time we need to whip it out, the phone may be locked, requiring the owner to unlock it again. If said owner "volunteers" to be full time scorekeeper to deal with that, well that's yet another problem.

The thing is, the tradition of using a dedicated low tech object that belongs to no one, and sharing the duties of recording scores on that object exists for a reason. Changing that for some perceived benefit presents challenges that people who think that technology is the bee's knees often don't consider. There's nothing wrong with bringing those matters up.

 

[ToddL]

You're still missing the whole point. You offer the PLAYERS the ability to provide live-scoring for their own card. If they don't want to, no problem. If they do want to, great. If a caddy wants to do it on his own phone, that's fine too. If a spectator/volunteer offers to do it, fine. The players have total control. If they don't want a volunteer to stick their nose in after every hole, then they politely decline. If all four of the players don't want the distraction, that's okay - there will just be a few players missing from live scoring.

I've seen it done successfully plenty of times. You can include a little note on each group's scorecard: "We are offering live scoring for this event. If one of the players on this card would like to volunteer to keep track of the scores, please go to www.pdga.com/scoring and use the password 'ThisTournament2017' to enter scores for your group." If they choose to do it, fine. If they choose not to do it, fine.
But it's pretty cool to have every single player live-scored for all 4 rounds.

 

[brutalbrutus]

Thx Todd... Isn't it funny how someone says they never overreact right before overreacting for a second time.

 

[jtrod]

I Coach high school ball golf and we use semi-live scoring for several big events. The players keep score on their scorecards as normal and every 2/3 holes, depending on the amount of coaches we have available, then the scores are inputted. This keeps the responsibility of scoring on the players and allows everyone to see how the field is playing

 

[bschick]

I Coach high school ball golf and we use semi-live scoring for several big events. The players keep score on their scorecards as normal and every 2/3 holes, depending on the amount of coaches we have available, then the scores are inputted. This keeps the responsibility of scoring on the players and allows everyone to see how the field is playing

That's a my hope as well, jt!

 

[Sunday Mike]

I'm not really an events sort of guy. I just like playing regular rounds w/ my bros. Those are the rounds I remember.

 

[knettles]

Doughnuts!