My typical weekend round of golf involves 20 or so players in "The Game," competing in a small stakes team competition. The few bucks on the line might only be enough to cover lunch, but it's the ribbing and busting of chops that really make it fun.
Play great and you'll get grief from the teammates you let down the previous week (or three months ago . . . memories are long in The Game). Play poorly and you'll be rooting for your partners to turn in scores even worse, because no one wants to be the goat.
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But the game within the game is the hustling within the round. Since you don't play with your teammates, you're bound to spend plenty of time observing them: "Uh oh, Dick just dribbled one off the 7th tee." And more time trying to interpret body language: "Hmm, is George racing off that green because he just made a great putt, or because he's mad he just missed."
It's all part of The Game.
But maybe it's time to quit guessing, and drag The Game into the year 2015, with
VPar 4.0, a phone app I had the chance to recently take for a test drive. VPAR has long been a leader in live scoring at events, such as outings and tournaments. But it now offers a product for groups of all sizes, plus features such as GPS-powered hole overviews and yardages, statistics tracking, and social media sharing — all on your smartphone.
"We’ve always envisioned VPAR as the only golf app you’ll ever need,” Jason Stoop, VPAR president and managing director, said of the new rollout. “More than ever with 4.0, we feel that we’re providing amateur golfers with an intuitive and unobtrusive method for accessing the features necessary to enhance their golf experience.”
During my round with VPAR, I found it intuitive and fun. Very importantly, given the concerns with pace of play, recording scores took no longer than writing them on a scorecard. And especially on a golf course I'd never played before, it was nice having the GPS hole layouts. It was particularly fun to keep tabs on the match we were playing against the other group we were with, although it would've been more fun had they put up a bit of fight (sorry, if it weren't for ball breaking, what would be the point?).
There are a lot of gadgets floating around, but VPAR is one of the best, thanks to its neat, useful bundle of tools, especially for those looking to share scores and follow along with the rest of their playing companions.
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Fast facts about VPAR:
- VPAR Live Golf Scoring recreates the excitement of a professional tournament by allowing golfers to input scores on handheld devices and create a live leaderboard experience on the course, in the clubhouse, and online.
- As a tournament scoring management service, VPAR provides dedicated staff, equipment, and instruction for about 1,000 annual events in more than 20 countries.
- As the world’s No. 1 golf app and winner of the ‘Best Sports App’ at the Sports Technology Awards 2014, VPAR’s technology is available for all golfers including buddy trips and golf vacations.
- In addition to live leaderboards, the app also includes GPS & course planner, performance tracking, a directory of 30,000 courses worldwide, and full social sharing capability.
- It is available on the App Store for a yearly subscription of $8.99.
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