A staggering 22,000 golfers have entered the 2012 Titleist Order of Merit (OOM) powered by HowDidiDo and Golf Monthly – more than double the number who participated in 2011.
Which makes the performances of the first monthly winners of the GolfBuddy prizes even more impressive.
The OOM, which teed off on 31 March, is showing an increase of more than 100 per cent on last year’s inaugural competition, and, each month, seven lucky winners will receive a fabulous GolfBuddy Voice audio GPS distance measuring device as a reward for their impressive showing.
And it is the Scots who have got off to a flyer in the OOM with four of the first five adult category – and GolfBuddy – winners coming from north of the border.
Ewan Fraser, from Forfar GC, produced the best monthly return in the men’s division one, while Chris Dickson, from Lochgelly GC,Fife, took the division two honours. Caldwell GC’s David Connelly topped division three, and Linda Taylor, from Largs GC, Ayrshire, was the top performer in the ladies division two.
Preventing the Scots from making a clean sweep of the April honours board was Gillian Nutter, of Formby Ladies GC, who swept aside her rivals in ladies division one.
The OOM is a virtual golf competition open to every golfer whose handicap is listed on Howdidido.com and who participates in medal competitions. Neither the player nor the club has to perform any additional entry of scores as all medal scores are automatically collated by HowDidiDo’s cutting-edge handicapping software. And, each week, the OOM leaderboard is updated with the latest scores.
Placings in the OOM are determined by each player’s five best medal rounds at their own club between 31 March and 30 September, with the scores worked out on best net differential to ensure a level playing field regardless of the difficulty of the individual courses.
HowDidiDo’s managing director, Barry Dyett, said: “We’re astonished not just with the overall number of entries for the order of merit but also how dominant the Scots have been during April.
“The standard of play has been incredibly high during the first few weeks but perhaps it’s the Scots’ inherent hardy nature which has allowed them to score so well in a time of such inclement weather.
“To have more than 22,000 golfers competing in our competition sets this order of merit apart from every other competition. To emerge victorious from a field of this size is an enormous achievement, whether just as a monthly winner or as the ultimate victor.
“This number of participants makes the order of merit one of the most subscribed sporting competitions in theUK, behind events like the London Marathon and Great North Run.”
The OOM has eight sections within which prizes can be won, including men’s, ladies and junior categories. Winners will each receive a Titleist bag, Titleist glove, cap and a dozen Titleist Pro V1 or Titleist Pro V1x golf balls. The overall winner will win a full long game fitting – for driver, fairway wood and hybrid – at a state-of-the-art Titleist fitting centre.
HowDidiDo boasts a membership of more than 330,000, and contains a database of handicaps, results and scores for in excess of 1,200,000 men and women. Standard membership is free and the plethora of statistics available allows any golfer to analyse and compare performance with other players at their own club or across the network. During 2011, the site received more than 60 million page views.
The service is also available free to any golf club – and consequently its members – which uses the market-leading CLUB2000 software from Club Systems International which is in place at around 2,000UKclubs. Standard membership at HowDidiDo is free and the plethora of statistics available allows any golfer to analyse and compare performance with other players at their own club or across the network.
Nearly 1,500 golf clubs currently use the HowDidiDo site. The service is free and welcomes new members daily.
Registration to HowDidiDo is required to check handicap lists or competition results, but it remains a free service to any golf club whose administrators use CLUB2000 software from Club Systems International.
For more information on HowDidiDo contact barry.dyett@howdididomedia.com