Warwick-based intelligentgolf has developed new software for World Amateur Golf Rankings counting events, becoming the first technology firm in Europe to do so.
The initiative creates significant time-savings for the R&A, which processes scores from over 4,500 events annually to produce the rankings, which have become the world’s pre-eminent amateur golf ranking system for both men and women.
After trials in 2011, intelligentgolf’s WAGR software is now in its first full season, powering prestigious 2012 amateur golf events such as the Lytham Trophy, the Carris Trophy, the Duke of York Young Champions Trophy, the Brabazon Trophy, the English Amateur Championship and many more.
Andy McDonald, R&A / USGA World Amateur Golf Rankings Manager, explains: “Immediately after an event which has used their software, intelligentgolf now sends us a pre-formatted file which contains all the event data we need. It’s easy for us to import this into our database. Most events send us a WAGR template, which requires a bit more work at our end.
“intelligentgolf are the first and so far the only software firm in Europe to have taken this initiative. It has been a huge help to us. It can save us up to 40 minutes when we’re processing a 72-hole tournament. This may not sound like much, but in the busy season we may be processing up to 175 events each week. So even if we are only processing 2 or 3 intelligentgolf events at a time, the time saving is significant.”
intelligentgolf managing director Jamie Abbott says: “As we were being asked to provide online scoring for more and more of the major amateur events, we thought it was sensible to meet with the R&A to try and streamline how we delivered the results to them, for WAGR calculation purposes. With over 9,500 golfers from 100 countries now ranked, we are delighted to play our part in helping the R&A manage this large statistical task.”
intelligentgolf software now powers thousands of events at UK golf clubs each year. Event management is part of an overall suite of tools which the firm provides for the modern golf club, making it one of the UK’s fastest-growing golf industry software vendors with integrated solutions supplied to over 100 golf clubs and half of the County Unions in English golf.
“The whole experience of working with intelligentgolf has been excellent,” says Andy McDonald. “They are very easy to deal with, and are fast, friendly and efficient.”
Intelligentgolf www.intelligentgolf.co.uk