I am making scorecard software (need your input please)

Basically i am learning c++ and want to incorporate my love for the game of golf into it. Making a golf management game is my ultimate goal but for now I am going to test my skills with a scorecard tracking software.

I would like to know:

1. do you use software to track your scores/stats?

2. Which stats are most important and in particular which features do you find missing in other such products?

Thanks

1.  yes, keepmygolfscore.com

2.  the one feature i have never been able to find that i really, really want is a program that caluclates up and down percentage.

I thought the Scorecard software that Iacas was associated with was pretty good.

The most important thing when it comes to keeping track of stats is that it should be smooth to enter them in.  Having to TAB around or move the mouse excessively when trying to put in stats is a pain in the butt.  I think the stats (inputs and outputs) are pretty generic when it comes to what you can actually do and what you can record during a typical round, but having it be user friendly is a huge key.  Personally I think that's what would separate a good program from a poor one.

A few of the better stats I've seen that help out are:  Misses (green and off the tee) to the left or right (one of my favorite inputs), distance to the hole once on the green or distance of first putt (another awesome stat to note), distance to the hole and a space to put the club used so you can get an idea of how far you hit your clubs on the course, # of putts, sand save %'s, up and downs.  Then from there you can write some programs that can go back and calc your GIR and FIR, driving distance, etc.

Good luck.

check out the many posts on here about smartphone apps.  Golfshot, Golfcard, golflogix etc.  Check out websites like oobgolf, ushandicap, etc.  They all already do this and will give you a good start on what to include

Most smartphone apps do this. ushandicap.com does too.

I did this as my first project learning objective c too.

I've been looking for golf stat software and have been disappointed in everything so far both free and fee.  Here's what I'd like to be able to track:

Fairway hit

If I miss what side did I miss

Drive distance

% of Greens hit from > 200 yards

% of Greens hit from 199 to 150

% of Greens hit from 149 to 100

% of Greens hit from 100 and less

I would like the software to tell me on what side; short, long, left or right my misses are from these distances

Putts per GIR

Total putts per round

# of putts from 30' +

# of putts 29 to 20 feet

# of putts from 19 to 10

# of putts from 9 feet and in

% of putts taken of the total score

One putts (distance)

Two putts (distance)

Three putts (distance)

Total feet of putts made

% U&D; from 50' and greater

% U&D; from 49 to 30

% U&D; from 30 to 15

% U&D; from 15 and in

% U&D; for all distances

% Sand saves

And then all the handicap calcs and all that junk.

That's a start.  I know it's a lot but, you asked.

BTW, this is all stuff I track via old fashioned methods of scorecards and paper.

Would you want to enter this information for each hole, or just put in totals for a round?

Also how do you prefer to keep these stats while on the course? Phone or piece of paper?

If its paper would you like to be able to print a card out to take with you or scribble your own notes?

Most importent for me would be:

User friendly - meaning easy and quick. Otherwise i simply give up

M

If you're going to do a phone app for use during the round, that's cool, but I know personally I'll always use a scorecard.  Again this is just me, but I input all the additional info above score (misses, # putts, etc) after I get home after the round.  Maybe you can even make it so the program has prompts that come up and automatically give you the next input that you need to fill in.  On a typical Par 4 you could have the program "ask" these questions in an order which makes sense like you're running through the hole in your head.

'which club did you use off the tee'

'did you hit the fairway' if not it will ask which side.

'how far to the green did you have'

'which club did you use'

'did you hit the green'

'if answered no where did you miss'

'how far were you from the hole on the green'

'did you make your first putt'

'did you make your 2nd putt'

etc, etc, then the program should be able to go back and calculate certain things like GIR, FIR, # putts, save %s for your round, and even give you how far you typically hit your driver, irons, your most commons misses, # of total putts, all that good stuff.  I know it seems like a lot of questions per hole, but I think if you make the prompts intuitive enough then you should be able to breeze through the selections and have a lot of good info on your round.

GolfLogix does this and though I thought it was a great idea, I find it to be annoying.  It makes it harder to go back and fix something or if you dont feel like entering one of those stats you have to make it and it ends up affecting your totals.  Its just a bit more bulky in my opinion.

Maybe you can make it so the inputs you want to do are optional?  That way if you want to do just straight score and GIR FIR that's fine, but if you want to go indepth you have the choice.  I'm decent with excel and could do something pretty straight forward, but I don't know c++ or anything actually useful.

THIS!!  i'd love to have something i can print out to keep score with!

//also, why c++ and not c#?

Perhaps because c++ is more "universal" and is easier to compile for multiple platforms.  C# development is pretty much tethered to Windows unless you're using Mono (which seems like a pain tbh). I use c++ libraries all the time with my objective c work (which is Mac/ios only). Plus, the syntax for c++ is really close to c# and other c based languages, so learning c# would be pretty easy if he knows c++ already.

yeah, good point.  i just hate c++, or rather hate reading other people's c++... people can go global variable crazy..

Yeh basically I read up and decided c++ is used for more stuff, and also have better performance. I want to learn c# also for the XNA studio stuff, but im learning c++ first. Unless someone can convince me c# really is that much easier to learn.

Thanks guys have some great ideas based on your feedback. Will let you know if  I get something going.

Hole-by-hole is my preference.

I prefer to write stuff down and then transfer to my computer later on after the round.  Things like battery life, glare, and the little keypad make it too difficult to enter stuff via my phone.  And since I already have a scorecard in my pocket it's only a couple extra seconds to jot down the other things I track.

I have a shorthand method for keeping all my stats so a print out wouldn't be necessary for me, but for someone that is new to tracking their info, I could see how that would be a nice option.

A couple other things I thought of:

If you have multiple rounds at the same course the ability to track your scoring average for each hole, par 3s, 4s and 5s for that particular course would be a nice addition.

for me it would be the ability to keep track of stableford scores without having to enter the stroke index for every hole

i used to use golfcard all the time until some idiot changed it

for score tracking i use oob golf