5 ms·

Show HN: In-depth photographic look at all the golf courses I play

18 points by golfer 4y ago

I'm an avid golfer; it's my main hobby. I decided to start taking pictures of all the courses I play. While there's a lot of golf websites out there, none of them really try to document the courses in depth and look at each hole, along with the course facilities like the practice areas. I live in Chicago and am starting with the courses in this area (of which there are dozens of public courses to play). While I play golf, I take photos with my phone of every (relevant) aspect of the golf course I can think of. Then they're processed and organized on the website. Obviously I'm starting this journey on my own, and in that sense it's not scalable. I won't be able to visit all the courses in the US, let alone the world. I hope to find others that would like to contribute to the effort. At some point I'd like to add course news and histories to the site. Many golf courses in the US are over 100 years old and have rich histories. And of course many older courses exist in Europe. I also have started adding descriptions/commentary for each hole on courses. For example, see: https://www.golfscout.net/golf-hole/wilmette-golf-club-wilmette-illinois/5 https://www.golfscout.net/golf-hole/wilmette-golf-club-wilme... And maybe went a little overboard on this one: https://www.golfscout.net/golf-hole/billy-caldwell-golf-course-chicago-illinois/8 https://www.golfscout.net/golf-hole/billy-caldwell-golf-cour... Anyway, it's a fun project and could go in a lot of directions. PS: I'm always looking to expand my golfing circle. If you're in Chicago and want to play sometime, hit me up -- contact details are on the website.

primebl 4y ago
A lot of the type of info I'm looking for when looking up courses, cool
- golfer 4y ago
  Glad to hear it!
andrewfromx 4y ago
Very nice site, even looks perfect on mobile. Where did https://www.golfscout.net/assets/css/main.css https://www.golfscout.net/assets/css/main.css come from? Your own creation?
- golfer 4y ago
  Thanks! The site uses a heavily modified Pixelarity template: https://pixelarity.com/ https://pixelarity.com/ One of the best subscriptions I've ever signed up for.
cinntaile 4y ago
When it says "x photos", it looks like a clickable button but it's not. I thought that was a bit confusing.
- golfer 4y ago
  Good call, thanks for the feedback. I'll update that.
- chptung 4y ago
  +1 this feedback! It's what I thought too!
monjumm 4y ago
beginnings of yelp for golf courses, love it!
- golfer 4y ago
  Thanks!
0des 4y ago
> Obviously I'm starting this journey on my own, and in that sense it's not scalable. Are you taking contributions?
- golfer 4y ago
  I would love to! I haven't thought about the best way to approach it yet but would love to have collaborators.
  - 0des 4y ago
    A document or short guide would be cool to show people how you want the pictures and measurements formatted, and what types of things matter to your concept.
listenallyall 4y ago
I can appreciate your passion but there is a reason even the golf courses' own web sites don't go into this much detail... nobody wants to read 18 novels per golf course. Maybe for Augusta National but not a local muni. Simple reviews -- great idea. Many examples out there like Top100golfcourses.com . But on your site, I can read your descriptions but still don't really get a feel of whether or not you enjoyed the course, were the conditions good, pace, good value, etc. Go for it as long as you are enjoying it, though.
- golfer 4y ago
  Fair enough. It's more a passion project than anything. I do enjoy it and have learned a lot about things like imagemagick and such in the process.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
- ChristianGeek 4y ago
  Based on other responses, there are obviously people who do want to read this level of detail. Good thing the internet caters to everyone.
  - listenallyall 4y ago
    You're right. Let's just tell every Show HN submission that they built the greatest site ever, that they had the most original idea that has never been tried before, and they're just an awesome person for creating this perfect thing which cannot be improved in any possible way! Oh, and don't forget that all of us readers would absolutely pay $10, no, $100 per month for this amazing new content!
whycombagator 4y ago
You may be interested in a similar endeavour: https://www.flickr.com/photos/golfcoursepix/collections/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/golfcoursepix/collections/ & the site for it: https://golfcourses.weebly.com/index.html https://golfcourses.weebly.com/index.html Your effort is highly localized right now but far more in depth which is appreciated

18 points by golfer 4y ago

primebl 4y ago

A lot of the type of info I'm looking for when looking up courses, cool

golfer 4y ago
Glad to hear it!

andrewfromx 4y ago

Very nice site, even looks perfect on mobile. Where did https://www.golfscout.net/assets/css/main.css https://www.golfscout.net/assets/css/main.css come from? Your own creation?

golfer 4y ago
Thanks! The site uses a heavily modified Pixelarity template: https://pixelarity.com/ https://pixelarity.com/ One of the best subscriptions I've ever signed up for.

cinntaile 4y ago

When it says "x photos", it looks like a clickable button but it's not. I thought that was a bit confusing.

golfer 4y ago
Good call, thanks for the feedback. I'll update that.
chptung 4y ago
+1 this feedback! It's what I thought too!

monjumm 4y ago

beginnings of yelp for golf courses, love it!

golfer 4y ago
Thanks!

0des 4y ago

> Obviously I'm starting this journey on my own, and in that sense it's not scalable. Are you taking contributions?

golfer 4y ago
I would love to! I haven't thought about the best way to approach it yet but would love to have collaborators.
- 0des 4y ago
  A document or short guide would be cool to show people how you want the pictures and measurements formatted, and what types of things matter to your concept.

listenallyall 4y ago

I can appreciate your passion but there is a reason even the golf courses' own web sites don't go into this much detail... nobody wants to read 18 novels per golf course. Maybe for Augusta National but not a local muni. Simple reviews -- great idea. Many examples out there like Top100golfcourses.com . But on your site, I can read your descriptions but still don't really get a feel of whether or not you enjoyed the course, were the conditions good, pace, good value, etc. Go for it as long as you are enjoying it, though.

golfer 4y ago
Fair enough. It's more a passion project than anything. I do enjoy it and have learned a lot about things like imagemagick and such in the process.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
ChristianGeek 4y ago
Based on other responses, there are obviously people who do want to read this level of detail. Good thing the internet caters to everyone.
- listenallyall 4y ago
  You're right. Let's just tell every Show HN submission that they built the greatest site ever, that they had the most original idea that has never been tried before, and they're just an awesome person for creating this perfect thing which cannot be improved in any possible way! Oh, and don't forget that all of us readers would absolutely pay $10, no, $100 per month for this amazing new content!

whycombagator 4y ago

You may be interested in a similar endeavour: https://www.flickr.com/photos/golfcoursepix/collections/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/golfcoursepix/collections/ & the site for it: https://golfcourses.weebly.com/index.html https://golfcourses.weebly.com/index.html Your effort is highly localized right now but far more in depth which is appreciated