GolfLink Mates Subscription

[GolfBallWhackerGuy]

Gday,
I couldnt find anything on the forum about it, but has anyone subscribed to GolfLink mates. If so, is it worth it and what are the benefits?
Also, which of the offers would be of best value?
Cheers

[Hawkers2008]

If want to be able to lookup comp results in detail and you have $30 you don't need its okay. I haven't joined up I don't reckon its worth it. The marginal cost of provding this extra data is almost zero. We all pay for golflink through affiliation, its our data (we all pay to run the bloated beast that is Golf Australia) so why should we pay any extra.

You can pay even more and get other offers like Golf Digest Mag, Callaway balls, Titleist balls. I reckon for the extra $60 the extras have been fair value.

[///M Power]

I paid my $30 and I think it is worth it.

You can print out a stats card to take with you next time you play, then you enter all the data into Golflink when you get home. It then makes all kinds of charts, you can see where you are going wrong.

It is just way more detailed, you can see how friends are going etc.

It is only $30 for a year too, I bet you'd spend way more on a night out on the turps.

[Daves]

I paid my $30 and I think it is worth it.

You can print out a stats card to take with you next time you play, then you enter all the data into Golflink when you get home. It then makes all kinds of charts, you can see where you are going wrong.

It is just way more detailed, you can see how friends are going etc.

It is only $30 for a year too, I bet you'd spend way more on a night out on the turps.

I get that info and much more from a program (on my phone) that I have already paid for and is much easier to to use. Charging for access to competition results is wrong imo.

[///M Power]

I dont have a fancy phone

[Daves]

I dont have a fancy phone



On which devices does mScorecard run?
mScorecard works on all devices that support Java J2ME applications, which means in practise most of the mobile phones on the market today.

[Hawkers2008]

Its not that I can't afford it and $30 wouldn't be an unfair price except for one thing. Its our data.

I have a phillosphical objection to paying extra for a very simple front end that retrieves the data we already own. Its extortion to ask us to pay an extra $30 over and above the $2.75 pa we already pay plus the f... knows how much GA and its predecessors sank into golflink over its life.

If they upped the price for golflink to $5 pa and gave this functionality to everyone I guess it would be okay.

[terrys]

I've vowed to never join. I don't need to see the results of comps that badly. I can just look on the sheet in the pro shop next time at the course. Next they'll be having us pay to see the results in the newspaper on a Sunday morning.

[Ned]

We all pay for golflink through affiliation, its our data (we all pay to run the bloated beast that is Golf Australia) so why should we pay any extra.

Affiliation / Capitation Fees are paid by Golfers for District, State and National Association.

Golf Australia presently get $11 per year
Golf Queensland presently charge $18 per year (I think)
FNQ District (Mens) presently get $14 per year.

Total Affiliation / Capitation fee $43 per year.

Golflink is paid by Golfers to Golf Australia who in turn pass this onto a Third Party Operator who owns the Golflink System. (Presently $2.75 per year)

The contract between GA and the Operator is up for renewal either now or soon. (If it hasn't already been done so - although there was talk of looking at what the Kiwi's use as a provider)

About 8 years ago GA (or what was then AGU) wanted to charge between $5 and $8 a year for Golflink.:roll:

Affiliation / Capitation fee $43 per year (For golfers in this District).
Golflink Fee $2.75 per year.

[PeteyD]

I think that little fee is a reason why the extras they put in are charged for. Lucky to get the handicrap management for that price.

[sms316]

I think that little fee is a reason why the extras they put in are charged for. Lucky to get the handicrap management for that price.

$2.75 x 250,000 (or so) = $687,500.

I think they do OK.

[Hawkers2008]

$2.75 x 250,000 (or so) = $687,500.

I think they do OK.

Try more like over 400,000 golfers @ $2.50 (gst ex) for more than $1.0m in annual income.

And don't forget GA's predessor fronted all of the original development costs and it and since then GA have kicked in other amounts for modifications including the USGA changeover.

[LarryLong]

Not to mention whatever they make out of some well-targeted advertising on the site.

Charging for Golflink Mates is a bit of a bad joke, really.

[PeteyD]

You guys have any idea of the overheads? How many staff? $1 000 000 does not go a long way once you pay tax and a few staff.

According to the GA website

445,000 club golfers.

[just]

I suspect Golflink would almost be a loss leader for them when you take into account overheads, or at the very least not earn them all that much profit. Maximum profit would come out of the spin offs like GL Mates.

[///M Power]

So you people will pay thousands on equipment but you won't pay $30 for Golflink Mates?

I don't get it? Big deal its 'your data.' It is such a small fee in the grand scheme of things.

[Hawkers2008]

So you people will pay thousands on equipment but you won't pay $30 for Golflink Mates?

I don't get it? Big deal its 'your data.' It is such a small fee in the grand scheme of things.

What can I say, I guess I am fiscally tight. That even applies to golf kit although I used to be an absolute club ho but that was when I was single. The other thing is that this service was free for quite a long time.

[///M Power]

OK fair enough, I am new to it so I didn't realise it was for free beforehand.

I guess that makes it a bitter pill to swallow.

[PeteyD]

Pretty sure when they introduced it, they said it was only free temporarily.

[Daves]

Pretty sure when they introduced it, they said it was only free temporarily.

Think you are right Petey, though charging for comp results was a bit of a surprise for most, including the Clubs I reckon. For me there is just no value in their $30 pa subs., simple as that.

[PeteyD]

I agree, no value add for me, but I don;t begrudge them for charging for it.

[BrisVegas]

i refuse to pay $30 to see comp results. That's bullshit imho.

[Hawkers2008]

Pretty sure when they introduced it, they said it was only free temporarily.

yes it was supposed to be something like 30 or 90 days free but it wound up being more like a year.

[Daves]

i refuse to pay $30 to see comp results. That's bullshit imho.

Yep, that is my only beef.

[shaunmook]

I just paid up my $30 to check it out for a year. Only just got back into golf and have not been a member anywhere for about 7 years.

Anyway the mates part of the website looks pretty useless particularly when at my club there is only one other guy who is signed up and I dont even know him so in other words I have no mates!!!

Anyway I was thinking for those suckers who were silly enough to sign up we should start a ozgolf.net group and add each other as mates so we can actually get something out of our subscriptions.

Anyway PM me for my membership number and surname so ya can can add me and wee can be mates!

[Veefore]

I've vowed to never join. I don't need to see the results of comps that badly. I can just look on the sheet in the pro shop next time at the course. Next they'll be having us pay to see the results in the newspaper on a Sunday morning.

The paper does make you pay.
Why shouldn't golf link make you pay for those extra things that they haven't contracted and been paid for with GA?
It's not the data they are charging extra for, you already have access to that. It's what they are doing with it that adds value.

I look at is as golflink do provide what they are paid by GA to do. If they want to do something else beyond that then they should be able to charge the people that want that extra service.

Me? I don't want that extra service so I don't pay. If someone else does think it is worth it then who am I to judge them? I am certainly not going to insult them by saying that what they think is worthwile is stupid or unworthy.

[morgy]

Well, regardless of all the ethics; I paid $30 about 2 months ago and it's fairly useless. The stats side of things can be done on a free program on your phone or your computer, or an excel spreadsheet if you're desperate. As someone said before, it's hard to actually find mates on there, and most people I know don't even use it.

Regardless of it being 'our data', it's not a new thing to be charged for collaboration and presentation. Technically, the golf scores we shoot day-in-day-out are 'our data', but you have to pay someone to regulate it and keep it legitimate. I have no problem with paying for their services, but in this case the service isn't worth the expense.

I would recommend saving your money and spending it on a good GPS program or alike. There is no real benefit to being a subscriber, unless you like to look at the club comp results with some arbitrary golflink numbers replacing the names of people, thus not being able to tell who the scores actually belong to.

[shaunmook]

I completely agree with everyones negative statements. Firstly this type of social media never works unless it is free and the amount of money they could make from advertising if everyone iwas using it would be astronomical!

Anyway I have already paid for it so I hope toactually get something out of it. I sent a heap of feedback to golflink and got a reply from them this morning. Supposedly new revisions will be coming out soon as some of the privacy fears that they had at the start have been overcome. Hence being able to see other players names and visiting their profile will soon be possible.

Would be great if each club had a homepage and you go check out who won the saturday comp at another course etc.