What is Golf ScoreKeeper?

Golf ScoreKeeper is a golf statistics package. If you are like most serious golfers, you want to improve your game every day. One way to improve is to analyze what you've been doing on the course. But such analysis takes time. Golf ScoreKeeper provides an easy solution. After the round, you can sit down at any computer with access to the Internet and enter your scores.

In its simplest form, Golf ScoreKeeper has been designed to let you login, enter your score and return to your daily tasks. Of course, if you have played a new course or want to run reports, you can stay as long as you like. You no longer have to worry about installing software, getting new revisions and making backups of your current data. If you change machines, no problem -- as long as you can access the Internet, your data is safe and ready for use.

Golf ScoreKeeper is designed to work with the latest versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape.

Why track your statistics?

For years, pros have kept shot diaries by hand to track their performance. Now your computer can display in seconds, what used to take hours to accomplish.

Ben Hogan kept a diary for every practice session. Now you can have a diary of your shot history, available to you at the touch of a mouse.

After three or four rounds, the average player (80 to 90 average score) has played between 240 and 370 shots. For most, it's virtually impossible to remember your performance and accuracy for each type of shot you've played.

If you're intent is on lowering your scores you must understand why you shoot the scores you do. Naturally, your scores are a result of the accuracy for each individual shot. And the difference between 85 and 79 might be improving on just a few key areas of your game. Now you will be able to precisely spot these areas.

Registration

Registration costs just $9.90 per year for each player. This fee is payable by credit card when you register. This registration includes unlimited reports, unlimited score entry and unlimited course entry.

When you register, you select a login and password. Simply use them on the home page form to login into the system.

How do I register?

You may register by using the online Register button on the home page.

Golf coaches and instructors

If you are a golf coach or instructor who would like to track the scoring performance for your players or students, you may use the My Account section of the web site to become a registered GSK Golf Pro. There is no extra fee for this and any GSK registered member may choose to be a Golf Pro within the web site.

As a registered GSK Golf Pro, you can review all rounds entered by your players or students. Every registered GSK member may choose from the list of registered GSK Golf Pros the person they want to be their Golf Pro. Each registered user may use the Select Golf Pro option under their My Account option in the web site to select the registered GSK Pro of their choice.

The GSK Pro will be able to review all the rounds entered by their students and will be able to post notes for the student about how the student can improve their game of golf.

Logging In

Registered members may log in to www.GolfScoreKeeper.com from the home page using the Member Login option. When this option is selected, you will be asked to provide your email address and password.

When you register with Golf ScoreKeeper, you select a password. The combination of your email address and the chosen password are used on the initial Member Login page to let you login to the system.

You may login using the email address that you enter in your My Account section of the web site after you become a registered member. The password you select may be changed in the My Account section of the site.

The Golf ScoreKeeper system uses cookies to remember your userid and password. If you have a private machine (like your home machine), the cookie will remain on your system so you need not enter the userid and password again to enter the site. Simply close your browser or go to a different site when you are finished working with the system.

If you use the Logout option on the main menu bar on the top, the cookie will be removed from your machine.

Forgot your password?

Registered members who have forgotten their password will be able to request to have their password sent to the email address we have in the site for them. Just by using the Member Login option from the GSK home page, the member will see a link called Forgot Password? Just click on this link, complete the form and the password will be sent to your email address.

Main Menu Options

When a member logs into the site, there are several main menu options to choose from. These main options are:

• Enter Rounds - this option allows you to enter rounds of golf that you have played. Before entering a round though, the information about the tees that you played (par, distance, handicap, rating, and slope) must be entered in the web site. You may use the Courses option to find the course you played and check to see if the information has been entered for the tees you played. If the information has not been entered, then you will need to use the standard scorecard from the facility where you played the round and enter the information for the set of tees before you may enter your score for the round.
• View Reports - this option will allow you to use the extensive site reporting and graphing options to analyze your scores.
• My Account - this option will allow you to review your GSK membership account. Here your options will be:
  1. Update Profile - make changes to your name, address, phone number and type of account - either playing member or golf pro member.
  2. Change Email - change your email address
  3. Change password - change your site password
  4. My Home Course - select your home course so it is easier to enter rounds for the course you play the most often
  5. My Courses - your listing of the courses you most often play (your home course is selected form this listing of courses). You may add courses from the Courses section of the main menu.
  6. My Clubs - allows you to create your own set of clubs that you carry in your bag. This is used when you enter your stroke by stoke performance.
  7. Select Golf Pro - this allows you to select one of the registered GSK Golf Pros to work with you on improving your game.
  8. View Golf Pro Notes - if you have selected a GSK Golf Pro, you will see this option when you golf pro has entered teaching notes to help you with your game performance.
• Courses - this option allows you to search for courses across the United States
• Home - this will take you to the main GSK home page.
• Start - this is the introductory page to the GSK site where your current membership status is displayed.
• Rules - these are the GSK site rules
• Privacy Policy - this is the GSK site privacy policy
• Getting Started - this is a quick explanation about how to get started using the GSK site.
• Contact Us - information on how to contact GSK
• Help - link to a complete user's guide and other information about the site.
• Logout - this link will log you out of the site and remove the cookie from the machine on which you are working.

Enter Rounds

The Enter Rounds option is where you may enter the information about your rounds of golf. When you select this option you will see your name, your Golf ScoreKeeper (GSK) calculated handicap, the total rounds and holes that you have entered in the system, your home course, the last five rounds that you have entered into the system, an option to add a round to any course and the Quick Round Entry option.

Next to your home course and next to each of the last rounds you have entered you will see links which allow you to add a round for the particular course. If you want to add a round to a different course (not the home course or one of the last five entered), just use the link below the last 5 rounds entered. If you have built a MyCourses List (see below), you will have the option to add a round for any course in you MyCourses list. When you select the main Courses option in the main menu, you may find a course by the state location and you can use the Add Round option there to add a round for that course.

There are several ways to enter your rounds of golf. Each requires a different level of detail. The more detailed your entry of your round statistics, the more information you will receive in the reporting section of the site. You are free to enter as little or as much information as you choose about each round.

The basics required to enter a round are the course you played, the date of the round, the slope and rating of the course and your final score for the round. This information is captured for every round that you enter.

The simple ways to enter rounds are:

• Total Score Only
• PGA Professional
• Hole scores only (with option for other information)
• GSK method
• Stroke by Stroke

The Total Score Only method will capture only the basic information shown above plus your total score for the round. It is the shortest way to capture the round. You may go back to a round that you have entered using this method and later add other information like the number of putts, number of penalty strokes, etc.

PGA Professional this is the method adopted by one of the PGA professionals using the Golf ScoreKeeper web site. It includes Fairways, Greens, Up and Down, Sand Saves, Putts, Penalties

The Hole scores only (with option for other information) method of data entry allows you to enter your score for each hole that you played. Using this option you will also be able to enter everything that you can enter with the GSK Method (although in a slightly different format). If you only want to track your putts on each hole in addition to your score for that hole, then this method will work well. You may enter all the information beyond your score individually. There are several variations for this method where you can select to enter some specific stats as you enter the hole by hole scores.

The GSK Method is designed to work well with the GSK Scorecard. All the information shown on the scorecard may be captured using this method in an easy to follow table layout similar to the layout of the GSK scorecard. You will be able to enter the following information in addition to the basic information:

1. Score on each hole
2. Distance to the green after your drive that lands in the fairway
3. Hit Fairway
4. Hit Green
5. Up & Down Made/Missed
6. Sand Save Made/Missed
7. Putts
8. Penalties

The Stroke by Stroke method provides the most information. For players who can sit down after a round is played and tell you every club they used on every stroke they played and what they were thinking as they approached the ball, this is an ideal method for you to enter very valuable and detailed information about your round. This method gives you a graphical way to enter your stroke by stroke play for the round.

Rounds - Adding a score

Before adding a score, you need to first have the course information entered. For information on adding a course, see below.

From the main menu, select the Enter Rounds option button. If you want to enter a round for your home course, click the link next to the name of your home course on the Enter Rounds page. You will be taken to a screen which will ask you to enter the date of the round, the category for the round (practice, tournament, etc.), who can attest to the score you are entering and the holes you played (18 Holes, Front 9, Back 9). You will also need to select the tees that you played. After you have completed this information, click on the submit button.

It is also on this screen that you will asked for the method that you would like to use to enter your data for the round (i.e. one of the 4 methods shown above)

Hole by Hole Round Entry

The normal round entry is designed to allow you to enter the round scoring with scoring statistics rather than on a stroke by stroke basis. You start by entering the scores for each hole in the appropriate boxes and then click on the Update Hole Scores to post the scores.

You may also use the icons in the legend to enter fairways hit, yards to green on par 4's and 5's for your drive, your approach to the green (green in regulation (GIR), sand save (made or missed), up and down (made or missed)). You may also enter the putts for each hole and the penalty strokes for each hole.

Stroke by Stroke Round Entry

With the stroke by stroke (graphical) method of round score entry you can enter stroke by stoke how you played the round. The graphical entry screen is made up of three sections: club selection, position selection and results section.

When entering information with the graphical approach, think of it as if you were on the course: select a club, make shot and determine where the ball went, then select next club, make shot and determine ball position and so on until you have completed the shots for the hole. Once you have finished the shots for the hole, click the option to post the hole and then move to the next hole by selecting the next hole to enter shots.

Club Selection: You may select the club you used for the shot by clicking on the link for the club in the left hand section of the graphical entry screen. Once you select a club, the selection will be shown in the right hand results section of the screen.

Position Selection: The position selection portion of the screen is shown in the middle. You will see a graphic representing either a par three, par four or par five hole (depending on which hole you have selected for each course). At the bottom you will see the name of the course, the number for the hole, the yards for the hole and the par for the hole.

You have several options here for where you can position the ball for each shot. Move your mouse to the position on the picture of the hole where your shot went and then click to enter the position. The bar at the bottom of your browser will show the different links. You will see ?POS= on each link so you can see exactly how the shot will be scored. The options you have for each hole are:

• Fairway (with distance to green on par 4 and par 5 holes)
• OBR - out of bounds right - adds a penalty stroke
• OBL - out of bounds left - adds a penalty stroke
• Water - adds a penalty stroke
• Rough_Right - puts the ball in the right rough
• Rough_Left - puts the ball in the left rough
• Green - puts the ball on the green
• Green-Left, Green-Right, Green-Front, Green-Over - positions the ball around the green
• Sand - puts the ball in a green side bunker

For par 4 and par 5 holes the distance to the green is indicated in the fairway. You may select from 250 yards to 75 yards on a par 4 and 350 yards to 75 yards on a par 5 hole. By selecting the yards to the green on shots which are in the fairway, the system can compute the distance for the shot. NOTE: For GSK Premier Golf Facility Sponsors, you will not see the generic par 3, 4 and 5 hole graphics for each hole, but rather you will see and actual graphic representation of the actual hole you played with more detailed yardage and hazard information.

Entering Putts: On each hole map image there is a "blow up" image to show the shape of the green. Clicking on this spot of the image map will cause the system to enter a putt. By default the system enters two putts once you reach the green. You can either delete or add putts as needed to finish the stroke entry for the hole.

Results Section: The area on the right of the screen shows the results achieved during the round. Here you can see the club selection, the position where the ball landed and which shot on the hole you have entered. You may delete strokes here if you made a mistake and want to re-enter the shot before the hole is posted. You may go back to any hole and re-enter the shots you took. You also see here the score card as you post the holes. When you have entered the shots for all the holes for the round, you will see a Report option which will post the round and show you a report on your performance for the round.

View Reports

There are 4 standard reports in the GSK system located on the View Reports page:

1. View/Edit Single Round - shows all rounds entered and allows you to delete a round, view the round performance or to edit the round using the hole by hole round entry screens.
2. All Rounds Performance - allows you to view performance for all rounds entered.
3. Strokes Performance - shows you performance for each club used.
4. 18 Hole Handicap - shows you the handicap performance and re-calculates your handicap based on the latest rounds entered.

Showing charts

There are 4 basic charts in the GSK system located on the View Reports page:

1. Differential - shows the round differential for each round entered
2. Par - shows how you scored for eagles, birdies, pars, bogies, double bogies, others.
3. Putting - shows zero putts, one putts, two putts, three putts and others.
4. Strokes - shows relative frequency of clubs used.

Printing a hardcopy

You may use the printing option of your browser to print any of the reports or charts that are displayed. Simply place your mouse on the report or chart, click the right mouse button and select the print option.

Updating your account

By selecting the My Account option from the main menu on the left of the screen, you will see your account profile information.. At the bottom of this screen is an option to edit your profile information. Here you can edit the following fields: first name, last name, email, userid, password, initial handicap, age, home course. The initial handicap is replaced with a handicap calculated by the system based on the rounds you enter. The handicap is replaced when you have entered at least 5 rounds of 18 hole scores. Information about the Golf ScoreKeeper (GSK) handicap may be found using the link above (just below the User Guide Table of Contents).

Courses and Tees

The main menu on the top of the screen shows the Courses option. Selecting this option will give you a map of the United States, or if you have selected a home course, you will be presented with the screen of courses for the state of your home course. Select the state for the course you are looking for. If the course is not entered, you may use the Insert new course link to add a course.

When you click on a state, you are taken to a screen which shows all the courses for that state. You may find the course by choosing the letter for the name of the course or you may enter the name of the course and search for it with the Submit button. Next to each course is a link to add a round for that course, a link to add the course to your MyCourses list (see below) and to view the details for that course. Clicking on the View link will show you all the tees which have been entered for that course, the name of the course, the name of the club, the club city, the club state and a selection for displaying a custom score card for each set of tees. You may print out the score card and take it on the round with you to help you track the information to be entered on the system when the round is completed. If you click on the Add Round option, you will be taken to the next screen for entering a round for that course.

Adding/Editing a course or tees

Adding a course is not painful, but one of the more time consuming tasks in Golf ScoreKeeper. All courses entered are available to all players to enter scores. Only the player who enters the initial data for a course will be able to edit the information for the course.

To enter a course, the following information is required: club name, course name, course state and course city. Any club may have more than one course. Any course may have one or more sets of tees. The player who enters the data for a set of tees may edit the data for that set of tees. Sometimes the tee locations are altered for a particular tournament which may change the yardage and/or par for the hole. Only unique names are allowed for the tee names, so if there is a set of Gold tees already entered and a player needs to enter a tournament set of tees for the basic Gold locations, the tees could be added as Gold-T for that particular tournament scoring.

Adding a course: From the main menu click on the Courses button to show the map of the United States. Click on the state for the new course which you would like to add. When the list of courses for that state is displayed, use the link "Add a new course" to insert a new course. Completely fill out the form with the name of the golf club, the name of the course, the city location of the course and the state for the course. When you are finished, click the submit button. You will then see a link to a page which allows you to enter the first set of tees for this new course. Enter the name of the tees and press submit. You can now enter the par for each hole, the yards for each hole and the handicap for each hole. Enter the information as it appears on the official score card.

When you have finished, click on the submit button to verify your data entry. The system will check to see that the par scores correctly add up for the front and back nine holes. It will also check to see that the total yards for the front and back nine correctly add up to the total yards you entered for the front and back nine. The system will also check to see if you have entered a handicap for each hole and if unique handicaps of 1 through 18 have been entered. You may continue re-editing the information until it is correct.

Deleting a course

Deleting course is a delicate operation because you do not want to delete the supporting information for rounds you have entered or have been entered by other players. You may delete a course only after all the tees for that course have been deleted. You may only delete tees for which no rounds have been posted. Also, you may only delete tees and courses which you have entered in to the system.

MyCourses List

When you are using the Courses option to search for a course, after you select one of the states, you will see a list of courses entered for that state. In the list is an option to Add to MyCourses. Selecting this option will add the course to your list of favorite courses and will make it easier for you to find this course again from the Rounds option.

My Home Course

You may designate any of the courses in the MyCourses list as your home course. Just go to the My Account section of the web site. You will see a selection called My Home Course. When you click on that link, the next page will give you a drop down list of all the courses that you have selected to add to your MyCourses list. From this drop down list you can select your new home course. Once it is selected, click on Submit and the new selection with be shown in red letters above the drop down list.

MyBag

When you are using the stroke by stroke entry mode to enter stroke by stroke rounds, you may find it helpful to have your own club selections for the bag of clubs you normally carry. From the profile editing screen you may select the option for MyBag and you will be able to select from a list of clubs to make up the regular 14 clubs in your bag. If the name of your club is not listed, you may enter new club names.

My Golf Pro

You may select from the list of Golf Pros a teaching pro who will be able to view your GSK statistics. When you select a Golf Pro from the list, a confirmation email will be sent to your email address and to the email address for the Golf Pro indicating that the request has been made. Once the request is confirmed by the Golf Pro, you will receive an email message indicating that your Golf Pro is ready to start reviewing your GSK statistics and providing you with on line golf teaching tips to help you improve your game.

Golf Scoring

ACE - An Ace refers to a hole in one.
ALBATROSS - Former name of a "Double Eagle" - the score for a hole made in 3 strokes under par.
AIRBALL - An airball is a complete miss while swinging at the ball and counts as 1 stroke.
BIRDIE - A birdie is one under the par for a golf hole. Example you shot 3 strokes on a par 4.
BOGEY - A score of one over par for the hole. To play a hole in one stroke over par. Example: taking 5 strokes on a par 4.
DOUBLE BOGEY - A double bogey is two over par.
TRIPLE BOGEY - is three over par.
EAGLE - score of two under par on a hole.
DOUBLE – EAGLE - Scoring a 2 on a par 5 hole, which is 3 under par. AKA an Albatross
HANDICAP - A method of equalizing competition by allowing a certain number of strokes to a golfer competing against a more skillful player. The handicap is computed from a golfer's previous scores.