It was the year 2006 and both me and the other GameBook co-founder Kalle Väinölä had spent most of our adult lives playing competitive golf. We had made it to tournaments on The Challenge Tour and even The European Tour, but hadn’t really succeeded in making the final breakthrough. As it began to dawn on…
The story of Golf GameBook began almost a decade ago. 10 years might not be a very long time in some contexts, but when it comes to anything digital the world looked very different back in 2006. So different in fact, that nobody really talked about digitalization (especially the digitalization of golf) and people weren’t…
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you got to play golf against some of the best players in the world? It may not sound like you would have great odds playing against the likes of Rory McIlroy, Henrik Stenson or Ian Poulter, but what if it was match play? And you got to…
You know how they say that “less is more”? Well, we don’t necessarily agree with that. Or what do you think of a golf tournament with over 250,000 participants and more than 100 winners? For the second consecutive year, Golf GameBook organised the biggest (and most fun) golf tournament in Finland. Starting in the beginning of…
We went to Abu Dhabi last week as did many of the world’s best golfers. And as it happens, we were lucky enough to exchange a few words with a very happy winner who had a strikingly wide grin on his face. No doubt that Frenchman Gary Stal was feeling like the luckiest man in…
Not too many days left of the year 2014. From GameBook’s point of view, it’s been a year of great stories. We chose the very best of them. GameBook user of the year We have an astonishing number of magnificent, active and loyal users around the world, but the man of more than 1000 rounds…
GameBook is all about enhancing your golf experience. This naturally includes all the 26 different game formats that you can play, our pro-style live scoring and the nearly endless social opportunities. But not only that. We offer our users the chance to compete in different contests and win themselves golf experiences that money can’t buy….
We are ready to offer some lucky and talented golfers the golfing adventure of a lifetime as the national finals of Volvo World Golf Challenge will be played in both Sweden and Austria this weekend. From these national finals golfers will qualify for the Volvo World Golf Challenge World Final, often referred to as the world’s…
It’s that time of the year again. This Saturday I will lead my team as a captain of Team Europe. We are aiming for back-to-back win against Team USA. It will be the 7th edition of The Cider Cup, biennial team matchplay tournament between two teams and a dozen good friends. We will play golf….
“I remember standing on the tee, looking over my shoulder at the back tee and thinking ‘Jack Nicklaus has stood on that tee’. The feeling was almost surreal”, said Craig Carrington after BMW and Golf GameBook had arranged for 22 British golfers to feel like the pros at The Belfry’s legendary Brabazon course last Thursday. Earlier…
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In this blog Golf GameBook’s staff will discuss the app and Golf related topics – all for the sport we love.
We believe every golfer deserves a gallery to share experiences with other golfers and a diary to store their precious golf memories. That’s what GameBook is all about.
Golf GameBook app is like a clubhouse in your pocket. We offer you the most effective and social way to keep score in golf allowing you to connect with other golfers and share live results, comments, photos and videos – no matter where you are, on and off the golf course.
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“I remember standing on the tee, looking over my shoulder at the back tee and thinking ‘Jack Nicklaus has stood on that tee’. The feeling was almost surreal”, said Craig Carrington after BMW and Golf GameBook had arranged for 22 British golfers to feel like the pros at The Belfry’s legendary Brabazon course last Thursday.
Earlier this spring BMW teamed up with Golf GameBook to offer all British golfers a chance to make their way to Gleneagles, where the 40th edition of The Ryder Cup will be played between 26 and 28 September. The campaign was called BMW Road to Gleneagles 2014 and it started out with an 11-week long mobile tournament, where all rounds played with GameBook any time and anywhere in the country took part.
All rounds resulting in 30 or more Stableford points where entered into a prize draw. Every week one winner was randomly drawn and awarded with a spot to The Belfry Playoff – and a chance to play their way to The Ryder Cup.
Each of the weekly winners got to invite a teammate to come along to The Belfry Playoff that was played as a Better Ball Stableford competition between the teams. The event fulfilled some of the biggest dreams of these 22 participants. Starting with playing in a pro-style event on the famous Brabazon course, followed by some top of the line prizes such as custom fitted clubs from Titleist and topped off with getting to experience The Ryder Cup live.
Sharon and Ali Simmons registering at BMW tournament office.
”Today was excellent”, said one of the participants, Ali Simmons from Drayton Park Golf Club after a day of great golf was over. ”First class organisation all the way through, it was a great day”, he continued. ”And fun as well, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves”, added his wife Sharon, who had won the spot in the playoff event during the 8th week of the mobile tournament.
Winners Stephen Woods (r) and Craig Carrington collect their prizes from Golf GameBook’s Emma.
Woods & Carrington will be headed to Gleneagles
At the end of the day it was Stephen Woods and his teammate Craig Carrington who took home the victory, tickets to The Ryder Cup and a custom fitted set of Titleist clubs each. Their final score of 42 Stableford points was 5 more than the next teams were able to achieve. Behind the winning duo the fight for the other great prizes was very tight as a total of three teams ended up with 37 points.
”As we were driving down the 18th, we didn’t know what the situation was as the last 3 holes were hidden from the live scoring. So we had to expect the worst even though we had a couple of shots’ lead going into the last 3 holes. We had a decent 16 and 17 and the last thing you wanted to do on the 18th was loose your ball, not put in a score and loose by one”, Craig explained.
Even though the win might seem easy, this was one of the toughest spots the duo from Whittlebury Park Golf & Country Club has been put on during their 12 years of golf together. ”I’ve never been so nervous! I actually counted and there were about 25 people watching when we teed off, plus a camera pointed at me”, Craig described. ”We’ve played thousands of rounds of golf, and I was just asking myself why are you nervous? You could do this blindfolded any Sunday morning”, Stephen explained. ”I can’t even begin to imagine what it is like for Rory or somebody standing over a putt when you could go to world number one or win a Major or win a million pound. I’m shaking in my boots already at this level”, Craig added.
Stephen Woods teeing off at The Belfry Playoff.
Rooting for Europe
By winning The Belfry Playoff Stephen and Greg earned themselves tickets to watch the action unfold at Gleneagles this September. They will be there for the opening ceremony on Thursday and stay until the winning putt is sunk on Sunday.
They have clear expectations for the week. “It’s probably the biggest ever year for Europe. If you look at their side, they are simply fantastic. The worst thing they could probably do is go in with too high hopes, have a bad day 1 and panic. I think it’s theirs for the taking”, Craig analysed. “It’s going to be great to get to go that close to the professionals and see how easy they make the game look compared to what we do. It is a totally different game”, Stephen concluded.