Preparing your golf club for the World Handicap System

Player Score input (PSi) from Club Systems has revolutionised how handicap committees process competition cards. And now, with a major upgrade ahead of the introduction of the World Handicap System, it’s making life easier for club golfers as well.

Golf IT’s market leader, Club Systems International (CSI), has simplified the way golfers input their scores with a redesign of its PSi software.

The new-look software is available to existing ClubV1 customers using 15”, 17” or the new 10” compact version and will work on the majority of existing hardware.

The new PSi design puts the emphasis on ‘usability’, making it easier for players to enter and confirm their score by splitting 18-hole competitions into separate nine-hole score-entry screens: the front and back nines. This streamlining allows for larger buttons and an easier-to-read scorecard, while the software prompts users to confirm the score after each nine to prevent errors being discovered later in the process.

Fulwell GC, near Twickenham, has upgraded recently and tweeted: “It’s been brilliant here at Fulwell. Definitely worth the free upgrade, members love the new interface.”

Other parts of the PSi have been redesigned to allow for a clearer sign-in process to multi-tee competitions – a format that allows the golfer to play in a single competition from a tee appropriate to their ability rather than gender. This format is being used more and more by clubs seeking to find ways to be inclusive to golfers of both genders and of any ability.

CSI’s managing director, Richard Peabody, explained: “The redesign is part of our ongoing mission to not only provide industry-leading products to club managers and administrators, but also to club golfers, by improving our member-facing products that are powered by the hugely successful and popular online golf community, HowDidiDo.

“Within the new software we have a completely new PSi leaderboard which takes inspiration from contemporary sports TV channels for a modern look and feel. It will work smoothly with the majority of existing systems, is available now and can be updated via a call to our support team or contacting them via email or live chat.”

The 10” PSi is proving a popular, cost-effective way of supplementing existing terminals at clubs, or for clubs on a tighter budget, providing player-score input for the first time. And, with world handicapping on the horizon, touch-screen score input will be fundamental to the new system, so the affordable 10” PSi could be just the solution smaller clubs need.

England Golf recently ran more than 40 workshops introducing the World Handicap System (WHS) to thousands of club administrators and committee members across the whole country. CSI’s relationship manager, Darren Wood, and his team of account managers attended each show, offering  support and advice to users of their systems as well as providing practical solutions to help prepare the club’s IT for the introduction of WHS in 2020.

Wood said: “We are really keen to help our national unions in their mission to prepare golf clubs ahead of 2020, not only with education and support but by ensuring they have the necessary IT to administer WHS effectively.

“This is where our affordable 10” version of PSi certainly comes into its own. It takes advantage of the same redesigned software in use on our larger models, but in a compact, cost-effective unit. It certainly created plenty of interest at the WHS workshops.”

But CSI has not restricted its 2018 developments to player score input. It’s also set to release an update to its popular PSiBoard, a large-screen information centre designed to display on a TV at the golf club. A small PC sits behind the screen supplying a live feed of video, news and a live leaderboard for members and visitors at the club.

Again, the redesign has been influenced by modern sports news channels for a contemporary look, while making greater use of video content to benefit both club manager communication and member engagement.

It also includes a new-look leaderboard, filling the whole screen, periodically, during live competitions, while other tweaks incorporate feedback received from both club officials and members at a recent focus group. The new look PSiBoard will be available later this year.

Peabody added: “We continue to invest in the development of all our products and most recently we have been concentrating on player score input: specifically, the ability to offer a cost-effective solution to all golf clubs without sacrificing the industry-leading software powering our larger models.

“CSI now offers the most up-to-date, user-friendly software to all ClubV1 PSi users as an upgrade at no extra cost.

“As with all developments we take customer feedback very seriously, understanding that customers are best placed to tell us what they want from their software providers. With these new innovations we believe we’ve improved the user experience of two of our key products and we look forward to seeing the new PSi in golf clubs across the UK and Ireland throughout the summer, and the revamped PSiBoard later in the year.”

See the new PSi at an autumn roadshow

CSI’s range of new and existing products – including PSi, updates to the industry-leading Merlin Touch EPoS till system, and, of course, the UK’s most popular cloud-based solution, ClubV1 – will be on show at the company’s annual autumn roadshows, which are set to be held at various golf clubs throughout the UK and Ireland.

Club Systems International has been designing, building and supporting IT systems for golf clubs since 1982. Now, with nearly 2,000 golf clubs in the UK and Ireland – along with customers as far afield as Dubai, Ghana and Sri Lanka – CSI has grown to lead the UK and Ireland golf club market.

For more details on CSI’s latest products or to make an enquiry, tel 0345 222 9999, email sales@clubsystems.com or go to www.clubsystems.com. You can also follow CSI on social media on Facebook @ClubSystemsInternational and on Twitter @ClubSystems