When I’m looking into a new restaurant or evaluating a company for potential service, I almost always rely on a mix of Yelp and Google Reviews. It makes the decision of picking a potential solution much less stressful.
I do the same with movies. If you’re a movie nerd like me, you might use Letterboxd or IMDB to rate the movies you watch. I then share those reviews online and with my friends and family to ensure everyone has the opportunity to share my experience.
Wouldn’t it be great if there was an app with an easy-to-use interface strictly focused on golf courses? I’m not talking about GPS apps that allow you to rate courses and log rounds. I’m talking state-of-the-art design focused on every aspect that a golfer considering their next round cares about.
After considering this, I was pleased to get an introduction to Zico Gaeffke, the mastermind behind Course Vaults.
What is Course Vaults?
Course Vaults is the review-driven golfer’s dream.
I logged on, created a quick profile, and was prompted to pick seven golf courses that I’ve played. I haven’t played many bucket-list courses so I had to search for mine manually. I started with my home courses in Utah and Virginia.
For each course, I added an overall score, a quick review and a few photos from the specific course. My score and review are then added to the mix of golfers that have also played and reviewed the same course. Essentially, Letterboxd or Yelp for golfers!
Features I loved
One of the coolest features was the leaderboard section.
The first tab is highlighted by the top-rated courses in the world with Tara Iti in Mangawhai, Northland, New Zealand currently taking the cake. Each course is rated out of 10 and gives you the opportunity to read other reviews and what makes each respective course so great.
The rest of the tabs are more focused on users at the top of the leaderboard. These sections are highlighted by rounds played, followers, photos added and captions written. If you’re a competitive person hoping to show off to the golf community, you’ll be all about this section.
Every golfer is unique. Some care about pace of play while others are focused on top-tier conditions on the course.
Course Vaults takes this into consideration with the “Sub-ratings” category that breaks down every imaginable aspect of playing a new golf course. Pace of play might be the most important thing to you and, if that’s the case, Course Vaults has a category for you.
You don’t have to guess if it’s on Course Vaults.
Final thoughts
I’ve logged 98 movies on Letterboxd and I feel a bit giddy every time I do it.
There’s something empowering about sharing your unbiased opinion. It’s mine and only mine. Having this technology in the golf world is not only fun but extremely beneficial for golfers searching for their next golf course.
These reviews based on user experiences benefit golfers that lean towards the adventurous side of the scale. At the very least, it gives the local golfer an opportunity to rave about the home course that they love so dearly.
If you’re like me and you love reviewing things, you should give Course Vaults a try. Feel free to send me a friend request to send some courses my way!
Andrew the Great!
2 weeks ago
Seems to me the metrics are too subjective to be valuable. (Same as movie reviews, IMO.) How many everyday golfers know enough about “layout”, for example, to provide an unbiased, relevant, useful review or score? I’d say almost none. As for scenery, that’s in the eye of the beholder.
I’m not interested in others’ opinions, about just about anything, when deciding what to do, other than their *experiences* such as, “Did the product work?” or “Was the food warm?” or “Was the service slow?” or “Did they fix the leak?” or “Was it a 6-hour round?”, that sort of thing.
So this is an app I won’t be downloading.