[Chris Haspell]

Hello all , and sorry for not posting much of late, just to late you all know our new website has just gone live , please have a look and give me your critic/feedback , we have tried to be a little different , anyway any comments are more than welcome we value your Input .

cheers for now

Chris

[David_Tepper]

www.castlestuartgolf.com

[Melvyn Morrow]

Chris

Like it, in fact I feel that you have done a better job than the Links Trust with their coverage of TOC. Like the photo of the Hole and the aerial sketch of the hole to the right hand side.

I must admit I have not looked in detail at you site in the past, but do feel that it certainly helps those who may be planning a first trip to understand your course. Certainly something the Links Trust need to uprate as yours is so much superior IMHO.

Thanks for the info.

Melvyn 

[Anthony Gray]

  Castle Stuart is a must play.


  Anthony

[Niall C]

Chris

Clearly an awful lot of effort went into the site so please forgive these slightly critical comments; not sure that the overall aerial photograph on the front page does you any favours. IMHO the course photographs and looks better at ground or slightly elevated level. The overall aerial just highlights the cart paths and makes the super wides fairways look like fields. Yes I'm biased about the width of the fairways but suspect others might agree. The other comment is perhaps your showing too much and telling too much as daft as that sounds. Maybe better to show a little to stir the imagination and let the growing reputation of the course do the rest.

BTW, best of luck with the new season. Hopefully I'll be back working at the Scottish Open with better weather than last time.

Niall

[Jim Tang]

Chris -

You've got a lot of great information on the site and it seems very user friendly.  The pictures are awesome and give the viewer a real sense of what the course is like.  I'll agree with Niall, in that perhaps there is too much information offered.

Hopefully, I'll be out that way sometime in the summer of 2013, my first visit to Scotland.

[Alex Miller]

Love the distinctive course features videos. Seems like some of the best relayed information regarding GCA information to the average golfer out there. Very cool!

[Mark_F]

Hello all , and sorry for not posting much of late, just to late you all know our new website has just gone live , please have a look and give me your critic/feedback , we have tried to be a little different , anyway any comments are more than welcome we value your Input .

Okay, I'll give you some.

The patterned background is DREADFUL. Lose it immediately.

There is far too much going on with each page.  Way too many words, the font is too small, too many choices, note enough clean, simple visuals. 

Selecting your own background image is kind of unique, but unnecessary.

Most of the menu items from the main nav bar have too many options as well.

The main text box is out of kilter with the rest of the design.  It is quite jarring.

Being different is fine.  But you still have to be cohesive, logical and clear.   

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Chris,

We'll all make comments, I'm sure. But I admire your guts in putting yourself on the line. Whatever comments are made are probably meant with sincerity.

Mark.

[Howard Riefs]

Chris,

If only Richard Choi was posting, he could provide an insightful review. I recommend sending him an IM to see if he'd give it a look.

In the interim, here's Richard's basic recommendations for club websites from this 2009 post (http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,39433.0.html):

Cool! Here is a topic where I have some ACTUAL expertise...

I have yet to find a golf course website that has been satisfactory, to me at least (I guess Bandon Dunes website comes the closest).

I believe the golf course website has to accomplish following objectives (in order of importance);

1. Present the course to the visitor (especially for people who have never been to your site).

2. Convey information about how much it costs and when.

3. Allow visitors to make a tee time reservation.

4. Contact information

5. Information about latest condition and events

6. Any other miscellaneous information about the facility

Most golf courses do not do a good enough job with the task #1 - presenting the course.

You should have oodles and oodles of pictures. Professional photography is great, but it would be fine just to have regular digital shots. There is no reason why you cannot have at least 5 to 10 shots of every hole.

Ideally, the you have the top-down course diagram so that people can view the hole orientation and click on any particular hole to get a detailed descriptions. (kinda like how they do it on http://www.masters.com/en_US/course/index.html - but with more pictures!!!)

You should also describe every hole, especially any strategy involved. The course descriptions here on GolfClubAtlas.com would be a GREAT thing to copy.

Case in point; we have a fantastic web page about the creation of the 13th hole at Rustic Canyon by Geoff Shackelford. Why would you NOT want to have that at the Rustic Canyon site itself?

The second thing that most sites do not do well is conveying current status. You should have a clear calendar of events so that people can either sign up for an event or know when to avoid the course (reseeding, punching the green, tournaments, etc.). You should also let the people know what the current course conditions are like. Chambers Bay has a great series of posts by the Super Intendent on what is happening at the course. Every course should have one. And it really should be an RSS feed so that people can subscribe to the updates.

That's just a start. If I was going all hi-tech, I would add support for Forums and photo albums so that people can talk about their rounds/holes and upload pictures that they took. Grow the community!!!

[Chris Haspell]

Guys all very useful stuff keep it coming,


thanks

Chris

[Tom_Doak]

I have to say I don't agree with Richard's laundry list above.  His insistence of multiple photos of every hole leaves the visitor nothing to discover for himself, except to be disappointed.

Also, it's no wonder that golf courses do not advertise on their web sites when they are aerifying, etc. ... that would be like saying, "Nobody come play here for the next ten days!"

[jeffwarne]

I have to say I don't agree with Richard's laundry list above.  His insistence of multiple photos of every hole leaves the visitor nothing to discover for himself, except to be disappointed.

Also, it's no wonder that golf courses do not advertise on their web sites when they are aerifying, etc. ... that would be like saying, "Nobody come play here for the next ten days!"

I find most websites in the UK/Ireland far superior to the ones here in the US.
A simple photo tour-one picture of many/most holes will suffice, and that is what you generally find, even on the most out of the way courses.

Most US courses' websites have almost no pictures of the holes as the golfer plays them.
It's usually some slimy picture of an entree , a fountain, or a flower shot of a green viewed from the clubhouse, complete with some marketing BS blather about the course using the words "pristine", "exclusive", or one I just read, "level yet rolling fairways".

I would agree with Tom that 4-6 pictures of every hole would be overkill  and would also get hard to navigate for those of us with ADD.

[Mike Nuzzo]

Very nice work Chris
I thought the background was fine.
I disagree with Tom about posting aeration dates - I'm a fan of full disclosure.
A little disappointment up front is much better than surprising them with it later.
I liked changing the backgrounds - the only thing I wanted to do was minimize the text on the right so I could see the whole picture.

You're getting people off their seat, onto a plane, maybe 1,000s of miles to come stay and play with you.
I think your site/course does a good job of the task.

Cheers

[David Whitmer]

I like it, Chris.

Three buddies and I are making our first trip across the pond to play golf in Scotland in late April/early May of 2013, and Castle Stuart is on our radar. So, I checked out the site as someone who is interested in playing a few rounds. There is alot of information, which I liked. I liked the amount of pictures also.

One piece of information I could not find, though perhaps I just missed it, is exactly when I can make reservations. The site lists 2012 prices and dates of operation, but nothing past November of this year. If I was to go in, say, November of this year could I book a time now? If I'm going next April can I book a time now? If not, when will those times open up?

I agree with Mike. An aeration schedule would be very nice. If the course will have just been aerated when we are there, we would most probably look elsewhere. I would hate to book two rounds at Castle Stuart well in advance, pay alot of money, then get there and find out the condition is not what we were hoping for. Some people are good at flying by the seat of their pants; not my group. We are wired so that we need to know well in advance where we are playing and staying. For example...we have already booked Murifield for next May 2. So, booking our rounds early is our preference, and knowing if a course will be newly aerated or not so we can make alternate arrangements is also our preference. High-maintenance to be sure.

Really looking forward to (hopefully) seeing Castle Stuart next year!

[Jud_T]

Chris,

Looks good.  I agree with Mike that it would be nice if you could minimize the text over the leading images.  Also it would be great to be able to book times directly online. 

[Chris Haspell]

Guys all good comments,

David, we never aerify in the season here, we close In Novemeber and Open again in April much of our work goes on in these months , we micro tine in the season and try and make sure you guys dont notice, we understand that when you pay the money you want the course tip top and strive very hard to do this.  I will take the point about knowing when to book and pass it on..


Thanks for the feedback so far, here's to a good season!

[John Foley]

Chris,

I like what I see - from a consumer or user standpoint I'd like to see:

- more aerial photos
- larger / more details in the course guide


Thanks

[Jon Wiggett]

Chris,

new site looks good. I can vouch about what you said, you don't notice the micro tining and the course has always been in good shape on the numerous times I have seen it.

Jon

[James Boon]

Chris,

I think the new website is a great effort and the amount of information available on their is incredible, and I know some people will love the new site for it.

However, I'm beginning to prefer websites that hint at what I will be experiencing, rather than putting it all in front of me. Some of my favourite days golfing have been at courses where though I cant help myself in looking, there hasn't been much available on either their website or the internet. Places like Swinley Forest or New Zealand. Or somewhere like Askernish where there are some teaser photos out there and some good information on the ethos and heritage of the club, but thats all to tempt you to come and discover it for yourself!

Of course, by being someone who often posts photo tours, I'm getting rid of the mystique of a lot of courses, when perhaps I should just be posting a few teasers, but such is the paradox of life... 

Keep up the good work at Castle Stuart and I hope to head that way again later this year?

Cheers,

James

[Adrian_Stiff]

Thumbs up from me.... I like info

[Brett_Morrissy]

Surely much of the future of web browsing will be done on iPads and tablets and smart phones, and that the design of good websites will have this as a priority in their design.

Q: has anyone seen or know of good iPad type browsing website designs, I did see a format a while ago, where the entire site was "swipe-able", like reading a magazine, very intuitive as well also. This style seems ideally suited to golf courses and showing off some of the courses best attributes.

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