Photo courtesy iWanamaker.com
By Jeff Steers
JTV Sports
The Cascades Conference is expected to be one of the leagues that will pilot a mobile application technology allowing golfers, coaches and fans to view live leaderboards during events.
The idea came from a Michigan High School Athletic Association golf council meeting attended by East Jackson High School golf Coach Ray Hill.
The longtime golf coach said the recommendation to try such a system by council members.
Last May three schools “came out of nowhere to qualify for the state meet,” Hill said.
“There was a serious suspicion of stroke shaving was going on,” Hill said. “It knocked a number of teams out of the state meet.”
iWanamaker Golf combines desktop and mobile application technology to allow golfers to view live leaderboards during events and tournaments. It also gives charities and fundraising organizations a way to increase revenue by selling live leaderboard sponsorships to supporters.
With just a few mouse clicks, tournament could be using iWanamaker’s real-time scoring and leaderboards.
Hill said the technology is free to coaches and players, and parents and supporters have a chance to purchase information from the application for $25 per season or $5 per event.
Players in the conference are currently downloading the application in hopes of using it starting next week.
iWanamaker creator Doyle Heisler attended the MHSAA golf council meeting and gave a demonstration. He said high school associations in Colorado and Arizona are using the application.
“I can see the benefit as there is only one of me and five or six of my players on the course,” Hill said. “Someday this could be required for all schools.”
Players and coaches download the application and sign in. At the end of each hole, players type in scores that are readily available for those with the application.
Fellow Cascades Conference Coach Mike Schwartz from Addison agrees with Hill.
“Technology appears to come easier for kids and this will make live scoring easily accessible to coaches,” Schwartz said. “This could also be nice for parents at work to watch their athletes progress.”
Hanover-Horton player Jack Brockie said the only thing that matters is the accuracy.
“As long as the scores are accurate in the system, that is all that matters,” Brockie said.