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EmailJim Dauer was sitting at home one Saturday morning when he decided he wanted to find a spot to tee it up.
The problem was that Dauer had already told his golfing buddies he wasn’t interested in playing that day, and they made other plans. With the popularity of social-networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, Dauer figured there was a place on the Internet to find potential playing partners. There wasn’t at the time, but there is now.
Two years later, FullForesome.com is fully operational and Dauer, the co-founder and chief executive officer, will never again be mismatched with strangers on the first tee.
The concept of FullForesome is simple: Users register for a free custom profile, as they would on Facebook. They can choose which courses they play regularly and add information about themselves (everything from handicap to pace of play – even frequency of expletives used on the course). Following the Facebook model, users can then add friends and start filling up tee times.
The website provides users with three main services: invite specific friends to an existing round of golf; broadcast availability to friends with the hopes of coordinating a tee-time; find players who are looking for an extra person to round out their group. Tee times can’t be booked through FullForesome; users can only find players to fill their groups.
“It’s so easy and it takes the hassle out of setting up a round of golf,” said Brad Norman, a 39-year-old 2-handicapper from Lenexa, Kan., who has been using the site since last fall. “It’s kind of like having your own personal assistant. You set it and forget it, and the website does the rest.”
Dauer estimated he probably knows 30 potential golf partners in the Kansas City area. FullForesome eliminates the need to call them, saving time by connecting each of them to one network.
FullFoursome is active in every state except Alaska. Dauer says most users are males ages 24 to 50, but he thinks the site could benefit smaller demographics.
“We are pretty excited to hopefully help out women golfers with this service, because I think typically most women know fewer female golfers to play with than men know male golfers,” Dauer said. “This could be a good way for ladies to meet other ladies in the area.”
FullForesome is available as an iPhone application and plans are in the works to develop something similar for the Android platform, Dauer said. The app is 99 cents and Dauer said he plans to monetize the website by selling advertising in the future.
As much as the users like the website, Dauer said, the courses might benefit the most with fuller teesheets.
“More often than not, the people who use our service won’t show up at a golf course with only two or three golfers, but instead they’ll show up with four revenue-generating players.”
