AU687273B2 - Scorecard system - Google Patents

Description

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AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Applicant(s) DUNCAN ROSS CAMPBELL Invention Title: SCORECARD SYSTEM The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: *o w I sa 2 SYSTEM FOR COMPUTERISED RECORDS The present invention relates generally to a system using computer processor means for computtrised records keeping.

More particularly, the present invention in one aspect relates to a system for recording, calculating and updating scores and other information in the game of golf by using computers to produce, read and manipulate data resulting from individual rounds of golf from one or more players.

Although the present invention will be described with particular reference to recording, calculating and updating scores of an individual player in a round of or in the game of golf, it is to be noted that the scope of the present invention is not so limited but rather it is more extensive so as to include other arrangements of computerised records keeping using the same or similar arrangements in applications other than those specifically described.

In the game of golf each player is required to maintain a scorecard for the round of golf being played. The score card should ideally contain details such as the player's name, his handicap and must include the number of strokes played for each and every hole played during the round.

After each hole is played the score or number of strokes for that hole is written or otherwise marked upon the •scorecard. At the end of the game the scorecard bearing 25 the player's name and the number of strokes taken for each hole and for the entire round is deposited with an authorised person of the golf club at which the player is a S' member so that the information appearing on the scorecard can be processed to maintain or upgrade the records or statistics of the club and of the player, including the handicap of the player and to provide other details about staHahy/keeppeci021 8 94 3011 3 the round of golf, and the player.

Presently, details from each individual golf scorecard are manually entered into a record keeping system that is manually maintained or manually entered into a computer system, if such a system is available. Some of the disadvantages of using manual systems are that it is necessary for an authorised or delegated person to interpret, collate and read the completed scorecards, some of which are not written legibly either on purpose or due to circumstances, and either manually manipulate the information or manually enter the results into the computer, all of which leads to errors being recorded both resulting from incorrectly interpreting or reading the information in the first place or from incorrectly transcribing the information during entering and recording of the information. In transferring information from an individual scorecard to a master list there is potential for error in transcribing the identity of an individual player and/or in entering the score for a hole or the overall score. Therefore, there is a need for a system for entering and manipulating golf scores which is more accurate, .asier to use and is less time consuming and which provides useful and up to date information faster and more reliably, such as for example to have a more accurate 25 handicap.

The present invention sets out to address the shortcomings •of presently used systems by having a fully automated .system in which the information appearing on the scorecard is read directly by the computer for subsequent processing and display which eliminates human error in not recognising "the information, incorrectly transcribing information or allocating the information to the wrong individual.

Therefore, it is one aim of the present invention to slalahy/keepspec70218 94 30 11 4 provide a golf score keeping system which at least partially overcomes or alleviates one or more of the deficiencies of existing systems used in record keeping in golf.

According to one aspect of the present invention there is provided a golf records keeping system using computer processing means which has input interface means and output display means, said computer processing means being under control of a program for system operation, said system involving: inputting via said input interface means identification data to identify a particular player amongst records in said computer processing means, said records being those of a multitude of players with stored data for each player; in response to inputting in step (a) ascertaining stored data for the identified player and printing from said display means a personalised printed 20 golf score card with the stored data for that player so it can be carried by the player during a round of golf; manually marking the score card with the player's golf strokes per hole during a game of golf; at completion of the game providing said score card to said input interface means so that the player's golf strokes per hole can be read thereby; updating said stored data with the player's golf strokes, whereby the computer processing means can, when next requested, provide the most recent update for the 30 particular player and wherein said printed personalised golf score card has the player's name and handicap printed thereon and wherein for each hole, there is printing defining a unique area on said card for each possible stroke, and wherein marking of the strokes per hole is effected by marking a"uhue area.

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staffahykepspec7028 9412 30 11 5 The present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the following examples and accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 is a view of the front of one scorecard used in the game of gol. in accordance with the system and method of the present invention.

Example On arriving at the golf club for a day's play, all members usually advise the attendant, such as for example, the proshop attendant of their intention to play a round of golf that day, whereupon the attendant on being informed of the member's name and/or membership number enters such details into a computer terminal or other such input interface device provided in the club house, such as for example in the pro-shop.

Another embodiment of the system of the present invention relates to the use of a magnetically coded card or "swipe card" which contains information unique to the individual member. When a member wants to play a round of golf, on 20 arri.ving at the club house or pro-shop or similar, the player passes his card through a reader which "reads" information about the member and transmits this information to a central processing unit. In this embodiment the "swipe card" replaces the attendant for entering information about the member into the computer system and the reader constitutes an input interface device.

The computer terminal is linked directly to a central processing unit such as for example a personal computer or to a mainframe computer located in the club house, in the pro-shop or at some other remote location. After recording details of the member as a player for that day the computer provides by means of a suitable printer located in the prostaf!ahy/koe'spc'702i8,94_ 30 11 6shop a personalised scorecard 2 for the particular member for use in that day's play. The printer can therefore be termed an output display means.

Typically, the information provided on the personalised scorecard 2 or golf card for the day's play includes the member's name, date, the individual's membership number and current handicap. This information is typically printed along the top section 4 of the scorecard 2. It is to be noted that any other additional information can be provided in top section 4 of scorecard 2.

The attendant, after removing the printed scorecard 2 from the printer, places the card 2 into a plastic cover, folder or similar and passes it to the member who attaches the plastic folder or cover to golf buggy, such as by way of a cord looped through the cover, folder or similar. It is to be noted that the cover is provided with an aperture through which the scorecard can be marked or otherwise to somehow indicate the number of strokes for the hole.

:During play the member marks the card for each hole 20 according to the number of strokes taken to play from the tee to the cup for tha't hole. The number of stokes per hole is recorded on the scorecard by marking the number corresponding to the number of strokes selected from a :range of numbers appearing alongside the number of the hole. In one embodiment each hole has the digits from 1 to 11 located alongside of the number representing the hole so that for example if six strokes were taken for hole 1, the numeral 6 would be marked in some way, such as by pencil line through this digit, or similar. The details relating 30 to the first nine holes of the golf course are provided in the upper main selection 6 of the card 2 whereas details relating to the second nine holes are provided in the lower main selection 8 of card 2. Such marking is of updating stafahylkeepspc70218 94_2 3011 -7data for the holes for that particular player. If an electronic golf score card is provided it will contain a plurality of buttons representing the plurality of events whereby operation of the buttons provides an indication of the actual number of strokes taken by a player for each hole. Thus, operation of the buttons will electronically mark the card.

On completing the round of golf, the member ensures that there is a number marked for each hole and returns the completed scorecard to the attendant. Spaces for the entire round of golf are provided in section 10 located below the lower main part 8, such as the respective totals for the first nine holes, the second nine holes and the full round. It is to be noted that it is optional that the player complete this section of the score card since it may not be detected by the input interface device as in one embodiment of the present invention the scores of the golf game are read from the digits associated with the holes o* only.

After checking that the scorecard has been signed by both the player and a marker in the space provided at the extreme lower part 12 of card 2, the attendant places or passes the scorecard 2 into or through the input interface device which may include a reading device such as, for 25 example, an optical reader/scanner which transfers all of the or selected information depending on circumstances on the scorecard to the central processing unit of the computer for recording, retention and subsequent processing, and in readiness for a subsequent round of golf by that individual player. In other words, the card is read by an input interface means and updating data for that player per hole transferred to the computer.

The input interface reader/scanner typically includes an stafthylkeepspecia70218 942 3011 8 optical mark reader or other suitable device, which is able to recognise forms or information in a format similar to that of a form. Commercially available optical readers, optionally containing dedicated software, are available which can be used or modified to read the scorecard.

Alternatively, a suitable scanner/reader can be designed to be dedicated to the task.

If required, suitable software may be provided to enable the scanner to read the information on the scorecard.

One modification of the information printed on the scorecard is if it is contemplated that a four ball competition or similar be played, then after entering the name of the member who is about to play the round of golf, the attendant also inserts or enters the letter or similar code to inform the computer that another name is about to be entered so that the computer waits for the attendant to enter the partner's name before producing the scorecard.

The information received by the central processing unit of 20 the computer will include the member's name, the code number allocated to the member, the date that the round of golf was played and the existing handicap of the player.

Such information is stored in a database of player statistics, and other statistics in the memory of the computer. Additionally, the number of strokes taken for each hole will be recorded and the total number of strokes taken for the first nine holes and for the second nine holes respectively will also be recorded. This information will enable the total number of strokes for the 18 holes to 30 be calculated so that the member's current handicap can be subtracted so as to produce the net score for the round and produce the overall result for that player.

stafahyJkeeplspec-J7021942 3011 9 Any other additional information required by the club from time to time can also be inserted.

When the player arrives to play a further round of golf at some later time, the information accumulated from ±i.l previous rounds which is stored in the data base as a log of the records on the computer can be used to re-handicap the player if required and when the attendant enters details of the member,a new golf score card is produced in a manner similar to that described previously either with the old handicap or with a new handicap if it has been amended in accordance with the player's statistics compiled from previous rounds of golf. Thus, by using the system the golf score card is used both as the input and as an output of the system.

One modification of the present invention is that the score card may be pre-printed with the details of the round of golf or may be printed by the computer on demand.

The advantages of the present invention include the following. In addition to the effort and money being saved 20 by not having to manually record the stroke of each player for each hole on each day of play the information is automatically entered into the computer which results in considerable time and effort being saved as well as being substantially error-free so far as transcription and data entry errors as well as calculation errors are avoided.

One advantage of the present invention arises from the fact that the golf scorecard can be used as both the input and output of the system which simplifies record keeping and reduces the amount of stock of pre-printed dedicated cards that must be maintained at the club house. Also as the scorecard to be used on that date is printed on demand as required by the golfer, the exact information required by stWff/ahylkeepspec7021894.2 3011 10 the golfer including details of the exact competition being played that day and details of any specific rules of play or hazards of pertaining to the course on that day.

Additionally, messages or other information from the club to the member or between members can be conveyed by printing on the card as the card is printed for the day's game.

In addition, other advantages include as the system of the records a log of accumulations of the performance of each individual at each hole, over time, the individual member will be able to determine if improvement has been achieved at a particular hole.

Club management will be able to organise a competition for "champion per hole" for the golf course using the information obtained from all previous golf scorecards being recorded and stored simply by retrieving the information from the central processing unit.

Club management has an instant record of exactly who is playing on the golf course on a given day and who has not 20 handed in their completed scorecard after finishing the round of golf by simply requesting the information from the central processing unit.

As the details of each scorecard are recorded and stored within the central processing unit there is no longer the 25 need of having to physically store completed scorecards from each round by each member since the computer has an exact record of each member's card in accordance with the "o information provided by each member for each round of golf.

There is a benefit of being able to provide instant competition results on receipt of the completed scorecards and "leader board" style information is continuously stiflhylteptspecr721894_2 3011 11 available as each member finishes the round and hands-in the completed scorecard. As soon as the last player of each round within a competition hands-in the completed score card the results for the entire day's play by all members is instantly available.

Other advantages include being able to accommodate any change of format to the day's play or day's competition including the type of competition being played for that day and can be readily adapted to provide information relating to non-members such as, for example, on corporate golf days where many players who are not members of the club are invited to compete, and to be able to operate a leader's board for the players even though they may not be members.

Another advantage is that the players after passing their score cards through the reader can retain their score c since the computer retains all of the information and there is no requirement for the club to retain the score cards for record keeping or any other reason.

The described arrangement has been advanced by explanation o 20 and many modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention which includes every novel feature and novel combination of features herein disclosed.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention 25 described herein is susceptible to variations and modifications other than those specifically described. It is understood that the invention includes all such variations and modifications which fall within the spirit and scope.

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Claims (3)

1. A golf records keeping system using computer processing means which has input interface means and output display means, said computer processing means being under control of a program for system operation, said system involving: inputting via said input interface means identification data to identify a particular player amongst records in said computer processing means, said records being those of a multitude of players with stored data for each player; in response to inputting in step (a) ascertaining stored data for the identified player and printing from said display means a personalised printed golf score card with the stored data for that player so it can be carried by the player during a round of golf; manually marking the score card with the playor's golf strokes per hole during a game of golf; at completion of the game providing said score card to said input interface means so that the player's golf strokes per hole can be read thereby; updating said stored data with the player's golf strokeb, whereby the computer processing means can, when next requested, provide the most recent update for the 25 particular player and wherein said printed personalised golf score card has the player's name and handicap printed thereon and wherein for each hole, there is printing defining a unique area on said card for each possible stroke, and wherein marking Qf the strokes per hole is effected by marking anun que area.

2. A system as claimed in claim 1 wherein said stored data includes data of earlier stored data for the stafflahylkeepeo70218 94_2 3D 11 13 particular player so the computer processing means can, when requested, provide an audit of the player's data.

3. A system as claimed in claim 1 and substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.I Dated this 30th day of November 1995 DUNCAN ROSS CAMPBELL By His Patent Attor~ney GRIFFITH HACK CO Fellows Institute of Patent Attorneys of Australia staah/keej-specV70218W_'2 3011I ABSTRACT A golf records keeping system is disclosed which uses computer processing means. The computer processing means has input interface means which will allow a player to input identification data to identify the particular player amongst records in the computer processing means. The records are those of a multitude of possible golf players such as a golf club. In response to inputting the identification data a personalised printed golf score card is issued from a display means which may be a printer. The score card can then be carried by the player during a round of golf. The player marks the score card with the player's golf strokes per hole At completion of the game the card is then provided to the input interface means so that the player's golf strokes per hole can be read from the card. The computer is then updated so that the computer can, when next requested, provide the most recent update for the particular player. The golf score card has the player's name and handicap printed thereon. In addition, there is S. 20 printing defining a unique area on the score card for each possible stroke. The marking of the strokes per hole is effected by marking the unique area at each hole. 0000 o *0 00 a. 0* staWahy/keepspecV7021894-2 30 11 I sl