DSG WEEKLY RECAP — GOLF, NEW GOLFERS & 221 LOST BALLS
Another week in the world of Dog Shot Golf.
A week of playing with the family, introducing people to golf, watching new golfers get the bug, hunting down an absolutely ridiculous amount of lost property — and, in between all of that, a serious amount of coding, testing and tinkering with the Dog Shot Index app.
Because apparently playing golf isn’t enough work.
TUESDAY — FAMILY CARNAGE
Tuesday was a family affair, with the kids and Mrs Dog Shot Golf joining me for a round.
It was the wife’s first ever game of golf, so expectations were suitably low.
There was certainly some carnage, plenty of laughs and a few moments where I suspect she was wondering why anyone would voluntarily do this to themselves.
But, annoyingly, she was actually surprisingly good.
For a first game, she did brilliantly.
Will she be taking up golf?
No chance.
Apparently one round was enough.
Still, she gave it a proper go, had a laugh and survived her first experience of the game.
I’ll take that.
WEDNESDAY — THE NEXT GENERATION?
Wednesday was out with Cheese, his friend and his dad.
Cheese has played before, but it was the first ever round for his mate and his dad.
And they were bloody brilliant.
It was one of those rounds that reminds you exactly why golf is so much fun when nobody takes it too seriously.
There was some great golf, some inevitable first-round chaos and plenty of laughs — but they both took to it brilliantly.
I’d be very surprised if that was their last round.
Pretty sure we’ve got two more golfers on our hands.
And that’s exactly what DSG is all about.
You don’t need to be good.
You just need to get out there and enjoy it.
THURSDAY — CHRIS HAS THE BUG
Thursday was out with DSDave and Chris.
Chris was only playing his third ever round, and the improvement was massive.
You could genuinely see things starting to click.
Better shots. Better decisions. More confidence.
And, most importantly, that unmistakable look of someone who’s starting to get the golf bug.
It’s dangerous.
You hit one decent shot and suddenly you’re looking at tee times, buying clubs and convincing yourself that your next round is going to be the one where everything comes together.
Welcome to golf, Chris.
It’s too late now.
FRIDAY — SERIOUS BUSINESS
Friday was less about playing golf and more about business.
The boys’ golf-ball venture needed stock.
So we went hunting.
And somehow managed to find 221 items of lost property.
Two hundred and twenty-one.
At this point, I’m not sure whether we’re running a little second-hand golf ball business or operating a highly organised golf-course recovery service.
Either way, the boys have got a serious amount of stock to work through.
And while they were doing that, I was doing what I’ve apparently decided is my second full-time job:
coding the bloody app.
There has been a ridiculous amount of work going on behind the scenes this week with Dog Shot Index — testing, checking, fixing, changing, testing again and generally trying to make the thing actually work properly on a real golf course.
Which brings us nicely to Saturday…
SATURDAY — DSINDEX GETS ANOTHER WORKOUT
Saturday was out with DSWardy and Alex for another great round.
Plenty of golf.
Plenty of laughs.
And another proper outing for DSIndex.
This is the bit I’m particularly enjoying at the moment.
After all the coding, testing and staring at screens, getting the app out onto an actual golf course and seeing how it feels in a real round is hugely useful.
You notice things you simply don’t see when you’re sat at a computer.
What works.
What doesn’t.
What’s obvious.
What’s annoying.
And, most importantly, whether it actually adds something to the round.
So far, so good.
And Alex was doing his bit for the DSG economy by buying the beers.
A strong contribution to the project.
A VERY BUSY WEEK
Looking back, it’s actually been a pretty mad week.
Tuesday — family golf and Mrs DSG’s first ever round.
Wednesday — getting two more people properly introduced to the game.
Thursday — watching Chris improve massively and inevitably get bitten by the golf bug.
Friday — 221 bits of lost property for the boys’ business.
Saturday — another great round with the lads and more real-world testing of DSIndex.
And then, threaded through all of it, there’s been a shitload of work on the app.
Coding.
Testing.
Checking.
Tweaking.
Breaking things.
Fixing things.
Testing them again.
Because the idea is no longer just something that’s been knocking around in my head or sitting on a laptop.
It’s getting played.
And that’s when the real development starts.
The whole point of Dog Shot Index is to make golf more fun, not more complicated.
So every round is another opportunity to see whether we’re actually achieving that.
More testing to come.
More golf to come.
More coding to come.
And, almost certainly, more terrible shots.
Bad shots. Good mates. Great days.
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