The boom in new players that golf experienced (one million more between 2022 and 2023 only in the territories administered by the R&A) with the pandemic has been followed by another: that of apps. A cascade of new tools for amateur golfers to manage their rounds digitally, an ocean of possibilities in which Golf GameBook stands out, which mixes these functionalities with others from Instagram or Facebook.
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A social network built around golf.
Golf GameBook, news
Born in Finland, it is the idea of Mikko Manerus and Kalle Vinl. The project emerged in 2006, and took the form of an app with the massive expansion of smartphones in the past decade.
It took off through agreements with courses and organizations such as the European Tour and in 2016 it took the definitive leap with a new version that has positioned Golf GameBook as the third application in the world and the first in Europe of its kind.
Ignacio Bernaldo de Quirs, the company's top manager in Spain, told AS about this. He has a team that includes professional players such as Juan Salama and Pedro Oriol, and collaborates with All In Sports Management, a representation agency that includes ngel Ayora, ngel Hidalgo and Santi Tarrio in its portfolio and whose golf division is led by Javier Ballesteros.
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And that is one of its strong points, the possibility it offers its users to interact with elite golfers, check their results, where they usually play... The launch in this country has attracted an investment of 2.5 million euros.
Among those who have injected money into the project is the footballer lvaro Morata, who has golf as one of his great passions off the pitch, and lvaro Taracena, manager of Hyrox, which is causing a sensation in the world of fitness.
Mikko (Manerus)'s goal when he created this was to generate community, not money, Bernaldo explains. And they are achieving it. They estimate that they already have more than 1.5 million users spread across 100 countries.
Even in Nepal, Bernaldo points out. Among them are well-known figures from the world of sport, who, whether intentionally or not, act as ambassadors for the app when using it: the Norwegian tennis player Casper Ruud, footballers such as Marcos Llorente, Csar Azpilicueta or lex Remiro, the Finnish professional golfer Sami Valimaki...
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lvaro loves golf, they offered him the project and he decided to get involved. The timing was difficult, because lvaro was at the Eurocup, but we were able to arrange it. Having lvaro with us is also important for the rest of the investors.
This round is proof that we are generating interest throughout Europe, not just in the Nordic countries, Bernaldo explains. They are already analysing the American market in search of new opportunities. The design of the app, available on both Google Play and the Apple App Store, which can be accessed with a free profile or with a premium subscription (3.33 euros per month) that unlocks some features, is fresh and intuitive.
Once inside, you can follow the matches of friends you have previously added live, share results and photos, see their handicap and the club they are affiliated with... Its database has some 50,000 courses, and is equipped with a GPS that shows you their exact location in each country.
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A wildcard, which serves both to interact with other golfers, and to keep track of your own results in the style of Strava (a model with which, they admit, they feel identified), as well as to choose a travel destination if your priority is to find one where you can play a few holes.
An app that revolutionizes the way of playing golf on the amateur course and that, in light of its data and the figures whose attention it has already attracted, is here to stay.
