Golf Now

Golf Now

Role: Director, Digital Design and UX

As the Director of Digital Design and UX, I led a multidisciplinary team of designers and front-end engineers responsible for delivering exceptional digital experiences across GolfNow.com and the GolfNow mobile app. My primary focus was collaborating closely with the Product team to drive increased conversion rates on GolfNow’s digital products. This involved working with Product leadership to develop and execute a strategic roadmap that balanced the introduction of innovative features with initiatives aimed at reducing user friction throughout the conversion funnel.

My team and I engaged in continuous collaboration with UX Research and Product Management to better understand user needs and behaviors. Through user testing, in-depth interviews, design reviews, and design thinking exercises, we tackled complex challenges and developed user-centered solutions. Our efforts were organized within a dual-track Agile process, which allowed the design and research teams to work ahead of development, ensuring a steady pipeline of validated ideas and reducing time to market.

GolfNow.com - 2015

Re-Design Discovery

One of my first significant undertakings in this role was leading a comprehensive redesign of GolfNow.com. The website had become outdated and no longer reflected GolfNow’s position as a cutting-edge, premier platform for golfers. A major pain point identified through user research was the cumbersome “drill-down” process for selecting tee times based on location. This issue frustrated users and hindered conversions, making it a top priority in the redesign.

The goal of the project was to modernize the website’s user experience, ensuring it not only aligned with the dynamic nature of the GolfNow brand but also addressed specific usability challenges. We reimagined the interface with a focus on simplicity and intuitiveness, streamlining the location and tee time selection process to create a seamless booking experience. By emphasizing a clean, visually engaging layout and an efficient user flow, we succeeded in delivering a digital product that resonated with users and supported business objectives.

Search Prioritized

As part of the redesign of GolfNow.com, a significant focus was placed on improving the way users searched for tee times. Previously, the process was cumbersome and unintuitive, requiring users to first click on the name of a state, then select a city from a predefined list. This list often lacked the specific towns users were searching for, forcing them to choose a nearby city and manually scroll through a long list of tee times. This approach created unnecessary friction, leading to frustration and abandonment, particularly for users unfamiliar with the area or those seeking a quick, seamless booking experience.

To address these pain points, we introduced a modern search dialog box on the homepage, inspired by the user-friendly search functionality seen on platforms like OpenTable and Airbnb. This new feature allowed users to simply type the name of a city, town, or golf course directly into a search bar, with predictive text and autofill suggestions guiding them to their desired location. Additionally, users could filter their results by date, time, and number of players, making it easier to find the perfect tee time with minimal effort. This streamlined approach not only improved usability but also aligned the GolfNow experience with the expectations of today’s digital users, resulting in a significant reduction in booking time and an increase in overall user satisfaction.

Modern User Interface

During user interviews and feedback sessions, one consistent criticism was that the outdated design and user interface of GolfNow.com failed to meet the expectations of modern users. The visual aesthetic lacked the polish and sophistication found in competitive platforms, making the product feel clunky and out of touch. Users frequently commented that the site’s dated look not only undermined their trust in the product but also made it harder to engage with the platform. This sentiment became a clear barrier to conversion, as the disconnect between the website’s appearance and the high-quality experience users expected from a leading golf booking platform created unnecessary friction.

To address these concerns, we undertook a comprehensive redesign aimed at creating a more modern, user-focused experience. The new design embraced a clean, minimalist interface that allowed the stunning imagery of golf courses to take center stage. By making these visuals the hero of the platform, we created an emotional connection with users, evoking excitement and anticipation about their potential rounds of golf. Alongside the enhanced visual design, we reimagined the navigation, filtering, and booking processes, prioritizing simplicity and efficiency. This included intuitive filters, dynamic sorting options, and a streamlined booking flow that made it effortless for users to find and secure their ideal tee time. The result was a seamless blend of form and function, creating a product that not only looked great but delivered a frictionless experience aligned with users’ needs and expectations.

Mobile App

During the redesign of GolfNow.com, stakeholders expressed a strong desire to bring mobile app development in-house and create a modernized mobile app that aligned more closely with the web experience. This initiative aimed to establish greater parity between the web and mobile app products, ensuring a consistent and seamless experience for users transitioning between platforms. By integrating the two, we sought to create a cohesive ecosystem where users could intuitively navigate and interact with GolfNow, regardless of the device they were using.

To achieve this, we adopted a parallel design approach, developing web and mobile app components simultaneously. This allowed us to maintain visual and functional consistency while leveraging each platform’s strengths. For instance, we optimized features like location-based search and personalized notifications for the mobile app, enhancing its utility for users on the go. At the same time, we ensured that the visual and interaction patterns mirrored those of the web product, creating a unified experience.

A key element of this effort was the creation of a robust design system within Sketch. This system served as a centralized repository of reusable components, patterns, and guidelines, enabling our team to efficiently design and iterate across both platforms. By standardizing elements like typography, color palettes, and interaction models, the design system not only improved collaboration between design and engineering teams but also ensured that the GolfNow brand remained consistent and recognizable across all digital touchpoints. This holistic approach not only streamlined development but also significantly improved the user experience, making the transition between web and mobile feel intuitive and natural.

A Family Of Products

GolfNow is more than a standalone product; it’s a family of interconnected platforms and services that operate within a unified ecosystem. While hosted on the same core technology stack, additional products—often acquired through partnerships or acquisitions—are seamlessly integrated into the GolfNow infrastructure. This integration process involves not only technical onboarding but also aligning each product with the GolfNow design system to ensure visual and functional consistency across the ecosystem.

Products such as TeeOff, GolfNow.co.uk, Qantas Golf Club, and Albatross Golf EU are templated using the GolfNow design system, allowing for efficient scalability while maintaining unique brand identities. For each integrated product, we develop and maintain comprehensive brand guidelines, product user guides, and customized extensions of the design system to support their specific needs. This ensures that while each product serves its unique audience, it remains aligned with the overarching GolfNow ecosystem in terms of usability, visual design, and operational efficiency.

By standardizing design and functionality across the family of products, we’ve created a cohesive experience that strengthens user trust and reinforces GolfNow as a leading brand in golf technology and services worldwide.

Additional Products Related to GolfNow

In addition to our core GolfNow products, we expanded the ecosystem with companion apps like GolfNow Compete, designed to enhance the golfing experience by allowing users to track their scores, participate in virtual tournaments, and engage with courses worldwide. These apps not only add value for users but also showcase our commitment to innovation within the golf industry.

Developing these companion apps required dedicated efforts to create line extension designs, brand guidelines, and tailored design systems that aligned with GolfNow’s overarching ecosystem while catering to the unique functionalities and audiences of each app. Every aspect of the user experience—from score tracking interfaces to tournament leaderboards—was meticulously designed by me and my team in-house. Despite operating within budget constraints, we successfully delivered polished and engaging products by leveraging efficient workflows, strategic use of design systems, and close collaboration with cross-functional teams.

The result is a suite of companion apps that seamlessly integrate with the GolfNow brand while providing distinct, memorable experiences for users. This approach reinforces our ability to innovate, adapt, and deliver high-quality digital products that resonate with golfers worldwide.

Golf365 Pro/Premier - B2B Product

GolfNow doesn’t just manage B2C and D2C applications; it also leads in B2B solutions with Golf365 Pro (formerly G1) and Golf365 Premier (formerly EZLinks). These platforms empower golf course operators to manage tee sheets, point-of-sale systems, memberships, and events with ease. Each product required dedicated design efforts, including tailored UI, modular design systems, and UX guidelines to meet their unique needs.

Our design process focused on simplifying complex workflows, informed by research into course operators' pain points. Modular design systems provided flexibility for courses of all sizes, while features like reporting dashboards and dynamic pricing tools were optimized for usability. My team also developed UX guidelines and maintained alignment with the broader GolfNow ecosystem, delivering intuitive, scalable solutions that solidify GolfNow’s leadership in golf technology.

Results

The redesign of GolfNow.com and the launch of the updated mobile app were driven by a clear vision: to create a seamless, user-focused experience that aligned with both user needs and business objectives. By addressing long-standing pain points, modernizing the user interface, and unifying the design and functionality across web and mobile platforms, we delivered a product ecosystem that not only delighted users but also drove measurable business impact. Below are key metrics that highlight the success of these efforts, demonstrating significant improvements in user engagement, retention, and revenue while optimizing operational efficiency and stakeholder satisfaction. The GolfNow mobile app was highlighted by Apple as the #1 golf sports app in the App Store in both 2015 and 2017.

User Engagement & Experience Metrics

• Search-to-Booking Conversion Rate: Increased from 7% to 11% within six months of launching the redesigned web and mobile app.
• Time to Book: Reduced by 35%, from an average of 9 minutes to 5.8 minutes, thanks to the streamlined search and booking flow.
• Bounce Rate: Decreased by 22% due to improved usability and a more intuitive interface.
  

User Retention & Loyalty Metrics

• User Retention Rate: Improved by 28% on the mobile app following design parity and consistent UX patterns across platforms.
• App Downloads: Increased by 42% year-over-year, driven by the launch of the updated mobile app & targeted marketing efforts.
  
• Repeat Bookings per User: Grew by 15%, with users citing a more seamless booking experience across devices in surveys.
  

Revenue & Monetization Metrics

• Revenue from Mobile: Increased by 30%, with the mobile app now accounting for 60% of total bookings, up from 45% pre-redesign.
• Average Order Value (AOV): Increased by 12%, attributed to clearer upsell opportunities and better visibility of Hot Deal tee times.
• New User Growth: Rose by 29%, driven by the enhanced homepage design and improved SEO performance from the updated web architecture.
  

Operational Efficiency Metrics

• Design & Development Efficiency: Time to deliver new features decreased by 30%, enabled by the scalable design system.
• Cross-Platform Bug Resolution: Reduced by 50%, with the unified design system minimizing inconsistencies between web and mobile.
• Stakeholder Satisfaction: Increased by 40%, as measured by internal surveys, due to improved alignment between business goals and user needs.
  

Final Designs

The GolfNow.com and the updated mobile app were initially created in Sketch, leveraging its robust toolkit and our pre-established design workflows. These designs served as the foundation for our new digital experience, featuring a clean, modern interface and user-centric components that streamlined navigation, search, and booking. However, as our team expanded and our collaboration needs evolved, we recognized an opportunity to improve our workflow by transitioning to Figma in 2020.

Figma offered a powerful platform for real-time collaboration, which was particularly transformative for our distributed team. With team members based overseas in the UK and a growing product team spanning multiple time zones, Figma became an essential tool for fostering seamless communication and coordination. Designers, product managers, and developers could now work together simultaneously within a shared environment, eliminating the versioning issues and bottlenecks we encountered with Sketch.

This transition also enabled us to build a more dynamic and scalable design system, integrating feedback from stakeholders and team members worldwide. Figma’s cloud-based approach allowed us to iterate quickly, ensure consistency across platforms, and empower our global team to contribute meaningfully to the design process. Ultimately, adopting Figma not only enhanced the efficiency of our workflows but also strengthened the collaborative culture within our organization, ensuring the success of our redesigned digital products.

Design System

The design system for GolfNow’s digital products was built with scalability and consistency in mind. Initially created in Sketch, it began as a series of component libraries tied to the product’s information architecture. Over time, it evolved into a robust, modular system grounded in Brad Frost’s "Atomic Design" methodology, enabling reusable components that worked across web and mobile platforms.

In 2020, we transitioned the design system to Figma, leveraging its real-time collaboration capabilities to streamline workflows across our global team. This shift allowed us to maintain visual consistency, incorporate feedback seamlessly, and reduce the time to deliver new features. The result was a dynamic, unified design system that supported a cohesive and scalable user experience across all touchpoints.

App Store

Mobile App

Website