A new free app called 19thole enables golfers to make social connections, arrange games and to network. It is backed by Ian Woosnam and Carly Booth
A new free app called 19thole enables golfers to make social connections, arrange games and to network. Launching soon, the 19thole app has the support of Ian Woosnam and Carly Booth, and is the brainchild of Mason Gascoigne.
People can use the app to find compatible playing partners. The search function allows you to look for people in a variety of categories including age, sex, occupation, area, home club, even hobbies.
“As such you can use it for business networking or any other way you want to,” explains Mason Gascoigne. “You could even use it to find a partner, if you wish!”
The idea came to him when he lived abroad and had no-one to play golf with. He realised other people were using apps to make contacts, so wouldn’t it have been good if there was one for golfers. So he decided to set one up.
He is not technical. “I don’t use social media, I don’t sit on my phone all the time.” But this turned out to be an advantage as: “Me not being technical has made the app user friendly. I had to make the functionality simple to understand and use by people like me!”
The process has taken him 2½ years. Did he ever lose heart and wonder if it would happen? “Oh 100%” he admits cheerfully. But he stuck at as “it was lockdown, so there was nothing else it do,” he laughs.
Woosnam support
Ian Woosnam heard about it and liked the concept and “after Ian Woosnam was involved,” explains Mason.
“I was able to get backing to get a real good blueprint drawn up, and getting the blueprint drawn up enabled me to get further backing.”
Ian Woosnam has become a shareholder in the app such is his belief in it. “It turns the whole of the UK into your own golf club,” the former Masters winner enthuses.
Another backing the app is Carly Booth. “I think this is a big thing to help women be more comfortable in golf,” she says.
“It gives them a chance to find a safe environment and to connect with other women golfers.”
The name of the app is inspired by Mason’s early experiences in golf playing with his grandfather. When they went into the clubhouse after their game “people were playing chase the ace, having a laugh. That is why I called it the 19thole. I want to bring to the golfing industry that community I found and loved there.”
This sense of community means that the app includes the facility to play in competitions and leagues. Originally launched in the UK, it is intended to take it into America within three years.
The 19thole app has been developed by Go Ginger. Their co-founder Glenn Murphy explains: “Mason was doing this out of his back bedroom and we achieved this on a tiny budget. We did it because we see the value of the product and especially when it hits the States – in particular the play with a pro, play with a celeb functions – that it when it takes off. The marketing will then take care of itself.”
Go Ginger was founded last year and Glenn Murphy reports happily “for the work we have done for 19thole we were awarded Best Emerging Digital Marketing Agency in Greater London by SME News. So thank you 19thole!”
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