Official Tour Sites
Excellent
coverage of not just PGA Tour, but also the Nationwide and Champions
Tours. In terms of official Tour sites, this is clearly the market
leader with its real-time scoring and stats offerings putting the
other Tour sites to shame. In terms of real-time scoring, the graphical
interface of TourCast (launched
in March 2003) was a huge step forward, though the ability to see shot-by-shot
data on the free leaderboard is the first of its kind. In terms of
stats, there is a much larger category of stats provided than on other
Tour sites and while it is disappointing that they do not publish the
ShotLink data, some of teh categories can be accessed when viewing
individual player's stats pages.
Excellent coverage of European Tour events, naturally, with excellent player
profiles detailing every tournament they have played on the European Tour. In
this respect, it is a better than the PGA Tour site. It also provides real-time scoring on the European Tour, Challenge Tour and European
Seniors Tour which the hole-by-hole leaderboard for the European Tour being a
welcome addition, but it is a pity that the Tour stats information is so limited in comparison to the PGA
Tour.
Impressive looking site
that offers real-time scoring and some
statistical coverage for each player as well. The leaderboard has the
novel facility for the user to select up to 10 players and have the
leaderboard just display those players, while the stats information is
fairly standard. A novel feature is contained on the players profile
pages via the 'Performance Chart ...' link. This provides a full stats
and results summary for that player for any given year since 2004.
Frankly, a very
unimpressive site for such an important set of events. It is difficult
to even find the field for events on this site, so it was inevitable
that it would eventually become a satellite of the PGA Tour site. In
this format, it is much easier to find information, but it is still
poor.
An improving
website for the Australasian Tour. It used to be extremely slow to load
and very light on content, but now the player profiles have returned and
there is some coverage of player
statistics, though 'driving distance' is not recorded and they are presented for
each tournament (post-cut only) rather than as season averages per player which is
the norm on other official Tour sites and they are available for only the last
couple of years. The real-time scoring feature is generally good though,
although basic compared to the Tour sites outlined above.
A decent site for one of
the lesser Tours. There is real-time scoring with some customisable
options and past results are searchable back to the 1990/91 season which
is impressive. The player profile pages are a good feature,
though the player stats do not extend beyond basic scoring
info and there are no rankings of Tour stats categories available on this site
other than basic scoring data.
When the players
themselves took over this Tour, the development of a Tour site was not a
priority, but it did receive a significant upgrade during the 2006
season and is now a full working resource for this Tour with real-time
scoring, full event information, player profile pages and a small
selection of Tour stats categories. It is just a pity that information
for the pre-2004 era is not available on this site.
Low on
graphics, but high on quality. Fully searchable index of results and player
statistics covering more than a decade and real-time scoring as well. This was
the first Tour to offer a hole-by-hole leaderboard, but there have been
no further refinements.
Excellent coverage of statistics - much better than the European Tour - and the
player profile pages are also very complete on statistical information,
including the player's blood type!
Basically the same design
as the Southern Africa Tour site, which allows
for some customisation of the real-time
leaderboard, a fully set of results dating back to the 1997 season and
good player profile pages. Unlike the Southern Africa Tour site though,
there are some Tour stats rankings such driving distance, greens in
regulation, etc.
A surprisingly
basic Tour site that does, at least, offer
real-time scoring and a useful player profile section. There are some Tour stats
ranking made
available but they are currently include no more than money list, scoring
average birdie leaders and eagle leaders. Clearly, the site needs some improvement to bring it up to the
standards of other official Tour sites.
Introduced in
2002 and a useful source for one of the least-documented Tours. It uses
the same software as the Southern Africa Tour to provide
live scoring and thus an ability to search a player's results in any given year
since the inaugural 2000/01 season. The player profile section was also
very useful, but the player drop-down list has not been working for some
time.
Golf
Content Sites
Sal Johnson's
site and thus the home for his very impressive 'GolfStats' statistical
service, which provides fully searchable results for the main Tours
dating back over a very large number of years.
But as a source for golf news items, it is even
more impressive, particularly since the huge number of news items have
been grouped by event.
A very good site as
a resource for golf results around the globe with results for each of
the top-level Tours available since 1999. This information had been
unavailable for some time after the site revamp in
2005, but it is now back again. In terms of statistics, it is
home to the Sagarin golf ratings,
which are an excellent reference point for any golf punter.
The loss of the
Sal Johnson and his 'Golfstats' statistical service, plus his weekly
'what and who to watch for' and 'recap and stats analysis' columns has
reduced this site as a resource for golf punters. However, the 'Tour
Analyzer' feature is a novel addition. This allows you to customise the
PGA, Champions or Nationwide Tour leaderboard by selecting players and
have them appear in a separate leaderboard and their hole-by-hole score
appear in a graph. It is certainly novel, but the fact that the
leaderboard updates significantly later than the PGA Tour leaderboard is
an issue.
Impressive resource for betting on the PGA
Tour. No tips, but plenty of links to articles about the current week's
event which are updated after every round, a good selection of stats and
results relating to that event and a breakdown of where the money is
going in the Betfair winner market for that event.
Primarily a golf betting
site, but covers over sports as well. Fully searchable databases and a desktop
program that can be downloaded which enables the database to be searched
without an internet connection. Plus a host of other general betting tools as well.
Australian site that provides
excellent coverage of events on the Australasian Tour and other professional
tournaments held in Australia. Also provides good coverage with daily
updates on scores for most Tours each week and is generally a very
informative site about golf.
Sports
Forums
Where you'll find
Stanley's
picks posted. Lots of high quality 'cappers of US sports and a number of golf 'cappers
from all over the world as well. The biggest and the best of all the sports forums! Has a specific golf forum and
and has hosted a golf
contest since 2000.
New forum opened towards the end of 2002 and
has the best golf forum by some distance! This forum has a very large
number of contributors, including several compilers, and the standard of
analysis is very high. Hopefully it will reverse its "closed forum"
status soon.
The Competition
(other golf tipster sites)
Became a
subscription-only tipping service in 2007 after recording impressive
profits in each of the previous three years that the site has been
active. It is certainly trustworthy unlike some 'scamdicapping' websites
on the internet. Concentrates on golf with an emphasis upon backing
players at big odds and also provides tips on winter sports as well.
Good previews of each
PGA and European Tour event from a variety of writers, though Dave Tindall
and Dave John are the main golf pundits. Focus is on outright plays with UK bookmakers
and their picks do show a profit
each season, which is an impressive feat as the best prices are usually
gone by the time that the previews are written. Apart from the tips, the
weekly course report from Harry Emanuel is a must-read if you can wait
until Wednesday before placing your bets.
Jeremy Champion is the
main tipster for the Racing Post and with the paper listing him as
"Golf's No.1 tipster", he will always fall short of expectations. But he
does provide a full preview and tips for each PGA and European Tour
event and has had some impressive results. Worth a read on Wednesday
mornings, though don't expect the quoted prices to still be available.
If you would like your golf tipping site to
be listed here, just send an email to
Stanley.
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