Foursum Launches Golfing App

By Eric Lewis, Times & Transcript | Link to original article (subscribers only)

Golfers can toss away those old school paper scorecards and try out a new smartphone app that aims to track your score, help you choose the right club and connect you with other golfers.

Moncton company Foursum officially launched the application this week. It’s available only on iPhones presently, but will be made available on Android and Blackberry operating systems in the coming months.

The Foursum app is both cost-free and ad-free for users. A premium version will be launched next year that users can pay to use, and by that point Foursum co-founder Matt Eldridge hopes golfers will be convinced the product is so good, they’ll want to pay for even more features.

Eldridge stepped down as CEO of Lymbix, another Moncton company, last year and decided to put his love of golf to use.

“It started with me being a golf fanatic and also an entrepreneur and a lover of tech,” he said.

“I absolutely love golf, I’ve golfed since I was a little kid, since I was a junior. I just took my experience from building companies and being an entrepreneur and putting it into a mobile app for golfers.”

There are many smartphone golf apps available, but Eldridge found they lacked features he wanted and basic functionality. He teamed up with technical lead Adam MacDonald and golf pro Louis Melanson, a member of the Professional Golf Association of Canada. They sought $500,000 in seed money and wound up with $850,000.

The game has been under development since, and beta versions were made available to members of the local golfing community to help guide progress. The folks at Royal Oaks Golf Club allowed the company to test their app on the course.

Foursum includes a social network so users can invite and follow friends to stay informed of their activities, progress or milestones and compare performances. It has stats on more than 26,000 courses so users can find courses quickly by name or geolocation. They can also browse club info, scorecards and activity from other Foursum members.

Asked if using a smartphone app on the golf course will slow golfers down, Eldridge said it should actually speed up their game.

“There’s a built-in GPS, so instead of having to find a sprinkler head with yardage on it, you just have to stand at your ball and you’re going to know exactly how far it is to the middle of the green or to the front of the green or the back,” he said. “So that takes much less time instead of looking around for your yardage.”

The app can also suggest clubs for a particular yardage or shot, eliminating some of the guesswork and it allows you to measure your game and determine where your weaknesses are.

Eldridge said one challenge has been not going overboard with too many features on the app. They didn’t want a bloated program to hit the market, and they will be adding features over time.

“Luckily, we’re the biggest users of our product,” he said. “We are our core demographic. We are avid golfers. Our core customer is anybody that plays 10-plus rounds a year. They would be considered an avid golfer, and that’s who we’re going after.”

Foursum is available for free download at foursum.com.