NEW GOLF PROGRAM DEBUTS AT MCITOURNEY--HELPS GOLF PROS AND INDIVIDUAL PLAYERS

There are 25 million regular golfers in the United States and at least half already have home PCs. American Gold Technologies of Englewood, Colo., has developed a new PC-based software system designed to help them improve their game.

AGT unveiled a version of its DOS and Windows-compatible software at last month's MCI Heritage Golf Classic at Harbour Town Golf Links, N.C. The program generated real-time statistics for giant video walls around the course.

"The prestigious Pro-Am Tournament at the MCI Heritage Classic was the perfect debut event for our 'Golf Players Program,'" said AGT President Gregory Jablonski. The software generated stroke-by-stroke profiles of players displayed on the video walls and fed the information directly into tournament media pool facilities.

AGT is producing three classes of its golf player software. The first for tournaments, generates statistics for tournament rounds, adjusts scores and gross scores, determines winnes in a myriad of categories (fareways, puts, birdies, etc.) and can display the information in a variety of video formats.

A version produced for golf club pros has already been field tested by clubs and other golf facilities around the country. Amateur golfers use a simple hand scanner to input score card figures after each game. The software converts the information into a statistical database that provides the club pro with a "working profile" of each player.

Jablonski says this version is oriented both toward an individual's teaching -- by providing the pro with precise data on golf game weaknesses -- and toward helping the golf pro manage his shop more efficiently. "This is an instructional and management tool for the club pro," Jablonski says, "and statistical mirror for the player."

The "Golf Players Program" requires no keyboard for data input. After scorecard data is put in with a scanner, Jablonski says "everything else is accomplished by using a simple computer mouse to click on different menu icons."

The golf club pro version can also be linked to an on-line marketing service that allows amateur players to buy a wide range of top quality golfing products at discount prices. "This feature allows the golf club pro to cut back on shop inventory and management time and concentrate on his forte -- golf and golf instruction," Jablonski says.

The program is provided to golf club pros at no charge. Each amateur golfer using the system is given a unique access code after paying a one-time fee of $50. Golf club pros receive a negotiated percentage of income from merchandise sold through the system.

The third version of the "Golf Players Program" is designed for use on home PCs by individual players. "The software is geared toward one-to-one interaction," Jablonski says. "It takes into account things like player exercise programs, practice time and so on to focus on what part of the individual's game can be accelerated the fastest. It monitors every part of the game -- driving distances, fareway stats, greens, bunkers, sand saves, save percentages, putting (two categories) and putting averages."

The AGT President says the program prompts the user on drills aimed at quickly improving specific parts of a game that are out of balance, taking what Jablonski calls a "holistic" view of golf. Software for home PCs will be sold through club pro shops and will already be loaded with information on a player's home course (fareway dimensions, green slope, level of difficulty stats, etc.). If a player does not have a home course, the software can be customized for each course a player uses.

Jablonski says AGT will soon market an expert systems module called "Head to Head," that analyzes an individual player's game against any one or all of a field of other players. The aim, Jablonski says, is to "educate" the player on how and when to strategically press other players during the weakest parts of their game, and how to make wagers at times most likely to pay off.