Lawrence Moses is a PGA apprentice and an assistant professional at Clifton Park Golf Course in Baltimore, Md.

After many years of tediously running golf leagues with pen, paper and Excel, I started using software that provided a system to greatly reduce the amount of time spent on league management. Not only have I reduced my time in this department from hours to minutes, but the software, GolfLeagueGenius, allows me to attempt difficult formats of play; we have recently added a new league that uses USGA handicaps, plays four different courses from four different tees, runs three different weekly games, and tracks ringers for each course played. We even added a four-weeklong Ryder Cup format during October for the top 24 players at our club, but my time invested in managing leagues has still been reduced to just a few minutes each day. In addition to saving time, the software allows us to have a professional-looking league website with photo galleries, message boards, player profiles, player statistics and event results. I definitely don’t miss the days of preparing for league play several hours in advance and then spending hours afterwards trying to calculate scores and double-checking everything I look at.

The time I save not managing leagues is time I use to help out with other aspects of the operation. Not only have I personally saved hours and hours of time, but we have seen a tremendous revitalization of league play at Clifton Park. Our league participation has increased by 200 percent in the past year while we have used the new software. Not only has our league play increased, but total rounds associated with league players has grown exponentially. The online availability of league standings and statistics provided has created an aspiration for league players to practice and improve their rankings.

If you would like to email the author of this Best Practice directly, please email lawmoses@verizon.net