THE NAME of a Ledbury businessman may soon be well-known to self-confessed golf geeks everywhere, because he has invented a golfing app to improve a player’s performance.
And Apple has just approved it for sale.
Inventor Daniel Vesma said: “ There are plenty people who would think that adding data-processing might just be the only way to make golf more boring; but for those of us who are proud to consider ourself golf-dorks, the insights that the App can give are fascinating.
“Kids happen. Work happens; and so it was that I found myself at this start of this golf season standing on the first tee of my local municipal course not having hit a ball for almost six years.”
But without a professional standing at his shoulder, whispering advice?
He said: “I tried a few iPhone Apps and web services, but none of them provided the key insights that I knew would help me improve. I started recording my rounds in a simple spreadsheet, not worrying about the score, just concentrating on the individual shots. I tracked how many I hit thin, how many thick and the resulting distance and direction for each.
“Spreadsheets are great, but I’m a developer at heart. I built Balata’s analytical engine for my own use and wrote an App to record my shots. I quickly found that the more data I gave the app, the better the analysis was and the quicker my game was improving.”
But Mr Vesma had some essential help on creating his App, from a member of the younger generation.
He said: “My eldest son, Corbu, aged 12, has been instrumental in the development, testing builds and identifying areas of improvement.”
The App’s name Balata comes from a type of golf ball which were popular amongst professionals twenty or thirty years ago.
Mr Vesma added: “Recently, Apple approved my new app for sale. My hope is that Balata will fill the gap in the market between scorecard-style tracking apps, and expensive performance management systems.”
And despite it being approved for sale, Mr Vesma’s App is free.
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