The team behind Dallas tech startup, World Class Creations, has been at it for over three years now. This Tuesday, they’ll have the opportunity to show off the impressive technology that they’ve been developing, at the Nancy Lieberman Foundation Celebrity Classic at The Clubs of Prestonwood.
That’s right, it’s tech…for golf.
“Golf is a traditional sport,” explains Peter Bastawros, founder and CEO of World Class Creations. “The need for modernizing the sport is a growing one. In just the last two years alone, over 2 million golfers have left the sport.”
Besides the cost element behind playing the sport (buying a set of clubs isn’t cheap), there are a number of hurdles that golf industry leaders will have to navigate. These are the hurdles that Bastawros and his team are addressing.
“We looked at bowling, for instance — when automatic scoring was introduced in the sport, popularity increased,” explains Bastawros. World Class Creations realized that there are already a variety of smartphone apps available to golf players, but these didn’t address the growing need (and opportunity) for an enhanced and modern golf experience.
“People play golf for several reasons,” says Bastawros. “There’s the gaming aspect, the social experience, and the entertainment value. Our product, Game Cart, offers a new way to experience the sport by bringing together the virtual world of video gaming, social media, and fantasy gaming to the live golf experience.”
One very important aspect of what the Game Cart product is bringing to the golf industry is that of accessibility — players of any skill level will have the opportunity to learn and interact with the game and other players.
“Game Cart opens up the golf experience to a wider audience — for the casual golfer, like myself, I’m able to use the technology to improve my swing, and I’ll get data on my performance so that I can improve my game,” says Bastawros. Game Cart can act as a personal shot advisor, based on your individual statistics.
And if you look at the amount of data available to the end user, you can see how interactive Game Cart is making the experience — not only can you see your stats, along with other players, but you can share and interact with each other on social media.
“It was important to address the golf experience from a number of different fronts,” Bastawros explains. “Our goal is to make it easier for people to learn to play the game.”
The three year journey that the World Class Creations team has taken is, no doubt, an arduous and impressive one. Initially they weren’t received with open arms at golf courses in the area. “We had to cover all of our costs in the beginning, when testing the product,” says Bastawros.
But this Tuesday, Game Cart will be played by celebrities and business executives at Prestonwood during the Nancy Lieberman Foundation Celebrity Classic.
“We’re excited,” says Bastawros. “Our goal is to increase the popularity of the traditional sport of golf. We want to make this technology available so that courses are able to profit from it, and so that more people are able to enjoy the game.”
You can follow along with the live coverage that will be available on the World Class Creations site on Tuesday.