Cybergolf

Matchmaker, Find Me A Course

Hear the word "database" in relation to golf and you're probably eavesdropping on a pair of Silicon Valley execs delaying their morning starting time with business banter. The "D" word is something most golfers invoke only at work, where it's known as a mysterious entity maintained by CIS engineers hiding in dark cubicles. Yet databases large and small are why the Internet exists; the Web itself was envisioned by scientists as a place for the efficient exchange of information. As the Internet pupates from an informational tool into one designed for entertainment, those whose interests cross the two realms would do well to remember the Net's origins.

For most golfers, the Web's most-used application is the search engine. If you're planning a business trip and want to know what courses you might play, enter "Colorado AND golf courses" and you'll get -- well, let's take a look -- "about 3,000" items that match your query, "in no particular order." No thanks.

A growing number of sites, however, have committed the time and effort necessary to create exhaustive golf course databases, resources that outshine anything your generic search engine can uncover.

Some, like GolfLink, at www.golflink.net, are still too undeveloped to be of much use; others, like GolfWeb (regularly mentioned in this column and found at www.golfweb.com) have good resources tucked within larger directories. But two sites, Golfcourse.com and Golf Universe, exist to gather course data into one efficiently sorted document. Though they differ in approach, their combined content is superlative.

Golfcourse.com boasts more than 15,000 courses in its databanks. Start at www.golfcourse.com, where a "Locator" links to a simple template for entering the name, state or country of the course you're seeking. Any accurate info you enter ferrets out a match. From the list of returned matches, colored bullets indicate a course's classification: public, private, semi-private, ranked or resort.

The site's forte lies in its detailed listings. Each "Course Profile" features a wealth of information, including the course type and date of construction; green fees; yardages, ratings, Slope and par for all tees; guest policies, length of playing season and amenities. Each also comes with directions to the club, phone numbers and tips for playing. There's even a "Course Comments" section where readers provide additional reference. Click on the animated beanie for "Advanced Search," where you can narrow your parameters to include architect, course difficulty and other criteria. Fantastic.

With nearly 24,000 entries, Golf Universe gives Golfcourse.com a run for its money. Found at www.golfuniverse.com, the database's "Form Search" allows you to sleuth out your spot using the same criteria, though the results aren't nearly as detailed -- only holes, yards, par, classification and fees. Nor are you provided insider information or suggestions for play.

Golf Universe has some tricks, though. With each listing, you can link to "weather.com," another database with up-to-the-minute conditions and a five-day forecast. In addition, its clickable world map functions as a tiny atlas, a great improvement over Golfcourse.com's disappointing sketches.

Between these two resources, the aficionado will be armed with relevant data whenever he or she heads for nine fresh holes. Balancing crucial course conditions against current weather data, downloading directions and plotting them on an electronic map, databases now hedge against all the variables that once made the game a challenge. Or nearly all; no database yet exists that can predict just how you'll play when you get there. -- Colin Berry