The first phase was to design the user experience. Participants needed an easy way to join the tour, pay their subscription fee, check in to courses, stream their games, watch other players, and claim their winnings. That’s a lot of functionality, and it all had to be simple and intuitive. Bryce and Skip wanted to get more people involved in golfing: from tech-savvy young adults to tech-phobic senior citizens and everyone in between.

In addition, there were complexities on the back-end — the area users don’t see — in connecting all the moving parts. One of their challenges was integrating exterior cameras. To allow for live streaming to the app and the clubhouse, and to verify contest winners, multiple cameras were installed on participating courses. The out-of-the-box live-streaming solutions — usually for security companies or massive events — didn’t work for TBoxTour. They needed a solution that would work with their app and for their audience. They also needed to be able to review footage quickly, verify location and with confident fraud-monitoring, award prize money to legitimate winners.

First, we worked together with their team to finalize branding, design, and features. Once we could see the end goal, it was time to start developing the user experience.

Using competitive research, we compared the goals and demographics with that of successful sporting and gaming apps. From there, we designed and workshopped user journeys and wireframes. Once the user flows were agreed on, we designed the interface in collaboration with TBoxTour’s in-house brand designer.

As we prepared to start development, we helped the TBoxTour team research streaming platforms. We advised them on the best ways to minimize upfront and long-term maintenance costs while creating a clean integration with the app.

Once the user-flows were established and the streaming platform was chosen, it was time for development. 3Advance designed the app from the ground up, including the API and the integration points with the cameras and other hardware.

Exactly six months after our first meeting, Skip and Bryce had a working app on their phones. We released the iOS app first as a pilot in a closed beta group, then iteratively improved the experience. Next we replicated the experience on Android while adhering to the platform-specific design principles. 

On a sunny spring day in 2019 — just a few short months after launch —  the first hole-in-one was hit! At Bull Run Golf Course, Janet Zwetkow became the first TboxTour winner, pocketing $29,473 for her efforts. In this awesome video, Janet can be seen checking in, swinging her club, and then jumping up and down as she realized she made a hole in one and could claim her prize! 

And the winners keep coming. Since going live in the winter of 2018, winnings have exceeded $50,000 as more and more golfers have “joined the tour”. The wheels were in motion, TBoxTour had arrived, and golf would never be the same!

With support from 3Advance, TBoxTour is continuing to grow, and in this off-season, we’re significantly expanding the player offerings with some killer features while also increasing incentives for the courses. Our Data Science team is getting in on the action too: our business intelligence (BI) dashboard has already made reporting child’s play, and behind the scenes we’ve prototyped some game-changing AI and image-processing magic that will make its way into the product in the year ahead.