2023 MGS Forum Membership Survey

[Louis "John " Gavazza]

Hi completed the survey

[golfinnut]

On 3/5/2023 at 8:12 AM, russtopherb said:

Completed, and agreed on the ability to select multiple choices on some of the questions. 

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^  

[GolfSpy_APH]

27 minutes ago, golfinnut said:

This ^^^^^^^^^^^^  

Thanks for completing.

Due to not having a ranking system in the poll or rating single Selection is our best path forward. 

I've answered this previously, but multiple answers doesn't lead to the specifics we are looking for and the data isn't then something which is actionable. 

With the way it is structured it allows us to pick some paths forward and put resources where it is best required.

However we may have follow up questions which expand on some of these topics. 

[golfinnut]

1 minute ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Thanks for completing.

Due to not having a ranking system in the poll or rating single Selection is our best path forward. 

I've answered this previously, but multiple answers doesn't lead to the specifics we are looking for and the data isn't then something which is actionable. 

With the way it is structured it allows us to pick some paths forward and put resources where it is best required.

However we may have follow up questions which expand on some of these topics. 

Makes complete sense.  

[Heavye1026]

Haven't been on the site in a while, but submitted my responses.  From the last time I logged on, liking the subtle changes I've seen too!

[GolfSpy_APH]

Once again thank you all for participating and filling out the poll. It was extremely helpful and I wanted to provide you with an update on some of the changes it has meant will come into effect over the coming month or so. 

1. Newsletters - This has been mentioned in other threads, but our Monday, Wednesday, Friday Newsletter will continue as is. We are very happy with it and it does help bring eyes to the forum which is important to us. The second part is with Testing Season coming up somewhat soon there will be an additonal Tuesday and Thursday Newsletter that goes out specifically around Member Testing. Thursday will focus on new tests that are coming (announcing them) and Tuesday will be Testers announced and Final reviews. This will help get some additional eyes on the tests and hopefully help more engagement! Please be nice to all the newbies coming! haha I know all of you will, but going that little extra step to guiding them means a lot!

2. MGSVT - We as a mod team really like this feature and are going to work to promote it a bit more. We and by we I mean @Golfspy_TCB have some exciting plans for it and a few things to spice it up that will hopefully help engagement and get all of you to post your rounds when you're able to play!

3. AMA - This is going to the back burner for now. How it might change is within our community calls. This would mean I have a special guest come on to discuss their company, products or whatever else and we record it and post it after. This is much less time consuming for us and should allow for more free flowing conversation. The old format is not likely to return. 

4. Member Map and Course Reviews - Again a feature we like and just need to do a better job highlighting. We want to see more course reviews on here as it helps everyone find fun and unique courses. Even if you don't want to pin your location it would be great if you can put in a course review or two! It is really quick, easy and helps more golfers find more courses easily!

5. Member Testing - ahh watch this space. I don't believe you will be disappointed... but glad to see for most all it isn't the only reason you are here. 

6. MGS Blog content - We will work to bring you more of what you want here onto the forum and we are also looking at more forum items on the main site! Whether that be member reviews, course reviews, trending topics or more! 

7. Big Trip - Still a lot tbd on this however when we have further news we will keep you updated.

8. The gallery - This feature will likely be removed. Unfortunately it does cause a lot of back end issues and unless we can sort it out we may have to pull the plug on this. There are very few that actually post albums of photos there and more post in threads. I am guessing the majority of who said yes are those who browse through the photos vs actually posting in them. 

9. Glad to see so many with push notifications!

10. Themes are as expected and there won't be much changes here. 

11. Ads - This may change a big, bit as to how you see ads, however the forum structure is built with placement for ads and we have been assured that will not change. User experience is key and if there are some that are awful like they had been please screenshot and let us know.

12 - BST - We still want a new platform here and are working on it. Still TBD, but we do want to expand this area of the forum. 

Thanks again all and let us know if you have questions!

[Bang60]

Since I joined I've found MGS a more interactive blog with the members input fair and constructive unlike most other blog's, however the MGSVT means nothing to me? Obviously I know what MGS means but I need the acronyms in full first time, sorry to be difficult it's harder to participate if your a new member or don't speak American lol...

Edited March 21 by Bang60
info

[GolfSpy SAM]

19 minutes ago, Bang60 said:

Since I joined I've found a more interactive blog with the members input fair and constructive unlike most other blog's, however the MGSVT means nothing to me? Obviously I know what MGS means but I need the acronyms in full first time, sorry to be difficult it's harder to participate if your a new member or don't speak American lol...

MGSVT = MyGolfSpy Virtual Tournament  I speak American just fine and sometimes the acronyms throw me off, too.  If you've not joined up in the Tourney, post some scores! It's good fun, and there will be (I believe) more opportunities to team up with other members for special one-off tourneys (like the Two-Ball tourney that just wrapped up last weekend)!  

[Bang60]

3 minutes ago, GolfSpy_SAM said:

MGSVT = MyGolfSpy Virtual Tournament  I speak American just fine......

I don't, as a retired English teacher teaching English as a second language every English speaking country in the world has different meanings even saying the same words. What's hidden implied and suggested is different even from region to region even in America, language is one of my Fav topics and I learnt Maori French Thai German English all of them to various levels. Today my level is very low and can only speak English with any fluency, all though some would disagree lol...

[GolfSpy SAM]

1 minute ago, Bang60 said:

I don't, as a retired English teacher teaching English as a second language every English speaking country in the world has different meanings even saying the same words. What's hidden implied and suggested is different even from region to region even in America, language is one of my Fav topics and I learnt Maori French Thai German English all of them to various levels. Today my level is very low and can only speak English with any fluency, all though some would disagree lol...

Only five languages in addition to your native tongue? You sound like a real dumb-dumb.  (<<<======= sarcasm alert =======>>>)

That's incredible! I have some siblings that have lived extensively in Europe (France and Germany), and just like with most things, if you don't use language, even if it's your mother-tongue, it's easy to lose fluency.  The running joke in my family when doing an impression of either one of my siblings is to say a lot of "ummm....yah....vuss ees dat vurd....oh yeah! 'Chocolate'!"

Happy to have you here!

[Getoffmylawn]

3 hours ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

Once again thank you all for participating and filling out the poll. It was extremely helpful and I wanted to provide you with an update on some of the changes it has meant will come into effect over the coming month or so. 

1. Newsletters - This has been mentioned in other threads, but our Monday, Wednesday, Friday Newsletter will continue as is. We are very happy with it and it does help bring eyes to the forum which is important to us. The second part is with Testing Season coming up somewhat soon there will be an additonal Tuesday and Thursday Newsletter that goes out specifically around Member Testing. Thursday will focus on new tests that are coming (announcing them) and Tuesday will be Testers announced and Final reviews. This will help get some additional eyes on the tests and hopefully help more engagement! Please be nice to all the newbies coming! haha I know all of you will, but going that little extra step to guiding them means a lot!

2. MGSVT - We as a mod team really like this feature and are going to work to promote it a bit more. We and by we I mean @Golfspy_TCB have some exciting plans for it and a few things to spice it up that will hopefully help engagement and get all of you to post your rounds when you're able to play!

3. AMA - This is going to the back burner for now. How it might change is within our community calls. This would mean I have a special guest come on to discuss their company, products or whatever else and we record it and post it after. This is much less time consuming for us and should allow for more free flowing conversation. The old format is not likely to return. 

4. Member Map and Course Reviews - Again a feature we like and just need to do a better job highlighting. We want to see more course reviews on here as it helps everyone find fun and unique courses. Even if you don't want to pin your location it would be great if you can put in a course review or two! It is really quick, easy and helps more golfers find more courses easily!

5. Member Testing - ahh watch this space. I don't believe you will be disappointed... but glad to see for most all it isn't the only reason you are here. 

6. MGS Blog content - We will work to bring you more of what you want here onto the forum and we are also looking at more forum items on the main site! Whether that be member reviews, course reviews, trending topics or more! 

7. Big Trip - Still a lot tbd on this however when we have further news we will keep you updated.

8. The gallery - This feature will likely be removed. Unfortunately it does cause a lot of back end issues and unless we can sort it out we may have to pull the plug on this. There are very few that actually post albums of photos there and more post in threads. I am guessing the majority of who said yes are those who browse through the photos vs actually posting in them. 

9. Glad to see so many with push notifications!

10. Themes are as expected and there won't be much changes here. 

11. Ads - This may change a big, bit as to how you see ads, however the forum structure is built with placement for ads and we have been assured that will not change. User experience is key and if there are some that are awful like they had been please screenshot and let us know.

12 - BST - We still want a new platform here and are working on it. Still TBD, but we do want to expand this area of the forum. 

Thanks again all and let us know if you have questions!

Posts like this really help ramp up the excitement for the coming season!  And I suppose it's time to get in on the Virtual Tourneys...

[GolfSpy_APH]

Opening this up once again as we have had an influx of members and of course want their input! If anyone hasnt already please take the 3-4 minutes to fill it out!

[Bang60]

On 3/22/2023 at 10:29 AM, GolfSpy SAM said:

Only five languages in addition to your native tongue? You sound like a real dumb-dumb.  (<<<======= sarcasm alert =======>>>)

That's incredible! I have some siblings that have lived extensively in Europe (France and Germany), and just like with most things, if you don't use language, even if it's your mother-tongue, it's easy to lose fluency.  The running joke in my family when doing an impression of either one of my siblings is to say a lot of "ummm....yah....vuss ees dat vurd....oh yeah! 'Chocolate'!"

Happy to have you here!

Strange sorry but I only just got notice of your response, weird...

[GolfSpy_APH]

We are starting to work on our 2024 season, but wanted to quickly ask informally. What do you want to see come to member testing in 2024?

[EasyPutter]

16 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

We are starting to work on our 2024 season, but wanted to quickly ask informally. What do you want to see come to member testing in 2024?

I would like to see some kind of interactive thing for each of the testing groups, not just the clubs, and not sure how that will be done but the interplay between testers, Mods, and Forum members is what really makes these threads come alive and entertaining.  

[GolfSpy_APH]

Just now, EasyPutter said:

I would like to see some kind of interactive thing for each of the testing groups, not just the clubs, and not sure how that will be done but the interplay between testers, Mods, and Forum members is what really makes these threads come alive and entertaining.  

So more cobra like stuff. 

We did do a little more of that this season (Takomo and others did challenges). This may be something we integrate more via the MGSVCT and have challenges like that. Issue is in many cases prizes are wanted/expected and the forum doesnt have the budget or resources at this time to make those things happen. 

It may also be more than some testers are willing to do, but if we set that as the expectation from the get go maybe it could work. Final point and not a bad thing, but given the current staff is running full swing it may be that we need or require more assistance to run things like this. 

[EasyPutter]

2 minutes ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

So more cobra like stuff. 

We did do a little more of that this season (Takomo and others did challenges). This may be something we integrate more via the MGSVCT and have challenges like that. Issue is in many cases prizes are wanted/expected and the forum doesnt have the budget or resources at this time to make those things happen. 

It may also be more than some testers are willing to do, but if we set that as the expectation from the get go maybe it could work. Final point and not a bad thing, but given the current staff is running full swing it may be that we need or require more assistance to run things like this. 

Instead of adding more Mods, perhaps there is need for Mod Assistants who like the mods focus on a particular Mod's area like VCT or Testing, could straddle in the case of a testing team coodinator for instance, so instead of moderating things they are doing the leg work for the added value, going deeper kind of Forum experience.

Prizes could be designated as the Testing Group Awards for MVP, Best Review of the (Topic), Most Original Review of the (Topic).  Focus away from material "gimme" stuff and more on the social aspect.  This would even work for such things as Craftsmen club covers.

[Preeway]

42 minutes ago, EasyPutter said:

I would like to see some kind of interactive thing for each of the testing groups, not just the clubs, and not sure how that will be done but the interplay between testers, Mods, and Forum members is what really makes these threads come alive and entertaining.  

Couldn’t agree more with this. I really enjoyed playing along with the Cobra testers and the challenges they were given. Prizes or not, I think having these extra challenges where other forum members can join in definitely keeps the rest of us engaged better rather than just waiting for a couple highlight blips and then the final review. 

[Shrek74]

1 hour ago, GolfSpy_APH said:

So more cobra like stuff. 

We did do a little more of that this season (Takomo and others did challenges). This may be something we integrate more via the MGSVCT and have challenges like that. Issue is in many cases prizes are wanted/expected and the forum doesnt have the budget or resources at this time to make those things happen. 

It may also be more than some testers are willing to do, but if we set that as the expectation from the get go maybe it could work. Final point and not a bad thing, but given the current staff is running full swing it may be that we need or require more assistance to run things like this. 

Perhaps do a final wrap up community call where all the testers are on and it's a very open Q&A type deal where people can ask questions about what the testers actually saw or felt or whatever during their testing period. Similar to the Thursday community call, but centered around the testers and products tested.

[Jnoble89]

28 minutes ago, Shrek74 said:

Perhaps do a final wrap up community call where all the testers are on and it's a very open Q&A type deal where people can ask questions about what the testers actually saw or felt or whatever during their testing period. Similar to the Thursday community call, but centered around the testers and products tested.

I think this is a great idea and would love to do something like this in regards to a wrap up of the Cobra challenge. I also think @EasyPutter's idea of Mod Assistants for specific threads/challenges/etc. is a fantastic idea if the need arose. 

As far as items to test, I like the department of at home practice items. So the personal launch monitors, hitting nets, turf mats, etc., is one that I enjoy following along with and versatile where it could be in or out of season testing opportunities. Training aids are always neat, too, and then ball testing is great. Blind ball head to head testing would be cool, too, but I imagine would be challenging getting non logo'd balls from OEMs.

All I know at the end of the day is 2024 will be another cracking year just like 2023 has been!