Release 2.3

Over the past month I have been working to make version 2.3 available in the Android market and Amazon App store.  This new version will be a departure from how I have been releasing changes for Handicap: Golf Tracker and Handicap: Golf Tracker Pro.  In the past the only real difference between the two version was a grass background and the lack of ads in the pro version.

In this version there are some significant differences between the free version and the pro version.  In the pro version you will now see a more streamlined Add Round screen.  The new screen gets rid of the drop down boxes and replaces then with text fields.  I hope this will made entering round much easier.  The other difference will be the addition of graphs to the Stats screen.  You can now see five different graphs to see how you are trending.  I will be adding more graphs and features to this screen in later releases.

Both version will see significant changes to UI navigation.  I am no longer duplicating some features in the menus.  Some features are also no longer hidden in the menus.  Now the Action Bar will be used to display features like adding a course/round, filtering rounds or easy access to the help screens.

The Pro version is now available in the Android market while the free version will be available in August.  Both versions will be on the Amazon App Store once they pass the app validation process.  

Adding AChartEngine to Handicap: Golf Tracker Pro

Over the past couple weeks I've been working to improve the user experience for the paid users.  As a result I have begun working on adding graph support to Your Stats section of the android app.  These stats should provide a little more context on how your game is progressing.  Here are a couple screen shots to give you an idea on what to expect.

Working on Handicap 2.0

I'm currently working on delivering a sizable amount of new functionality.  The feature list includes more course data, a new crowd sourcing approach to course data and new stats.  I'm hoping to deliver a really top notch experience that will distinguish my app with the others available for Android.  Below are a couple new screens I'm working on.  You'll see there is now info for the hole like par and yardage.  I have also added the option to track the club hit off the tee.

Handicap: Golf Tracker 1.9 released!

A new version of Handicap: Golf Tracker is now available on the Android marketplace.  The new version contains changes to the Play Golf screen that allows you to enter a round hole by hole.  The new screen removes the golf ball links and allows you to go directly to the first hole or the next hole you haven't entered a score on.  You can now choose to save the round on this screen as well as share the round.  The cancel button will remove the temporary round created when you clicked on the Play Round button.

The main feature I hope this will resolve is the occasional force close error being reported.  On occasion the
round data has been lost which causes a force close to occur when you clicked on the next hole to play.  The fix should handle the issue by reloading the saved round data.

Here are a couple screen shots of the new Play Golf screens for both the Pro and the Lite versions.  The lite version will display ads and has a solid green background.

Android Market links:
Handicap: Golf Tracker Pro
Handicap: Golf Tracker Lite

Version 1.8 Now Available

A new version of Handicap: Golf Tracker is on the market.  Now you will see a Pro and a Lite version on the market.  This will follow my plan to add more features into the pro version of the application.  I will be working on a 2.0 version of Handicap which will include several new features in the pro version.  The Lite version will not be seeing the same features.

In the Pro version I added a licencing service that will ensure that each copy was purchased through the Android market.  This should not affect any of the current users of the paid version of the application.  If there are any issues please feel free to contact me.

In both versions of the application I fixed some minor bugs with the display and resolved an issue when in the Play Round screens.  This should resolve the Force Close bug some had reported to Google.  I hope this didn't inconvenience too many people.

Version 1.7 Released!

Version 1.7 of Handicap: Golf Tracker is now available on the android market.  The major change with this version of the application has to do with using the Play Round feature.  Now if you have started to keeping track of a round using the Play Round screens, your round will be saved if you exit the app.  Once returning to the app and selecting Play Round you will be prompted to continue the round or start over.  You can also now go to the Rounds screen and see the abandoned round.  You will be able to enter your complete rounds stats there if you’d like.

I made a small UI change to all of the screens in the application.  I added a title bar to each screen that should help distinguish each screen a little better. This space will host some of the ads when in landscape perspective.

The other change has been to the ads shown in the free version of the app.  I have removed the ads from the Add Round and Add Course screens to make entering courses and rounds easier.  I have also adjusted where ads are shown when the phone is in landscape.  This should hopefully utilize screen space better.

Please feel free to contact me about any additional functionality you’d like to see in the applications.  The changes above have come from user reviews and emails I have received from consumers of my application.

Filtering Rounds

As people start to play more rounds it can be a little more difficult to find specific rounds.  In an effort to resolve this I have added two new menu options about filtering the Rounds list screen.

Now when viewing an individual course you can now open the menu and go to a new round list screen with just rounds played at that course.  I thought this might be helpful to see how you’ve played a course in the past.  You can now see how you are trending at that course.

The second menu change is to the Rounds list screen.  Now if you press the menu button you will have the option of filtering the courses.  This menu button will navigate you to a new screen where you can choose to filter by course, year and/or holes.  Make you choices then click Apply and you’ll be navigated to a filtered rounds list screen.   To remove the filter just navigate to the Filter screen again and click clear.

I am using these new features to see how I’m going in my 9 hole league and to see the rounds I entered last year.  Hopefully this will be beneficial for those of you that play a ton of golf each year.  If you would like to have some more filtering options please drop me an email.

Backup & Restore

In a recent update to Handicap: Golf Tracker the ability to backup and restore your data was made available.  From the main screen you can now press the Menu button on your phone and the options to Backup and Restore are available.  This feature will backup your stats, courses and rounds to your SD card.  

Once you have backed up your data you can easily move it to another phone or your home computer for safe keeping.  To restore the data just make sure you copy the handicap folder with the export.xml onto your SD card.  Then after starting Handicap: Golf Tracker press the Menu button and choose to restore.  This will delete all current data and replace it with the data from the SD card.

I hope this feature will make it easier for people to move from phone to phone.  It will also make it easier for those that downloaded the free app to migrate over to the paid app.  As I’ve said before there will be advantages to owning the paid version in the future.  This feature should help those planning on making the switch.

Feedback

So far I'm looking to narrow down the changes I make in the next minor update to Handicap.  I've started designing the changes for tracking your scrambling and sand saves in a round.  I may also add the ability to track penalties for a round.  

I am currently developing the ability to search rounds and courses.  This is kind of an big change in the code but worth the work.  I think as people start adding more rounds it'll be easier look at past performances via search.  I'm not ready to implement search to create new courses.  The cost out weights the benefits right now.

I'm curious if people like the grass background. I've been thinking about applying themes to the app to allow people to change the background.  Maybe a solid color scheme would look better.

Handicap Help

How to add a Course
Inside the application you need to click the menu button on your phone. You should see two options: Add Round or Add Course.  Select Add Course.  This will show you a new screen with text input fields.  You should fill in the name, tee box, slope, rating and holes if you want the app to track your handicap.  These fields can be filled out be the data you would find on a score card.  Click the Save button to save the course.

How to add a Round
Inside the application you need to click the menu button on your phone. You should see two options: Add Round or Add Course.  Select Add Round.  This will show a screen with multiple spinner drop downs.  Select a course, score and holes played for handicap tracking.  You can also enter the number of fairways, greens and putts for additional stat tracking.

Rounds Tab
This screen will display the golfer's name, handicap and a list of rounds ordered by most recently entered.  You can click on an individual row to edit the round or delete the round.

Course Tab
This screen will display the list of courses you have entered in the app.  The courses are listed in alphabetical order.  You can click on an individual course to edit the data or delete the course.  If you delete a course you will also delete all rounds at that course.

Handicap Tab
This screen allows you to edit the golfer's name and view the golfers stats.  You can see the 18 hole and 9 hole handicap for the golfer.  This screen also shows your average score, fairways hit, green in regulation and putts for 18 holes.

Play Round
This screen allows you to enter a rounds data one hole at a time.You can pick the course from the spinner and then click on each hole to enter your score, putts, hit the green or hit the fairway.  This screen will keep a running tally of your stats at the top of the screen and will not save the round until you click the Post button.

Why is my handicap 0?
This app uses the USGA formula for handicap tracking.  To get a valid handicap you need to have five rounds posted.  You will also see a 0 if your course is missing the rating, slope or holes.

Why is my handicap 95.9?
When you setup your course you did not provide a slope or a rating.  You need to provide this data to get a valid handicap.

How to get a Handicap(N)
This is a nine hole handicap.  You need to setup the course as a nine hole course and use the rate and slope from the USGA course database.

Don't see a 9 hole handicap or Play Round
You are using the free version of Handicap.  These features are only available for those who bought the full version of the application.

I've been working on a handful of bug fixes for Handicap.  It's interesting to see what happens once someone else starts using the app.  I've created a few modifications to help bullet proof the UI and fixed some bugs associated to the Play Round screen.  I'll post another article with the list of bug fixes.

Here are some screen shots of Handicap.  The app allows you to add courses, add rounds, track stats and calculate your handicap.

Welcome to the dedicated development site for The Voghan applications.  I am currently preparing to launch my first application, Handicap, that will allow you to track your golf rounds and statistics on your phone. I plan to post screen shots and instructions on how the application works in the upcoming days.