Research
Survey golfers, observe play, and analyze existing products.
GolfGo:
From Fairway
to Interface
A mobile and wearable experience that helps golfers choose the right club, understand their performance, and receive useful guidance without interrupting play.
User-centered product design
Project journey
The project moved from understanding decisions on the course to testing phone concepts and adapting the experience for a wearable.
Ideate
Use How Might We, Round Robin, and bodystorming.
Prototype
Test club guidance, performance, and shot visualization.
Adapt
Reduce distraction through smartwatch support.
The opportunity
Useful guidance without disrupting the game
Golfers make frequent decisions about clubs, distance, weather, and personal ability. GolfGo explores how real-time assistance can increase confidence while respecting the pace, movement, and focus of play.
01. Research
Understanding play in context
User interviews, surveys, and field visits helped us understand how golfers make decisions, track performance, and use digital tools. We also reviewed competing golf products to identify gaps.
The strongest opportunity was personalized guidance with real-time feedback during play.
Key insight
Context matters more than feature quantity.
Advice must be quick to read and easy to act on between shots.
02. Ideation
Turning course challenges into concepts
How Might We questions reframed each challenge as a design opportunity. Round Robin brainstorming helped the team build on one another's ideas and unify the strongest concepts.
Bodystorming on the course tested how features such as club selection and shot prediction might fit naturally into a round.
Reframe frustrations as actionable design questions.
Build collaboratively on ideas instead of working in silos.
Act out interactions in the environment where they happen.
03. Prototype & test
Testing the core assistance features
Interactive prototypes explored club recommendations, performance tracking, and shot visualization. Think-aloud sessions and A/B comparisons revealed that clarity and speed mattered more than detailed controls during play.
04. Product pivot
From phone-first to wearable support
Testing showed that many golfers did not want to handle a phone mid-game because it introduced distraction and accessibility friction. The experience expanded to a smartwatch, providing club suggestions and shot history through minimal interaction.
Phone
Rich planning and performance detail
Smartwatch
Fast guidance during active play
Minimal interaction
Clear visual cues
Glanceable feedback
05. Final prototype
One experience across devices
The final concept combines smartphone depth with smartwatch immediacy. Golfers can learn about clubs, compare strengths and weaknesses, predict shots, and access essential guidance in the format best suited to the moment.
Reflection
Let the environment change the solution
Field research and bodystorming uncovered needs that desk research could not. The shift toward smartwatch support showed the value of flexible prototyping: user context should shape both the features and the device carrying them.
The project also reinforced the value of collaborative ideation. Shared methods helped the team move beyond individual assumptions and build a more practical product together.