Clippd hopes to help college golf regain confidence, momentum

Goodbye, Spikemark.

Hello, Clippd.

The NCAA wasted little time moving on from its embattled golf scoring and rankings partner, Spikemark, announcing last Monday that the contract was in an agreed upon “handover” process with Clippd on the receiving end.

So, how did this happen? According to Clippd CEO Piers Parnell, it all started with a phone call on September 1.

On that day, Derek Freeman, the former UCLA coach and NCAA committee member, reached out to Clippd seeking assistance. Spikemark, launched on August 31, had faced numerous challenges and Freeman needed help to fix the scoring features and address data protection concerns.

Unlike Spikemark, Clippd already had a strong reputation within the college golf community. Founded seven years ago, Clippd’s goal was to help golfers improve their performance by analyzing and presenting performance data in a digestible manner. During its beta period, Clippd worked with Wake Forest women and Georgia Tech men’s teams, leading to the former winning the 2023 NCAA women’s title and the latter finishing as national runners-up.

Clippd quickly assessed Spikemark’s website and app and identified numerous issues. Recognizing the frustration among coaches, players, and administrators, Clippd decided to step in and rebuild Spikemark’s website pro bono. They worked tirelessly to facilitate the entry of tournament results and participated in meetings with the NCAA, GCAA, and WGCA.

Finally, on Monday evening, Clippd officially replaced Spikemark as the NCAA’s golf scoring and ranking provider.

“We are confident that Clippd will lead us through technology challenges faced during the 2023 fall season, and serve as a valuable partner into the future, as well,” said Joni Comstock, NCAA senior vice president of championships.

Clippd’s top priority for the fall season is to log clean results from all tournaments in all divisions, for both men and women. They will then send the data to Mark Broadie for his new ranking system. Clippd is also working on a scoring input feature to make it easier for tournament organizers to submit results. Additionally, they plan to introduce tournament administration and live scoring components as soon as possible.

As for Spikemark, the details of the transition and Freeman’s compensation remain unknown. Clippd will continue to operate Spikemark’s website with its current branding and support emails, but changes to the look and details of the website are planned for the future.

“There is some cool stuff we can do,” said Parnell.