Desktop software
Upon returning home, I placed my Palm III into its cradle and pressed the HotSync button, to see how the IntelliGolf Desktop software performed. During the normal HotSync process, one of the messages read "Synchronizing IntelliGolf" and all of my new Round, Course and Player information was uploaded into IntelliGolf's desktop (PC) database. Shortly thereafter, IntelliGolf asked me if I would like to delete old round, course, and/or player information off the Palm III. I selected both "round" and "course" data and left "players" unchecked. IntelliGolf used it's "Selective Synchronization" technology to remove my old round and course data and leave the player information intact. Additional memory was freed up and everything worked flawlessly.

Next I clicked on the Windows Start menu and found IntelliGolf listed under Programs. Clicking on the IntelliGolf Desktop menu item brings up a very pleasing Windows-style user interface that was divided into four tabs: rounds, statistics, courses, and players.

The Rounds tab, shown in Figure G, provided information in two windows. The upper window provided historical data on all rounds played. The lower window provided a graphical scorecard for the selected (upper window) round including wagering results. Rounds can be sorted by date, score, course or player.

FIGURE G

There's lots of great round data in the Windows program. Click picture for a larger image.

The scorecard window does a good job of using color to distinguish between under-par, par, and over-par results. By using the Windows' File/Print functions, scorecards can be printed in color or in black and white. Round data can be saved in HTML format for easy posting on a Web page or even copied to other applications such as Excel. Round data can also be entered and/or modified on the desktop, which is great for the times I forget to take my Palm III along.

The Statistics tab, shown in Figure H, displays a wide variety of cumulative and average statistics for any player in the IntelliGolf database. I found over 40 categories of useful information including percentage of greens hit in regulation, average drive length, average scores on Par 3's, 4's and 5's, percentage of fairways hit on Par 4's and 5's, and even Sand Saves. I could easily see my game's strengths and weaknesses.

FIGURE H

Want to know more about your golf game? Check out the stats. Click picture for a larger image.

The Courses tab displays the golf courses that are loaded into the desktop database plus a detailed scorecard for each course entered. Course information includes slope and rating, hole yardages, par ratings and hole handicaps. Each entry can be easily entered and modified from this tab. Turning on/off the course's "Sync" state determines whether this course will be downloaded to the Palm III during the next HotSync process.

Downloading course information from IntelliGolf's PC database saves valuable time by avoiding the manual entry of course data on the Palm III. IntelliGolf makes excellent use of the Palm III's strength Ð synchronization of data between by handheld and PC.