The Player’s Championship – Hole Master

Background:

The Players Championship, one of golf’s premier tournaments held annually in Florida, wanted to enhance the experience for fans visiting the course’s hospitality suites. The goal was to engage fans more deeply in the game while promoting interaction with the live-action at each hole.

The Players Championship  faced a challenge in creating a memorable and interactive experience that would captivate fans, encourage longer stays in hospitality suites, and increase engagement with the event.

They needed a solution that could:

• Facilitate quick but meaningful fan interactions.
• Give flexibility to fans playing who might stay for only a short period or engage over the entire tournament.
• Ensure seamless and intuitive access for fans in a crowded, high-energy environment.
• Integrate real-time player movements and statistics into an engaging game format.
• Balance short-term engagement with incentives for long-term participation.

Solution

As a result, Dizplai developed “Hole Master,” an interactive predictor game that allowed fans to engage with each group of golfers playing through designated holes. Partnering with IMG Arena, which provided dynamic visual displays of each hole, fans could access the game via QR codes displayed on large screens alongside each hole being played in real time. 

When designing the game, Dizplai collaborated closely with IMG Arena and The Players’ organisers to ensure smooth integration of player data and game updates. We also customised the Hole Master format to align with The Players’ tournament setup, focusing on relevant predictions for each group of golfers. Alongside this, the predictor model was customised to include specific prompts for each golfer group based on real-time data, allowing fans to make dynamic predictions about immediate events. 

Features

To ensure maximum levels of engagement from the fans, we included a variety of features to keep fans more engaged, for longer periods of time, some of the features included were:

Predictor Format: Using our predictor game model, Hole Master asked fans to answer specific questions about each group of golfers, like “Who will make par?” or “Which golfer will hit the farthest drive?” Each correct answer earned the fan a point​​.

Real-time Leaderboards: For each hole, leaderboards allowed fans to see where they ranked based on cumulative points. This encouraged either quick engagement for a single group of golfers or more extended participation to climb the leaderboard across multiple rounds.

Easy Access: QR code entry made it simple for fans to jump in and out of the game as they desired, offering flexibility that fit various levels of fan commitment.

Results

Overall, the game was a resounding success. Blending the occurrence of real-time events and creating a competitive environment through leaderboards created an immersive fan experience that surpasses traditional viewing. 

Fans had plenty of positive feedback to share following the tournament, as they felt Hole Master added a new dimension of excitement to their experience, and this was reflected in the numbers.

• Fans took part in 70% of all games in the hospitality suites demonstrating high engagement throughout the tournament from start to finish.
• Fans played an average of 18 games each throughout the event.

If you want to enhance your fan experience, whether you host in-person events, go live online, or televise your content, drop us a message and we’ll empower you to take your passive audience and turn them into an active community.