A golf web app grew into an ecosystem

The project started with a relatively simple idea for a golf web app: a structured way to learn through lessons, series, and other golf content.

After one year of additions, the component library needed a different approach. I drew a line across the components page, kept the old system on one side because the shipping app still depended on it, and built the new one on the other. That boundary stayed in place for months. Every component that crossed it was rebuilt.

The activity card was one example. Nine variations had accumulated, each with its own structure. I rebuilt the component around three shapes, three background options, and 13 shared properties, allowing the same card to adapt to different states.

The web app became a native iOS experience, expanding from structured learning into practice tools, games, swing analysis, and recording.

The Coach App gave coaches a place to create their own services — from in-person lessons and swing analysis to online lessons — and define how and where they worked. They could also create their own website directly from the app.

The coach app runs on the same component library as the golfer app. Thirty-seven semantic tokens sit under both, and five carry a different value: three backgrounds and two text colors. The text values are adjusted to hold contrast against the coach’s darker background.

I designed three interconnected flows within the Coach App: Coach Profile, Services, and Website Management.

Each serves a distinct purpose. Coach Profile gives coaches a public presence in the Golfer App while also providing information for their websites. Services lets coaches manage their offerings for the Handy Golf marketplace and choose which ones to publish on their websites.

Website Management brings these pieces together, allowing coaches to shape their websites without duplicating content. When information needs updating, contextual shortcuts take them directly to the flow where it’s managed.

Each flow works independently, but together they form a connected system.

The HowTo Library connected golf problems with the tools that could help solve them. A golfer could discover a fix on the web and see how Handy Golf could help, or find the same guidance directly from the relevant feature inside the app.

Four connected surfaces, each with its own role, platform, and audience.

The golfer app is on the App Store, now as a paid app. The free version that preceded it passed five thousand downloads. It carries lessons, drills, games, and the first version of the marketplace.

The HowTo Library is live on the web.

The coach app and the website template were designed in full and built in part. They haven’t been released.