PGA Tour Quality Shots
Partnered with the PGA Tour to let golfers compare their best approach shots to the pros — and share them.
Role
Lead Designer (UX & UI)
Team
Design, Engineering, Product Management, PGA Tour
Timeline
3-4 Months
Company
Arccos Golf
The Opportunity
Arccos tracks every shot a golfer hits. The PGA Tour, through ShotLink, has data on every shot hit on Tour. The partnership idea was straightforward: compare amateur approach shots to the pros. Approaches are the most measurable, most relatable shot type. Everyone knows what it means to stick an iron close.
The goals stacked up. Give amateurs a real benchmark for their best shots. Give the PGA Tour a consumer touchpoint that puts their data in people's hands. And create shareable moments that drive engagement for both brands.
Designing Within the Lines
The PGA Tour had strict brand guidelines. The "PGA TOUR QUALITY APPROACH" badge, colors, and logo placement all went through their review process. Every screen that carried Tour branding needed approval.
The challenge was making the PGA Tour branding feel premium and integrated, not like a sponsor sticker slapped on top. It had to feel native to the Arccos experience while clearly communicating the partnership. That meant careful typography, color usage, and placement decisions.
Hole 11 map with shot traces showing drive, 8-iron approach, and putt for a birdie.
The edit shot panel with PGA TOUR QUALITY APPROACH branding integrated into the club, lie, and penalty options.
Jack Palmer's player profile with a list of recent rounds and quality shots woven into the feed.
Surfacing Your Best
After a round, the system identifies approach shots that meet PGA Tour quality thresholds using ShotLink data. These get surfaced as "Top Shots" in the player's feed, no digging required. The best shots from your round are waiting for you.
The harder design problem was translating raw ShotLink data into something that felt meaningful to an amateur. "Better than 71% of shots on Tour" is immediately understandable. Club, distance, result, wind conditions provided the context that makes a stat feel real instead of abstract. Every detail on the card had to earn its place.
Dashboard showing Top Shots from the last round as cards alongside Caddie's Outlook.
Full Top Shot card showing 'Better than 71% of shots on tour' with 8-iron, 158 yards to 4 feet.
The same shot card with iOS share sheet open showing options for Instagram, Messages, and more.
Built to Share
The share card had to look good everywhere. Instagram Stories, iMessage, Twitter, anywhere a golfer might post it. It needed to stand on its own. Someone who's never used Arccos should look at a shared quality shot and immediately understand what it means: this person hit a shot better than most pros.
Golfers actually shared. The quality shot cards became a genuine word-of-mouth channel. The PGA Tour expanded the partnership based on engagement numbers, with plans to extend beyond approaches to drives and other shot types.
