PinSeeker and Foresight Sports Inject Fun (And Money!) Into Simulator Golf, and You Can Get In on the Action!
Quick and easy online golf competitions that pay out real cash rewards? On his visit to Foresight Sports HQ, Marc spoke with the man behind the PinSeeker app inception. Check out the story below.
The challenge for the collective golf launch monitor and simulator industry that wants to make sure indoor golf is sustainable is coming up with ways to make the experience more social.
Online competitions have been an option for a while through several golf simulator software packages. But beating a field of randoms from around the world who you’ll never meet in person only has so much bragging rights cachet. For a lot of golfers, it’s just not that exciting.
Another issue with those types of online competitions is the same issue outdoor golf events face: It takes a long time to determine a winner.
But what if those competitions with strangers actually paid out real cash? And what if they only took you 5 minutes to play?
Now that’s something more people can get behind! PinSeeker, a company that established an app to host virtual closest-to-the-pin tournaments that take only minutes to play, are now facilitating close to 5,000 tournaments a month and paying out $2,500,000 to golfers all over the world.
If you know golfers, you know that a great many of them love putting a little money on the line when they tee it up. It’s a big part of what makes golf such a social game.
And an increasing number of golfers are looking for opportunities to play their favorite sport without the multiple hours required for its traditional on-course formats.
That’s exactly what the PinSeeker app provides in a very slick, well-organized, simple-to-set-up way.
All you need is access to a golf launch monitor and golf simulator software that’s compatible with PinSeeker. After that, you can join closest-to-the-pin tournaments that are starting and finishing constantly.
In March, Foresight Sports’ parent company, Revelyst, acquired PinSeeker. Now the PinSeeker app is compatible with Foresight’s industry-leading FSX Play golf simulator software, which means golfers who own devices like Foresight’s Falcon, QuadMAX, and GC3 as well as the Bushnell Launch Pro, can easily access these PinSeeker tournaments.
On my recent visit to the Foresight Sports headquarters in San Diego, I caught up with Rob Guilfoyle, who served as PinSeeker’s CEO and since the acquisition is now Head of Digital Studio for Foresight Sports. Settle in as Guilfoyle walks us through how PinSeeker got started, how it all works, and how you can get in on the action.
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From Fintech to Pin Tech: The PinSeeker Backstory
PinSeeker’s forward-facing app experience is all about golf. But under the hood, the platform is built in part on a foundation of financial technology.
Before Guilfoyle helped to create PinSeeker, he successfully developed technology that helped people monitor and manage their investment accounts and communicate with their financial institutions.
“When I got exposed to that finance data, it was a very eye-opening experience for me on what you could create with that data for a consumer,” Guilfoyle explained. “So we got really into consumer-oriented experiences.”
He and his team developed more fintech products and even AI technology specific to banking. For as successful as those ventures were, they didn’t quite scratch Guilfoyle’s itch.
“We spent a lot of time meeting with banks all around the country and wanted to focus on something more consumer friendly,” he said.
Right around that time, Guilfoyle’s friend Sean Breslin called with an idea about putting together a business that allowed commercial golf simulator centers to compete against each other.
Guilfoyle and Breslin thought it had even more potential if they developed an app experience that was simple, seamless, and that allowed anyone with a golf simulator, whether in their own homes or in a commercial space, to compete virtually and see real-time live leaderboards.
In other words, many of the same skills and consumer-benefitting technologies Guilfoyle had applied to fintech could now be used for an entirely new spin on off-course golf.
“We had gotten really good at heavily regulated experiences like moving money, bank account creation, KYC laws, and fintech compliance,” he said. “So PinSeeker is like 80 percent fintech.”
PinSeeker first partnered with TruGolf and their E6 simulator software program, which meant that consumers who owned a golf launch monitor that worked with E6 could play PinSeeker tournaments beginning in 2021.
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How Does a PinSeeker Tournament Work?
PinSeeker is compatible with FSX Play, E6 Connect, Full Swing Golf, and the SkyTrak platform. That means that most golf launch monitors allow for some means of competing in PinSeeker tournaments.
Each tournament is specific to one simulator software platform. So FSX Play users, for example, are only competing with other FSX Play users, which means that all such competitors would be using a Foresight Sports golf launch monitor or the Bushnell Launch Pro.
“We host around 5,000 tournaments a month,” Guilfoyle said. “The average person is playing around 30 or so tournaments a month.”
One of the reasons there’s that much action, even for just one person, is that for most of these PinSeeker tournaments, it only takes about 5 minutes of a person’s time to complete. For most tournaments, each player gets between three and five shots. The format today is closest to the pin, and the shot distances and virtual golf holes vary by tournament.
Most tournaments have a predetermined set number of participants. As soon as the last participant has completed their shots, the tournament is over and the payouts begin. All of the action can be tracked via a live leaderboard in the app.
There’s a PinSeeker tournament option for everyone, depending on skill level and risk tolerance. Also, depending on the tournament you join, you don’t always have to win to get paid.
“It might be 5 bucks or it might be 100 bucks to get into a tournament,” Guilfoyle said. “There’s a ton of variety depending on what you want. One of them might be 10 bucks to get in, but 70 percent of the field is getting something back. Where another one might be 10 bucks to get in with only 10 people in the tournament, and 100 bucks goes to the winner.”
As players compete in cash tournaments, their results earn them a Skill Index, similar to a golf handicap. PinSeeker then uses those indices to flight tournaments so that participants can compete against similarly skilled opponents. Players in higher flights cannot access cash prizes in lower flights.
Because PinSeeker tournaments fall under the legal regulation of skill-based wagering rather than sports gambling, there are only five U.S. states where PinSeeker cash tournaments are not allowed.
There are also plenty of free tournaments for golfers who just want the fun of seeing how they stack up.
As for the PinSeeker app itself, which is available for Apple or Android and serves as the hub for all of this tournament activity, it is also free.
One really cool thing about the PinSeeker platform is that they host these tournaments on a variety of virtual golf courses. And you don’t have to own the simulator license for the course where the tournament is hosted.
“You may not own a license to Pebble Beach, for example, but because it’s being played through PinSeeker, you’re allowed to download that hole and play it,” Guilfoyle said.
PinSeeker Acquisition Expands Foresight Sports Ecosystem
While PinSeeker tournaments are available to owners of a wide variety of golf launch monitors, the focus is now pointed directly at the Foresight Sports family of products, known as the most accurate and reliable in this fast-growing industry.
Guilfoyle and team are now working to further tie together all of the Foresight hardware and digital assets to create a holistic user experience that includes a variety of options.
“Our team is a great bunch of software-oriented folks who think through user experience,” Guilfoyle said. “We’re now on a journey of looking at all of the different things going on here at Foresight to see how we can weave them all together for a much more integrated, robust ecosystem from the moment you press the buy button on the website all the way to the point where you’re gaming with your friends online.”
Specific to PinSeeker, Guilfoyle envisions a model similar to the World Series of Poker, where a growing network of tournaments continue to feed towards an ultimate grand-prize event.
PinSeeker users have the option to record and live stream their golf shots, and Guilfoyle said that plans are in the works to build out more social engagement opportunities within the platform.
As the momentum continues to build, more and more home golfers are cashing in.
“We’ve paid out millions of dollars to players all around the world,” Guilfoyle said.
Beyond that, he said, there is an opportunity for Foresight and PinSeeker to build out a seamless customer experience that provides options for every type of user, from those who want to compete for money or who want to introduce a social element to the sim golf experience to those who just want the most effective and easiest way to analyze shot data.
“Historically, our approach has been to build separate pieces of software for all of the different use cases for our technology,” Guilfoyle said. “We believe by consolidating our software into one seamless platform, we’ll be addressing the key needs of every consumer.”
Ultimately, the Foresight vision going forward has to do with bridging the gap between on-course and off-course golf experiences all through a simplified Foresight experience.
"I haven't seen anyone else with the unique combination of components we have to create digital solutions that align seamlessly with our product positioning," Guilfoyle said, highlighting Foresight's competitive edge. "Whether it's through technology, game improvement, or delivering a holistic experience, we have the ability to bring these worlds together in ways that surpass expectations."
About PlayBetter Golf Reviewer Marc Sheforgen
Marc Sheforgen is a golf writer whose passion for the game far exceeds his ability to play it well. Marc covers all things golf, from product reviews and equipment recommendations to event coverage and tournament analysis. When he’s not playing, watching, or writing about golf, he enjoys traveling (often golf-related), youth sports coaching, volunteering, and record collecting.
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