U.S. Open Golf

Role: Studio Lead (UX & Brand)

Scope: 12 weeks

I worked with the brilliant team at Deloitte to help USGA consolidate its fragmented championship apps into a single, unified mobile experience, streamlining access to all 15 annual championships into the official U.S. Open Golf app serving nearly millions of users. Launched app here.

The Problem

The USGA hosts 15 championships annually, including five Open Championships and 10 Amateur Championships. Historically, fans had to find championship information across the USGA’s digital ecosystem, which included multiple apps.

The USGA needed all their mobile experiences into a single, unified championship app. This was also a chance for the them to strengthen their direct-to-consumer offering, enhance and personalize the fan experience, and increase awareness for the breadth of golf championships. Here’s how we solved the problem:

001. Minimize product confusion with a a one-stop shop for all USGA Championships.

002. Modernize the fan experience with AI-powered insights, Live Streaming, ShotCast , RangeCast & more.

003. Elevate and create additional exposure for smaller USGA Championships and USGA partners.

004. Ensure the USGA delivers a reliable, scalable solution for fans at USGA Championships and at home.

Research & Methods

Vision
Statement*

User
Interviews*

I Like,
I Wish, I Fear*

Competitive
Analysis

Feature
Value Ranking*

User
Personas

Journey
Mapping*

Style
Tiles

*Available in full case study upon request.

User Personas

  • “Since I don’t have children yet, I can find the time to golf with my friends during the week and occasionally join my husband and his golfing buddies on the weekend. I really love seeing women embrace the game more and more, and enjoy following my favorite female golfers.”

  • “I’ve been playing golf for years. It’s my way to unwind from the work week, connect with my collegues and golf buddies. I love watching the championships and keeping current with the golfers (some of whom I can call friends). ”

  • “I’ve recently started getting into golf to be closer to my father. We’re both huge sports fans and he’s been golfing a bunch since his retirement. We’ve started watching championships together – either in person at his house, or sometime we hang out and watch via Zoom (I’m slowly getting him into the 21st century 😂)”

The Drive To Be Better

Competitive Analysis

〰️

Competitive Analysis 〰️

Tours Experience ‘PGA Tours Championship’

Watch Experience

Masters App

Overall Experience

Player Details Experience

Live Track Experience

Olympics App

Onboarding / Personalized Experience

ESPN App

Content Experience

MLB App

Dashboard + Gameday Experience

Watch Experience

Wimbeldon App

Overall Experience

PGA Tour App

Home Dashboard Experience

Leaderboard Experience

Betting “Odds” Experience

Tours Experience

Style Tiles

Halfway between a mood board and a mock up, style tiles helped define a way of the visual approach for Phase 2.

  • USGA

    Historic

  • Tradition

    Tradition

  • USGA

    Drive

Major Results

  • #1 App

    on the iOS App Store in the Sports Category.

  • 23%

    year over year increase of unique users to the app.

  • 50%+

    growth in app installs year over year.

  • Record High

    average session length, up over 60 seconds.

AI and Golf: a pairing for the future of championships

Crowd Intelligence

For fans attending in person, AI uses real-time course density data to suggest optimum viewing spots. (ex., "hole 14 bleachers currently have open seats and group 8 arrives in 12 minutes—head there now to beat the gallery push".)

Replaces manual navigation with an AI chat interface that processes complex tournament queries in real time: "What score does player X need on the back nine to make the cut?", "Who currently has the longest drive of the day on Hole 5?".

Conversational Championship Assistant

Real-Time Outcome Modeling

Every single shot tracked via ShotCast, AI calculates instant probability updates overlaying the leaderboard. (ex, "Player Y's chance to make this 18-foot putt is 22%. A make increases their championship win probability from 14% to 28%.")