AmateurGolf.com is a site dedicated to the 99.7% of golfers who aren't pros

Everleap Shared Cloud Customer Story
Q&A with Pete Wlodkowski of AmateurGolf.com

Founded in 2000, AmateurGolf.com is a website created for avid golfers who aren’t pros, connecting them to the pulse of the competitive amateur game. A wealth of knowledge and a toolkit for amateur golfers, the site’s main focus is its directory of golf tournaments, with a database of around 2,000 events per year. Its custom membership software is built on top of Microsoft tools with approximately 30,000 members currently subscribed. We recently chatted with founder Pete Wlodkowski to learn more about the site and their move to Everleap.

Everleap: Thanks for talking with us Pete. First off, could you tell us a little more about yourself and your professional background?

Pete Wlodkowski: I came to the business from a technology sales and marketing background. While I’m a non-techie and not a programmer, I got experience in the tech world working with a few different organizations, including a software company. It was here that I learned about websites, how they operate and how customers use them.

How did you come to start AmateurGolf.com?

I have had a life-long love of golf. I took my professional experience with me in my shift towards being an entrepreneur, combining my two passions into a career.

Tell us more about the site and what you hope to accomplish with it.

The site is the number one information resource and toolkit for competitive amateur players. It’s a portal for avid core golfers. There are many other sites that serve the professional circuit and the PGA, covering players like Woods and Fowler. Our site is strictly for amateur players. Golf is like surfing, tennis, cycling, running – you participate your whole life. Our site is similar to sites like active.com and surf.com. We provide tournament news, player rankings, and equipment/course reviews, but the heart of the site is the directory of golf tournaments. We have approximately 2,000 per year in our constantly changing database. We do really well in SEO and dominate knowledge for insiders - they know when they land they’re at the right site.

How did you initially handle the hosting of your site?

In the past, we tried a virtual environment during the infancy of cloud. We decided that it wasn’t quite what we needed and decided to stick with a dedicated server.

"Now we have better performance at a lower price. I didn't make the change to save money, but was pleased that we were. I like that there is no long-term contract, even though I have no plans to leave anytime soon."
- Pete Wlodkowski, AmateurGolf.com

 

What prompted the shift to cloud hosting, and more specifically, to Everleap?

We had outgrown our dedicated environment and decided that a change was in order. Our site is built with Microsoft SQL database, so we were looking for a set-up created with the Microsoft platform and toolkit. So I started on the research and Googled something like “Microsoft hosting providers” to find you. It was important for me to talk to someone and Takeshi was the guy. He said we have a 60-day trial window to decide. I felt comfortable technically and financially to make the move. I also liked that you are California based, and I got a good feel surfing around your site - seemed well-built and responsive with the right message. I felt you were a good alternative to AWS and Azure cloud services and someone like Go Daddy on the lower end with no bells and whistles.

How has the experience been so far?

Moving to Everleap was the easiest of the three site moves we have done. It was so easy to get up and running. I like the shared environment and that we don’t have to buy the individual software, getting shared license access. Being a tech guy, I also like the solid state drives, reliability, and no down time. If we’re down, we lose money. Also, if the site is slow, people will go away.

We employ a small team and Everleap allows us to work virtually. Developers understand the set-up and no one has had any troubles getting around.

Now we have better performance at a lower price. I didn’t make the change to save money, but was pleased that we were. We now have the right size plan for us, but we also know we could scale if needed. I like that there is no long-term contract, even though I have no plans to leave anytime soon.

All in all, Everleap has done it right and I have recommended you to others.

How has the customer service experience been?

We've needed to use your support a few times, and it's always excellent, always. With our enhanced plan we also have access to backup service, which is well worth it.

What do you see in the future for AmateurGolf.com?

As the site grows, we need to keep improving. We’ve done a complete redo of the site 2-3 times. We plan on making some substantial changes to the back end of our site soon, and it’s nice to know that the hosting solution is built to scale.

We're really glad to hear about your experience with our hosting platform. Thanks for taking the time to chat with us today Pete.

My pleasure. I read the customer stories when doing my research on you and I'm thrilled to be a part of one now.

To learn more about AmateurGolf.com visit them at amateurgolf.com