After considerable thought, I have decided to retire GuruGolf for 2018, and probably forever.

GuruGolf was launched in the spring of 2004. TSN had been offering a similar golf game prior to that, but their format changed in ways that were unpopular in the Gurupie community. In response, I was encouraged to build a fantasy golf game that was similar to the previous TSN format, but that also addressed other shortcomings of that game. And thus, GuruGolf was born. The game was tweaked several times in the early years, including the introduction of the worst ball format. But in most respects, it’s been pretty similarly constructed throughout the past 14 years.

GuruGolf never really attracted a huge following, although I think there were more than 100 managers in those early years. In 2017, only 45 managers were involved, even though it looked like more as some managers ran as many as 10 teams. And some of those 45 managers went inactive as the season progressed.

GuruGolf has always required a fair degree of manual intervention by me to run effectively. While round-by-round live scoring was automated, idiosyncrasies in some tournaments created anomalies that needed to be addressed on the fly, and much of the final scoring and repricing was always a manual undertaking, as was updating the pre-tournament list of entrants and withdrawals. I had built various spreadsheets and semi-automated routines and was able to manage fairly effectively, although there were occasional glitches – especially when I was traveling, it seemed – that created some havoc (for me) from time to time.

My wife retired last year, and we have begun to travel more. My ability to maintain daily access to the web sufficient to manage GuruGolf processing has been strained – enough so that I have inserted “bye weeks” into recent seasons when I was concerned that I might be unable to stay on top of things. And this upcoming season, I am going to be limited in June when the US Open is taking place. I really didn’t want to suspend that week.

Eventually, all of RotoGuru will be mothballed. I’m not there yet, but I’ve been maintaining this site continually for the past 20 years, and at some point I’ll need to develop my exit strategy. For now, some of the activities that require the most work for the least benefit will be curtailed. And GuruGolf is one of those.

I appreciate the support and loyal following that GuruGolf has enjoyed over the past 14 years. This was the most ambitious game undertaking that I ever developed, and I learned a lot about web programming in the process. For that, I am very grateful.