By GolfWRX staffer

A member in the forums asked in an open forum “How was GOLFWRX created?” His screen name is “scratchswinger” and he went on to say…

I have always been interested into hearing the back story of how GolfWRX was created? I am sure the desire to share information, discuss equipment, courses and share experiences was the reason why it was created. With Easyyy and GXGolfer as the founders. How did this all start? What was this place like when there were only a few members?

I don’t know if anyone else would be interested in hearing some details about this success story. But I think it would be cool if some of the oldest members or founders could share a few details.

We thought this was a notable discussion and you can click here to see the original thread where the discussion continues now.

_______________________________

Here is the response from the founder Richard Audi aka “easyyy”

I would love to add the story. To save some time I will cut and paste, modify and then add some new. GolfWRX was created by members like you. I will tell the the spark that was put under my xxx that motivated me to think about it. But first some ground work. In the second paragraph, here you will understand how and why the following is so important…

We must maintain our friendly and open environment here. Our Marshals and Admins are trusted to help maintain a friendly environment that is clean and respectable within the rules. We must always respect the member and never to make them feel like second rate citizens. As an admin or a member there are words that have been stated from day one…

“take the high road”
“treat others as you would want to be treated”
“lead by example”

What is our Mission? We are here to protect the purity of opinions and the platform to voice those opinions. We want to protect the interests of golfers by providing an unbiased platform to feel proud to contribute to for years to come. Have you ever contributed time in a club or a community and then one day you weren’t proud of your association with it? Many of us have been involved in forums or some online social network. There were and are many golf communities on line and the founders, moderators, and many members on GolfWRX became disenchanted with some of those other places and we created WRX. The tipping point for me “easyyy” was after countless hours and years of supporting one of those sites I found a driver I thought was better than the others and began to write reviews and hyping it. It was the Cleveland Comp 460 Driver. I still remember it today. The threads got squashed and pushed off to a dark place where you couldn’t see it. I tried to repost but the same thing happened. That driver was not for sale by the owner of the site and they could not profit from the hype. So my hype was not welcome.

We thought this was a notable discussion and you can click here to see the original thread where the discussion continues now.

That lead me to believe that I was in the wrong place and needed to find a place that wasn’t motivated by profit but was motivated by the simple objective to create a place that was for the golfers well being and no other reason. Due to the lack of options out there we started GolfWRX. It was built for golfers by golfers. The owners all have day jobs and careers that do not lean on proceeds from GolfWRX. All the money GolfWRX has made to date has gladly been reinvested in to the site to make it better for the members. We do not sell equipment and will not do so in fear of spinning reviews and opinions.

I can remember countless nights behind the computer. I can remember the conversation I had with a stranger Ryan “Gxgolfer”. He was introduced to me by Joe Kwok. I had the idea, the concept, the dream with all the principles that would allow for a great place. But I didnt know how to get it live and functioning. Ryan said that night he would love to help and asked me my timing. I said 2 weeks to get a site live and working???? He laughed out loud. Well I didnt know. A few months later we were up. We started with 80 guys we knew from our years of experience online. We all called our internet golf friends and asked them to come in and hang out.

Ryan work for us for months with no compensation at all. As a matter of fact I can remember when Ryan started to pay for software and services out of his own wallet with only the hopes that we succeed.

Spring of 2005. I work tirelessly to promote the site. I still remember going out on tour 4 to 6 times a year to get Pics. I still remember going to the PGA Show by myself and cover it alone. Hard work and lots of it. But it was much larger than this site. It was to protect the golfer. To prtect the online golfing community. To serve them and offer the unbias place that didnt sell or slanted for profit. I was and still am driven to maintain the platform as it was intended to in the beginning.

Let me say this again. I (and many others) didn’t dedicate the last 8 years on this site to make money. This place is not a business as much as it is a sacred place we have built for golfers. We have this special place here that will always stay clean and unbiased. I am fortunate that I don’t need the money that we could make here. Money that we have generated here has all gone back to the company to make it better and better. Wait and see what we are going to do next for 2011! I have a career and have always been very lucky and fortunate in my business life. I started WRX not make a buck, but to have a special place were we can be proud to support and be a member.

WRX is first and foremost a place for us to hang. To feel that we can dedicate hours upon hours of our lives adding opinions, developing relationships, starting threads, adding pics and reviews. We add all these hours of our lives here in confidence WRX will not turn around and roach your experience here. Reverse the direction it promised to travel for years. Start selling gear and only propping up what we are selling??? Death card. We would never do that in fear of becoming biased. So when I hear comments that we have changed directions it is painful to read. We have NOT!

We thought this was a notable discussion and you can click here to see the original thread where the discussion continues now.

I added a lot of time in my life to sites before WRX was around to only find out they weren’t a place I could be proud of. They became so poorly managed that the site stopped operating properly or in some cases they became so greedy they put profit before their members.

We started WRX so we would be proud of the community we helped to form. As a member we will want to add this value to WRX because we don’t run it as a business but as a place that will stand the test of time. We will always put members first here at WRX. We have and will. I apologize if you had experiences here that made you feel less than what you should have. We aren’t perfect. We had times that our Mods were stretched so thin only 2 or 3 of them were effectively managing the place at times.

If you were one of those guys, after the three thousandth violation you might be short too. We had some complaints and we brought on more Mods to help. These are growing pains. I hope you know I am speaking from the heart here.

We are today as we were in the beginning. There have been twists in the road but at the end of the day we are here  for the same reasons we were in April of 2005. Built by golfers for golfers!

Lastly… we are only as good as our members. Were are here to support our members. We make all of our decisions with that in mind. I hope you and anyone else can feel as if they can PM or email me if you want to understand that in more detail. I am sooo passionate about this place and for the preservation of our membership, goals and principles I want you to know we will always act in the best interest of or community.

—–

Our passion here on WRX is simple and pure. We do not ever want to fall prey to the lure of the dollar or the need to sacrifice our principles to grow or stay on the top. The internet is a huge place and there is always room for many other golf communities that want to bend the rules of what is right or wrong to gain publicity. We do not want our name drawn into public controversy, rather we will maintain the integrity of our values. Our passion for the game and support for the truth in opinions and reviews is most important.

We offer unique custom packages for the small start up golf company. Why do we give preferred pricing to a small ma and pa shop? We feel that there are great products out there that need to be found. That deserve the seat at the table along with the major Golf Equipment companies and we allow them to afford that here on WRX.

To be the best Golf Forum on the internet we have to continuously work hard to improve and add improvements here. If we slow down then a better mouse trap will eventually come. We believe that there is and will never be another community or website that has better intentions for the golfer than us. For that reason we feel an obligation to maintain the top position among golf social networks in fear of losing golfers to a site with spin and then to be mislead. That goes to the heart of why we are here. To provide the truth with no spin. To arm the golfer with the best advice so they can make the best decisions and ultimately avoid mistakes. 

Connecting golfers and promoting the game of golf globally is our what we are doing. Here is a look at the preamble to our rules rewrite we are working on…

Quote…

Richard  

We thought this was a notable discussion and you can click here to see the original thread where the discussion continues now.