Five Great Networking Sites for Golfers

If you're an avid golfer, the Web is virtually exploding with social networking sites and tools that can enhance your golfing experience. Sites now offer a way to reserve tee times, meet other golfers, read up on golf vacation destinations, and view video tutorials that can help you improve your swing. Since you're obsessed with golf anyway, why not add the Web to your obsession?

1. Reserve your tee times on the web or using your PDA or cellphone at GolfNow, a site founded by two golfers who dreamed up the idea of a better way to book tee times. GolfNow says it's the largest online tee time retailer in the U.S., operating in 25 states and working with 1,500 golf courses around the country. More than 1.5 million registered golfers now use the site to book their tee times.

2. In spite of its odd name, Oobgolf is a handy website that provides tons of information about golf courses around the country and how to play them. Oobgolf also provides users with a free score tracking tool, charts and game analyses, and a way to enter your live golf scores from a computer or mobile device. Like many of the other golf networking sites, Oobgolf includes equipment reviews, blogs by members, and groups you can follow and join.

3. On the Stracka golfers' network, you can join up and upload your own golf photos, read up on some of the world's premiere golf courses, watch training videos, and track your handicap with the site's Online Handicap Tracker. Stracka also has a cool online putting game, Stracka Line.

4. Heading out on a business trip? Bring your clubs and sign on to Golf Grouper, a matching site for golfers. Golf Grouper provides members with a way of finding or creating a golf group anywhere in the world. You can also locate courses, keep track of your golf scores and handicap, and build a list of golfing buddies, whether you're heading to North Carolina or Thailand.

5. If you're a numbers person, keep track of your favorite golf games by using the British website tool, Golfscoretracker. This website provides an online score tracking and analysis system along with an online golf handicap. You can track unlimited rounds of golf and monitor your performance over time. Compete against yourself!