When you play golf you keep track of your score on a card.
When you ride in a cart, they will conveniently pre-load your cart with a card and a pencil.
When you walk, though, you often have to pick up a scorecard before you begin.
But as an excited golfer paying for their tee time, meeting a playing partner, gathering your clubs and practicing for a round, you can imagine it’s easy to forget a scorecard in this commotion.
A round without a scorecard goes off without a hitch until you finish the first hole. And you now have a score to keep track of. Which is when it hits you that you forgot the card 400 yards ago.
If the course designers care enough, and are paying attention, they would put an additional scorecard holder on the second hole. If they are ignorant to human behavior and insist “grab the card before you start” then you might end up playing a cardless round, just like I did this week.
It’s not the worst thing in the world, but it’s a missed opportunity for human-centered design.