How do you run a golf tournament at your course?
Take sign-ups online, block the tee times, set the pairings, print a start sheet with a scoring link for each group, have one player per group enter scores on their phone, and put the live leaderboard on a screen in the clubhouse.
The short version
- Close sign-ups in one place, or your website and your sign-up page will disagree.
- One scorer per group is the right unit — not one per player.
- Print the QR codes. The first tee is where signal is worst.
- A leaderboard computed from scores can never be out of date.
- 1
Take sign-ups online
Give people a link they can share. Closing sign-ups has to close them everywhere at once, or the shop advertises an event the link says is full.
- 2
Block the tee times
Before you announce it. Times somebody has already booked should be left alone and reported to you, not cancelled underneath a golfer.
- 3
Set pairings and print the start sheet
Group, time, players, and a QR code that opens that group’s scorecard. The starter needs paper — do not rely on emailing anybody on the morning.
- 4
One scorer per group
Hole by hole on the phone they already have. No app, no account. The link works for that group and no other.
- 5
Put the leaderboard on a screen
Worked out from the scores each time it is looked at, never stored — so a correction fixes the board instantly and there is no second copy.
Everything before the first tee is preparation you can do at any point; everything after it has to work with no signal in the parking lot.
Sign-ups
Put the sign-up online and give people a link they can share. The one thing to get right is that closing sign-ups closes them everywhere — the page, the link and the form all have to agree, or you will have somebody following a link from your Facebook post being told sign-ups are closed while the shop is still advertising them.
Blocking the tee sheet
Block the times before you announce the event. A tournament that has to evict a public foursome the morning of is a tournament that has already gone wrong. Times somebody has already booked should be left alone and reported to you, not cancelled underneath a golfer.
Pairings and the start sheet
Set the groups, then print the start sheet — group, time, players, and a QR code that opens that group’s scorecard. The starter needs paper. Do not rely on emailing anybody anything on the morning of the event, and do not rely on the parking lot having signal.
Scoring
One player per group scores for the group, hole by hole, on the phone they already have. No app, no account, no password. The scoring link should work for that group and no other — a shared link that lets anyone edit anyone’s card is a spreadsheet with extra steps.
Give the pro shop a way to correct a score. Somebody will fat-finger a 6 into a 9 and you want that fixed in ten seconds without touching anything else.
The leaderboard
Put it on a screen in the clubhouse and let it refresh itself. The important property is that it is worked out from the scores each time it is looked at rather than stored — that way a correction fixes the board instantly and there is no second copy to go and update.
Ties should share a position, and a player with no score should not be sitting at the top at even par.
Put your tee times online without giving any away
Free setup, a free first month and no card to start. Tell us your hours and we will build your tee sheet before you decide anything.