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Golf Leagues

Learn how to create, join, and participate in golf leagues with competitive scoring, standings, and tournaments.

Overview

The League System lets golfers create and participate in competitive leagues with customizable scoring formats, handicap-based flights, and ongoing standings throughout a season.

Key Features:

  • Create custom leagues with scoring rules
  • Join public leagues instantly, request into restricted ones, or get invited to private ones
  • Track standings and leaderboards
  • Compete in flights based on handicap level
  • Create and participate in league tournaments
  • GROSS and NET scoring support
  • Stroke Play, Match Play, Stableford, Modified Stableford, and Skins formats

League Types

Public Leagues

  • Anyone can browse and join instantly — the button says "Join League"
  • No approval needed
  • Visible in league search

Restricted Leagues

  • Anyone can browse and request to join
  • An admin approves or declines each request
  • Visible in league search

Private Leagues

  • Invite-only membership
  • Not visible in public search
  • Perfect for clubs and friend groups

Scoring Formats

A league can be scored with Stroke Play, Match Play, Stableford, Modified Stableford, or Skins. Here's how the three most popular work.

Stableford (Most Popular)

Points based on your NET score vs par per hole — your handicap strokes are applied first:

  • Albatross or better: 5 points
  • Eagle: 4 points
  • Birdie: 3 points
  • Par: 2 points
  • Bogey: 1 point
  • Double bogey or worse: 0 points

Best for: Encouraging aggressive play, minimizing impact of bad holes

Modified Stableford

Higher rewards and penalties, also scored on your NET score:

  • Albatross or better: 12 points
  • Eagle: 8 points
  • Birdie: 5 points
  • Par: 2 points
  • Bogey: 0 points
  • Double bogey: -1 point
  • Triple bogey or worse: -3 points

Best for: Skilled players, more dramatic scoring swings

Stroke Play

Participation points plus performance bonuses:

  • 3 points per counted round — if your league uses "best rounds only", just those rounds count
  • Bonus points based on average score vs par

Best for: Traditional competition, rewarding consistent play

Flight System

Flights group players by handicap for fair competition within skill levels.

Default Flights

FlightHandicap RangeDescription
A Flight0.0 - 8.0Scratch to low handicappers
B Flight8.1 - 16.0Mid handicappers
C Flight16.1 - 24.0Higher handicappers
D Flight24.1 - 36.0Beginners

How Flights Work

  • Players are assigned a flight from their handicap when they join
  • An admin can move someone to a different flight on the Members tab, or use Assign all flights to re-sort everyone by their current handicaps
  • Flights don't change on their own when someone's handicap changes
  • On the Standings tab, pick All or a flight above the leaderboard. Inside a flight the ranks restart at 1, so each flight has its own leader
  • In the All view, every player shows their flight next to their name
  • Compete against similar skill levels, with a winner in each flight

How to Use

Creating a League

  1. Go to Leagues page
  2. Click "Create League" button
  3. Fill in league details:
    • Name - Give your league a memorable name
    • Description - What's the league about?
    • Course - The course your league plays
    • Privacy - Public, Restricted, or Private
    • Scoring Format - Stroke Play, Match Play, Stableford, Modified Stableford, or Skins
    • Hole Count - 9 or 18 holes
    • Handicap System - The system your league uses, plus a default handicap for members who don't have one
    • Use best rounds only - Count just each player's best rounds toward the standings
    • Virtual League - Tick this for a league that's only about posting individual rounds toward the season standings. Virtual leagues don't get an Events tab
    • Format - Weekly, Bi-Weekly, Monthly, or Custom
    • Season - When the league runs
    • Flights - Enable/disable handicap-based divisions
  4. Set member limits
  5. Upload a league logo (optional; square images work best)
  6. Click "Create League"

You can add a cover photo (the wide picture behind the league name) afterwards, in Edit League → Images. Until you do, the league uses a standard golf photo.

Note: Creating leagues requires a Premium subscription.

GROSS or NET isn't in the create form. It's set afterwards on the league's Manage tab, where it's called "Scoring Method" and starts out as NET.

Joining a League

Public League:

  1. Go to Leagues page
  2. Browse available leagues
  3. Find a league and click "Join League"
  4. You're in immediately — no approval needed

Restricted League:

  1. Find the league and click "Request to Join"
  2. Wait for an admin to approve or decline
  3. You'll receive a notification when you're approved

Private League (Invitation):

  1. A league admin invites you — the invitation arrives as an in-app notification (and as a direct message too, if you're buddies)
  2. Open the league page
  3. Tap "Accept invitation" at the top of the page (or Decline)
  4. You're added as a member

Posting Rounds to Your League

When you create a round, you can post it to your league:

  1. During round creation, turn on the "League Round (Optional)" toggle
  2. Pick your league from the "Select a league" dropdown that appears
  3. Complete your round as normal
  4. Your scores automatically:
    • Count toward league standings
    • Get scored with the league's format (Stableford, etc.)
    • Appear on the leaderboard

Requirements:

  • Round must match league hole count (9 or 18)
  • You must be an active league member

The League Page

The top of a league page shows the league's photo, logo and details, with the buttons for what you can do there: Join league or Request to join if you're not a member yet, Start a round and Standings if you are, and Manage league and Invite members if you run it (plus Edit at the top right). Members also see a small summary there: rounds posted this week, the current leader and the next event. Tap it to jump to the standings.

Below that the page has tabs: Standings, Events, Members, About and Manage.

  • Events appears only for in-person leagues (virtual leagues don't have it)
  • Manage appears only for the league's creator and admins
  • In a Restricted league, people who haven't joined see only About
  • The page opens on Standings (or About, if that's the only tab you can see)

Viewing Standings

  1. Open your league's page. It opens on the Standings tab
  2. The line at the top says which rounds count (for example "18-hole rounds · NET · Only league rounds count"). Tap How scoring works for the details
  3. The leaderboard shows each player's rank, rounds, average score, best round and points
  4. If the league uses flights, pick All or a flight above the leaderboard
  5. Tap a player to see their stats and recent rounds

Handicaps on Standings: the handicap beside a player's name ("Current HC 11.8") is their current handicap. Each of their recent rounds says what it was played off (for example "Played off 16.2 HC"), because NET scores and points always use the handicap you had when you played that round, not today's.

No handicap? If you play a league round without a handicap on your profile, the round uses the league's default handicap (set by the league's admins in Edit League → Settings; 18 if they never set one), and Standings shows it as "Played off 20 HC (league default)". Set your handicap on your profile to play off your own.

NET or GROSS: scores on Standings are labeled with the league's scoring type ("Avg NET", "Best NET", and "NET" under each round's score). In a NET league each round also shows the actual strokes, for example "Gross 75 · Played off 19.6 HC", so a NET 55 makes sense at a glance.

Ties: players with the same points share a position, shown as T2, and the next player is 4th. Average score only decides who is listed first inside a tie. If two players tie for first, both get the gold medal.

Not yet qualified: if the league requires a minimum number of rounds, players below it are listed in a separate "Not yet qualified" section with a — instead of a rank, until they've played enough rounds.

League Events & Tournaments

In-person leagues have an Events tab where the league runs real tournaments that members sign up for (Scramble, Best Ball, Shamble, Chapman, or Individual). Virtual leagues don't have Events — they're for posting individual rounds toward the season standings. 9-hole leagues can't host Events yet either — the tournament formats currently support 18-hole play only, so a 9-hole league won't show a Create Event button (you'll see a "not available yet" note instead).

As an admin (creating an event):

  1. Open your league → Events tab → Create Event
  2. Pick a date, time, and tournament format, and set how many spots
  3. Publish it — members will see it in the league's Events tab

Premium runs the tournament. Creating the event is free, but spinning up its tournament — so members can be scored and the live leaderboard runs — requires a Premium subscription. Registering for a league event needs Premium too, so members without it will see an upgrade prompt instead of signing up.

Guests are off by default. For team formats (Scramble, Best Ball, Shamble) the "Allow Guest Players" option starts off, keeping the event members-only. Turn it on when you're running a member-guest — members can then bring non-member guests onto their teams.

As a member (signing up):

  1. Open your league → Events tab and tap an event
  2. Tap Register (members-only events are limited to your league's roster)
  3. You're added to the tournament; the organizer can also add players directly
  4. Play during the event and follow the live leaderboard
  5. When the tournament finishes, the league's Events tab marks it Completed. For Individual tournaments the event page also shows a Final Results card — the top-3 podium with the winner; team formats don't show that podium card

Members-only: by default a league event is open only to people on the league's roster. If you're not a member you'll see a "members-only" notice instead of a Register button. An admin can open an event to the public.

Each event shows a "Part of {your league}" link, and the league name also appears on the tournament page, so it's always clear which league an event belongs to.

User Roles

Creator

The person who created the league.

  • Full control over all settings
  • Can suspend or archive the league

Admin

Members promoted by the creator.

  • Approve or decline join requests
  • Invite members
  • Remove members
  • Create events (each event spawns its tournament)

Member

Regular league participants.

  • Post rounds to league
  • View standings and leaderboards
  • Participate in tournaments
  • View other members' rounds

Managing a League (Admins)

Every admin job lives on a particular tab, so here's where to find each one.

Approving Members — Members tab

  1. Go to league page → Members tab. While requests are waiting, the tab shows a number badge with how many
  2. View pending join requests (Restricted leagues only — public leagues join instantly)
  3. Click Approve or Decline for each request

Inviting Members — Members tab

  1. Go to the Members tab
  2. Click "Invite Members"
  3. Search for the golfer by name
  4. Send the invitation — they get an in-app notification (and a direct message if you're buddies)

Removing Members — Members tab

  1. Go to the Members tab
  2. Find the member
  3. Click Remove button
  4. Confirm removal

Promoting Admins — Edit League page

  1. Tap Edit at the top right of the league page (or Manage tab → Edit League), then open the Admins tab
  2. Find the member to promote
  3. Click "Make Admin"
  4. They'll have admin privileges immediately

Cover Photo & Logo — Edit League page

  1. Tap Edit at the top right of the league page, then open the Images tab
  2. Cover photo: the wide picture behind the league name on the league page and on its card in the league list. Wide, landscape photos work best. The preview shows how it will look with your logo. Use the standard photo goes back to the default golf photo
  3. Logo: shown in a square tile beside the league name. Square images work best
  4. Tap Save Changes. Any photo can be uploaded; it's resized automatically

League Settings — Manage tab

The Manage tab holds four things:

  • The Edit League button to the full Edit League page (also the Edit button at the top right of the league page)
  • Privacy — switch between Public, Restricted and Private
  • Scoring Method — GROSS or NET
  • Suspend and Archive League — archiving is how you retire a league; leagues can't be deleted

What archiving does: the league disappears from members' league lists and from league search, but nothing is lost. Everyone stays a member and pending invitations stay open. The creator and admins can still find the league: on the Leagues page, turn on Show archived leagues (archived leagues are hidden from My Leagues and Created by Me until you do). It's marked with an Archived badge and a greyed-out card, and Restore League on the Manage tab brings it back exactly as it was.

Suspended leagues stay visible to members, with an amber Suspended badge on the card and at the top of the league page.

Troubleshooting & FAQs

"I can't create a league"

Solution: You need a Premium subscription to create leagues. Check your subscription in Account Settings.

"I can't find a league to join"

Solution:

  • The league might be private (invite-only)
  • The league might be archived. Archived leagues are hidden until an admin restores them
  • Ask the league admin for an invitation
  • Search by exact league name

"My round isn't appearing in league standings"

Solution:

  • Verify the round had the "League Round (Optional)" toggle turned on with your league selected
  • Check that round matches league hole count (9 vs 18)
  • Confirm you're an active member (not pending)
  • Refresh the leaderboard page

"My league tournament isn't on the Tournaments page"

Answer: That's expected. A tournament that belongs to a league lives only inside the league — open your league → Events tab → tap the event → its linked tournament. League tournaments are intentionally kept off the main Tournaments page (and their Share/QR buttons are hidden) so league play stays within the league.

"I don't see my flight assignment"

Solution:

  • Ensure you have a handicap set in your profile
  • Flights are assigned automatically based on handicap
  • Ask league admin if flights are enabled

"I'm not receiving league notifications"

Solution:

  1. Check notification permissions on your device
  2. Verify email notifications are enabled in Account Settings
  3. Check your spam/junk folder
  4. Ensure push notifications are allowed for the app

"How do I leave a league?"

  1. Go to the league page and open the About tab
  2. Scroll to the bottom and tap Leave league
  3. Confirm you want to leave
  4. Your historical data remains for standings

The league's creator and admins don't have a Leave button. An admin who wants to leave asks the creator or another admin to remove their admin role first (Edit League → Admins → Remove Admin).

"Can I be in multiple leagues?"

Answer: Yes! You can join as many leagues as you want. Your rounds can be posted to one league at a time.

"How is NET scoring calculated?"

Answer: NET scoring uses your handicap to adjust scores. Each hole gives you strokes based on its difficulty rating (handicap index). For example, if you're a 10 handicap, you get 1 stroke on the 10 hardest holes.

"What happens when my handicap changes?"

Answer:

  • The Members tab and Standings show your new handicap
  • Your flight stays the same until a league admin moves you or re-assigns everyone's flights
  • Historical round scores aren't recalculated
  • Future rounds use your new handicap

Related Features