How to run a golf competition people want to come back to.

Choosing software

A category-by-category guide to golf tournament and live scoring software — what each type is actually built for, what it costs, and how to pick without a six-month trial.

6 min read

Running competitions

Everything needed to run a net Stableford golf competition properly — points, playing handicaps, stroke index, tie-breaks, guests and the decisions to make before anyone tees off.

7 min read

Handicaps & scoring

A plain explanation of Stableford scoring: the points table, how handicap strokes change it, worked examples, and what a good score actually is.

4 min read

A category-by-category guide to golf tournament and live scoring software — what each type is actually built for, what it costs, and how to pick without a six-month trial.

6 min read

Golf Genius is built for clubs with professional staff. If your competitions are run by a volunteer, here is how to think about the alternatives — and when you should stay put.

6 min read

Consumer live scoring apps are excellent for a group of four. Here is where they break down for a society, league or club — and what to look for in a replacement.

5 min read

Nobody in this category publishes pricing, which makes budgeting guesswork. Here is how the pricing models actually work, what drives the number up, and what a society or league should expect to pay.

5 min read

Twenty specific questions to ask a live golf scoring vendor — the ones that separate software that has met a real golf day from software that has only met a demo.

5 min read

The spreadsheet is not free — it is paid for in one volunteer’s evenings. Here is the honest accounting, and the migration path if you decide to stop.

5 min read

Free scoring apps are excellent up to a point. This is a precise map of that point, so you can tell whether you are past it or just being sold to.

4 min read

Every course has dead spots, and the way an app handles them decides whether a group keeps scoring or reverts to paper. What correct offline behaviour looks like.

5 min read

Everything needed to run a net Stableford golf competition properly — points, playing handicaps, stroke index, tie-breaks, guests and the decisions to make before anyone tees off.

7 min read

A points schedule, a counting rule and a tie-break — the three decisions that make or break a season table, and how to choose each so the standings stay worth watching in November.

5 min read

How to build a draw that finishes on time and keeps people happy — group sizes, tee intervals, who plays with whom, and what to do when three people don’t show.

4 min read

Should a guest appear on the leaderboard? Win the prize? Take a member’s place in the season table? The rules to decide before a guest shoots 42 points.

5 min read

A score is entered wrong, discovered on Tuesday, and the season table has already moved. Here is a policy for corrections that is fair, fast, and does not require a committee meeting.

4 min read

The format societies reach for when the field is mixed — how a scramble actually works, the handicap formula that keeps it fair, and the local rules worth adding.

5 min read

Matchplay is the best format nobody runs, because of the scheduling. Here are the three structures that actually work for a society, and the handicap rules for each.

5 min read

If the same three players win everything, your society has an attendance problem it hasn’t noticed yet. Here is how to spread prizes without making them meaningless.

4 min read

One gets everyone finishing together; the other needs no course closure and is usually all a club will give you. How to choose, and how to run each properly.

5 min read

Everything from the first twelve members to the first Order of Merit — what to decide up front, what to leave until it matters, and the mistakes that cost societies their second year.

5 min read

A plain explanation of Stableford scoring: the points table, how handicap strokes change it, worked examples, and what a good score actually is.

4 min read

Three numbers, constantly confused, and only one of them is the strokes you actually get. A plain explanation with the formulas and when each one applies.

4 min read

The second set of numbers on the scorecard decides where your handicap strokes fall — and getting them wrong changes results silently. What stroke index means and how it is allocated.

5 min read

Net formats let everyone compete and gross rewards the best golf. Most societies should run both, and the reason is a retention problem rather than a scoring one.

4 min read

The World Handicap System is designed for clubs and federations. Here is what a society actually needs from it, what it can safely ignore, and where ignoring it causes trouble.

4 min read

A one-line data modelling decision that determines whether correcting a handicap fixes the future or rewrites the past. We shipped this wrong, so here is the argument.

4 min read

Raw Stableford totals are not comparable across round lengths, and adding them to a season table quietly makes the longest round count double. The fix and the trap inside the fix.

5 min read

If season points accumulate over every round, attendance is a scoring term and your table ranks availability. The argument, the arithmetic, and the one-line fix.

4 min read

A form board that rewards recent scoring, tolerates irregular attendance and cannot be gamed by sitting out. The four decisions that took three attempts to get right.

6 min read

Every decaying performance measure has the same awkward property — playing can cost you. Here is the maths, why the alternatives are worse, and what to tell members.

5 min read

Once you have two seasons of scores, a handful of simple queries answer questions societies usually argue about — handicap accuracy, course difficulty, pace, and who is quietly drifting away.

5 min read

Societies are not small golf clubs. They have no staff, no affiliation and irregular attendance — which changes what the software has to do.

5 min read

A corporate day is a hospitality event with golf in it. The scoring should take zero attention from you — here is the format, the timeline and the checklist that makes that true.

5 min read

A charity day is run by people who do not run golf days. The format, the scoring and the timeline should all be chosen so that nothing depends on golf expertise.

5 min read

An open is the one day a year your club is judged by outsiders. A live board changes the day from an administrative exercise into an event — here is how to run one properly.

4 min read

The roll-up is the most-played and least-supported competition in golf. Small changes make a Tuesday morning feel like a real competition without adding admin.

4 min read

A US golf league and a European golf society are the same organisation with different vocabulary and two genuine structural differences. A translation guide.

4 min read

Society trips are the best golf of the year and the worst to score. How to structure a multi-day, multi-course competition that stays fair and stays interesting to the last putt.

5 min read

Where to base a group, when to go, how many rounds is too many, and the logistics that decide whether a trip is repeated next year.

5 min read

The Algarve has more golf than any group can play in a week. A guide to choosing by area and by character rather than by ranking, for a society with a mixed handicap range.

5 min read