Question 1

What is Golf with Mates?

Accepted Answer

Golf with Mates is a real-time scoring app for your golf group. One person creates a round, shares a join code, and everyone scores from their phone - no paper card, no math at the bar afterwards. It supports every common format (Stroke, Stableford, Match, Skins, Best Ball, Scramble, Foursome, Chapman, Nassau, Bingo Bango Bongo) and helps you settle friendly bets when the round is done. Available as a native app on iPhone (App Store) and Android (Google Play), and as a web app in any modern browser. Same account, same data everywhere.

Question 2

Should I sign up or play as a guest?

Accepted Answer

You can join any round as a guest - just enter the join code and your name. No account needed to score. Sign up if you want your handicap saved, your past rounds and stats kept, the ability to host rounds, or a friend code others can add. Guests' scores stay attached to that single round only.

Question 3

How do I create my first round?

Accepted Answer

From the Home screen tap "Start a Round". Pick a course (search the database or enter it manually), choose 9 or 18 holes, pick a format, and tap Create. You'll get a 6-character join code. Share it with your group - they tap "Join a Round", enter the code and their name, and you're ready to tee off.

Question 4

How do I join a round with a code?

Accepted Answer

Tap "Join a Round" from the Home screen, enter the 6-character code your host shared, and add your name (and handicap if you have one). You're now on the scorecard. If the host hasn't started yet you'll see a lobby. Once they tap Start Round, scoring opens for everyone.

Question 5

Plus/minus or Type number - which scorecard input should I use?

Accepted Answer

You can switch between two ways of entering scores on the scorecard, and you can change at any time: • Plus/minus - tap + or − around par. Fastest if you usually score within a couple of strokes of par. Great with one hand while walking. • Type number - tap the gross score directly on a number pad. Best if you have big numbers, picked-up holes, or just prefer typing. The choice is per device and remembered for next round. Both modes save the same gross score - there's no difference in how points or net are calculated.

Question 6

What is Stroke Play?

Accepted Answer

Stroke Play is the classic format: count every stroke, lowest total wins. You can play it gross (raw strokes) or net (after handicap strokes are deducted on the appropriate holes). In the app it's the simplest scorecard - tap a number per hole and you're done.

Question 7

What is Stableford?

Accepted Answer

Stableford turns a bad hole into a 0 instead of a runaway score, so a single blow-up doesn't ruin your round. You earn points per hole based on your net score vs par: • Net double bogey or worse: 0 • Net bogey: 1 • Net par: 2 • Net birdie: 3 • Net eagle: 4 • Net albatross: 5 Highest total points wins. It's the most popular format in Sweden.

Question 8

What is Skins?

Accepted Answer

Each hole has a "skin" at stake. The player with the outright lowest net score on a hole wins the skin. If two or more players tie for low score, the skin carries over to the next hole, increasing its value. This is why Skins gets dramatic late in the round - carried-over skins can stack up and one good hole pays out big.

Question 9

What is Wolf?

Accepted Answer

Wolf is a rotating 3-5 player betting format packed with tactics on every tee. Each hole one player is the Wolf. Wolf tees off last and watches the others hit first - then, before their own tee shot, decides: • Pick a partner from a player who has already teed off (2 vs the rest), or • Go Lone Wolf and play 1 vs everyone else for a bigger payout. The Wolf title rotates hole by hole so everyone gets equal turns. Scoring per hole (net): • Partners win: each opponent pays each partner 1 unit. • Opponents win: each partner pays each opponent 1 unit. • Lone Wolf wins: everyone pays the Wolf (double stake). • Lone Wolf loses: Wolf pays everyone (double stake). • Tie: no money changes hands. Settlement is pairwise - the app tracks who owes who and nets it out at the end. Pickups count as no score for that player (their side loses the hole unless their partner still beats the opposition). Handicap allowance follows your round setup - net scores decide every hole.

Question 10

What is Mates Handicap and how is it calculated?

Accepted Answer

Mates Handicap is your own index inside Golf with Mates. It starts from the official handicap you first entered in the app, and gets refined as you log rounds with your friends. It's opt-in and off by default — flip the switch in Profile → Mates Handicap to have it used for new rounds. Important: Mates Handicap is NOT an official handicap under any federation (WHS / R&A / USGA / SGF). It doesn't replace your official index and it isn't reported to your home club. Use it for friendly play only. How it's built: • 0 rounds logged → your Mates index equals your first official HCP (the anchor). • 1–7 rounds logged → a weighted blend of your best rounds and the anchor, gradually leaning on real rounds as the sample grows. • 8+ rounds logged → the anchor retires and we use the standard WHS-lite calculation: the best 8 score differentials from your last 20 qualifying rounds. The anchor is frozen. We capture it the first time you enter an official HCP in the app, and it never shifts if you later edit your official HCP — that keeps your Mates index stable and predictable. What counts as a qualifying round: • Individual-ball formats only (Stroke, Stableford, Match, Skins, Nassau, Bingo Bango Bongo). Team formats like Scramble, Foursome, Chapman and Wolf are excluded because there's no individual ball. • The round must be completed with a full set of hole details (par + stroke index) so we can compute a proper score differential with net-double-bogey caps. • Rounds with missing data or unrealistic differentials are skipped by a sanity guard. Each qualifying round is stored with its score differential in the background, so your history is always ready — but it only drives your round handicap when the toggle is on.

Question 11

What is Smart Settlement?

Accepted Answer

Smart Settlement looks at every bet result in the round and figures out the smallest set of payments needed to settle everyone up. Example: if A owes B £5 and B owes C £5, Smart Settlement just asks A to pay C £5 - instead of two separate transfers. With four or more players this can collapse a dozen tiny payments into two or three. You'll see one row per payment with the from/to/amount. Each person marks their own row as paid (cash, Swish, Stripe - whatever you used).

Question 12

How do predictions ("calls") work?

Accepted Answer

When the host enables predictions on a round, mutual friends can call who they think will top the leaderboard. Here's the full picture: • Pot: every call adds your stake to a shared pot. The bigger the stake, the bigger your share of the winnings. • Winners: when the round ends, whoever picked the player who actually won splits the pot — proportional to what each predictor put in. • Ties on the leaderboard: if two or more players tie for first, the pot splits across everyone who backed any of the tied players (still pro-rata by stake). • Nobody picked the winner: if no caller backed the player who actually won, the entire pot goes to the round's players, split equally between them. The gallery underestimated the field — the field gets paid. • Everyone on the same horse: if every caller picks the same player, there's nothing to predict — the market is voided and all stakes refund. • When calls lock: the host picks the lock point when enabling predictions — tee-off, after hole 3, or after the front 9. Once locked, no more calls. • Money: Golf with Mates never holds funds. After the round, you'll see who owes who — settle directly between friends (Swish, cash, beer, whatever works).

Question 13

How do I invite friends to a round?

Accepted Answer

Two ways: 1. Share the join code or link - from the lobby tap "Invite Friends" to copy a link or share via WhatsApp/iMessage. 2. Add saved friends directly - if you've added them to your Friends list, you can include them when creating the round. Guests can join with the code without needing an account.

Question 14

What do the Verified and Unverified badges mean?

Accepted Answer

When you search for a course, each result shows a small badge telling you how trustworthy the course data is. • Verified - The course has been hand-checked by the Golf with Mates team. Par, stroke index, course rating and slope have been confirmed against the club's official scorecard or rating body. Handicap math on a verified course is as accurate as the club's own card. • Unverified - The course was imported automatically from public sources. It's usually correct, but a few numbers may still be off until someone reviews it. You can still play and score on it like normal. Spot something wrong on an unverified (or verified) course? Tap the pencil on the scorecard, or long-press a hole to report a wrong stroke index, par or distance. We review every report and update the course - and once everything checks out, it becomes Verified. Want a course verified faster? Send us the club name via Settings → Help → Send feedback.

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