About

How BuddyCup works.

Setup, formats, and the rules of the road — in plain English. If you’re not a tournament-grade golfer, start at the top.

Set up an event

Ten steps from logged-in to live scoring. You can do it in under ten minutes once you know the path.

01
Start something new
From Home, hit Trip, Outing, or Match (see Event types below for which to pick). You become the trip admin automatically — you can add other admins later.
02
Fill in the basics
Name, date (multi-day for a Trip, single-day for an Outing or Match), and the two team names + colors. Defaults are fine if you want to rename later.
03
Add the players
Admin → Players → Add player. You can add by email (the player gets a one-click invite) or as a "shell" player without an email — useful when someone hasn't confirmed yet.
04
Add the course
Admin → Courses → New course. Either upload a scorecard photo (the AI extracts par, yardage, and stroke index for all 18 holes) or fill them in by hand.
05
Create a round
Admin → Rounds → New round. Pick the course, the tee, the date, and a default match format. A Trip can have many rounds (one per day); an Outing has one; a Match has one.
06
Add tee times (groups)
Inside the round, add a tee time for each foursome. Each tee time is a physical group playing together — one tee time per group, even if you have multiple matches stacked within it.
07
Create the matchups
Inside each tee time, hit Add matchup. Pick the format and the players. To stack a Singles side bet on top of a 2v2 Best Ball, just hit Add another matchup in the same group with different players.
08
Send invites
Back on Admin → Players, hit Invite next to each player. They get a single email with a one-click sign-in. New users get an account created on click; returning users go straight in.
09
On the day, score
From Schedule, every group has a yellow Enter Scores button. Tap it (visible to participants and admins). Enter hole-by-hole with +/− or the Par button. Status updates live everywhere.
10
Watch the Cup tab
Each match win = 1 point, halve = 0.5 each. Trip standings accumulate across rounds; Outing standings show the live field. A muted team-color gradient leans toward whichever side is up — the more they're winning by, the further it leans.

Event types

Pick the right one at the start — it sets the defaults and shapes the Cup tab.

Trip

Multi-day, multi-round, team Cup format. The Pinehurst.

Use when you and your buddies are away for 2+ days and playing more than one round. Cup standings accumulate across every round you mark "Counts toward Cup." Friendly rounds are tracked but don't affect points.

Outing

Single day, multiple groups, one course.

Charity scramble, league event, anything with multiple foursomes playing the same day on the same course. The Cup tab shows a live board with every foursome's status, gradients and all.

Match

One foursome, one round, fastest setup.

You and three buddies just want to keep score on a Sunday. No Cup standings — the Cup tab goes straight to the match. Minimal setup.

Round & match formats

Every match in a round has a format. Most foursomes pick one. Some stack two or three at once (see Side matches below).

Best Ball (Four-Ball)

Each player plays their own ball; team takes the lower net per hole.

Who plays: 2 vs 2
Scoring: Match play. Each player plays out the hole as normal. The team's score on a hole is whichever partner had the lower net. Compare team-to-team hole-by-hole.
Handicap: Each player gets strokes based on their own handicap relative to the lowest handicap in the match. The "scratch" floats with the field.
Best for: The default for casual 2v2 match play. Easy on weaker partners — one good hole carries the team.

Two-Man Aggregate

Each player plays their own ball; team SUMS both nets.

Who plays: 2 vs 2
Scoring: Match play. Both partners must score on a hole or it doesn't count yet. Team's hole score = sum of both partners' net scores. Compare team-to-team hole-by-hole.
Handicap: Same as Best Ball — each player's own strokes vs the match low.
Best for: When you want both players to actually contribute. One bad hole from a partner is real now — no hiding.

Singles

One vs one.

Who plays: 1 vs 1
Scoring: Match play. Each player plays their own ball, lower net wins each hole.
Handicap: The higher-handicap player gets strokes vs the lower.
Best for: Side bets, head-to-head bragging rights. Often stacked on top of a 2v2 in the same foursome.

Scramble

One team ball. Everyone hits, take the best shot, all play from there.

Who plays: 2 or 4 per team
Scoring: Match play. Team enters one gross per hole (the team's best ball). Compare team-to-team. Each foursome only enters their own team's line in the score-entry UI.
Handicap: 2-person: 35% of low + 15% of high. 4-person: 25/20/15/10% sorted low to high. The team gets a single handicap allocated across the hardest holes.
Best for: Charity outings, mixed-skill groups, fast play. Everyone gets to swing, weaker players don't feel exposed.

Alternate Shot (Foursomes)

One team ball. Players alternate strokes.

Who plays: 2 per team (only)
Scoring: Match play. One player tees off odd holes, the other tees off even. After the tee shot, they alternate strokes until the hole is done. Team enters one gross per hole.
Handicap: 50% of the combined handicaps.
Best for: Ryder Cup classic. Most punishing format on a mismatched pair — your bad shot becomes your partner's problem.

Side matches (stacking)

One foursome can be scoring against more than one match at the same time. The classic move: a 2v2 Best Ball as the main game, with a 1v1 Singles side bet between two of the players.

All players in the foursome only play one physical ball each. When you enter a score for any one player, BuddyCup fans it out to every match that player is in for that group — the side bet updates the same instant the main match does. You only have to enter the score once.

To add a side match: open the round, hit Add another matchup on the same tee time, pick the side-bet players and format.

How scoring shows up

Two surfaces: team standings (Cup points) and the individual leaderboard.

Team Cup points

Every completed match awards 1 point to the winning team. A halved match (tied through 18) awards 0.5 to each team. Only matches in rounds marked “Counts toward Cup” contribute. Friendly rounds are tracked but don’t affect the score.

Individual leaderboard

Net vs parusing the strokes you actually receive in your match (not your absolute handicap allocation against the course). If you’re the lowest handicap in your match, you play scratch and get zero strokes — even on the hardest holes. If your match’s low is much better than you, you get strokes accordingly.

The right column shows +N strokes— how many strokes you’ve actually received across the holes you’ve played. Once scoring starts that replaces the hcp label.

Live status (the leaning gradient)

On the Cup tab during play, every match row gets a muted team-color gradient behind it. Even at the start; leans further as one side pulls ahead; fully one color when a side is 10 holes UP (essentially closed out). It’s the at-a- glance read of who’s winning what across the whole field.

That’s the whole app.