Formula 18 Golf is a software platform that helps golfers plan trips, run tournaments, and track solo rounds. You keep score — we keep the math honest. Handicaps, differentials, payouts, pairings, and cost splits calculated automatically, so the group spends time playing instead of arguing over a spreadsheet.

Three kinds of golfers:

• Players — log solo rounds, join trips and events you've been invited to, track your own stats.
• Coordinators — plan a golf trip for friends: rosters, pairings, lodging, chat, and cost tracking in one place.
• Commissioners — run tournaments, leagues, or multi-trip seasons with payout tracking, skins, closest-to-pin, and reporting.

Free. Formula 18 Golf is in active beta — no subscription fees, no per-event charges. The only money that moves through the platform is real-world event registration (course fees, entry fees, and pot buy-ins paid to your commish). Subscription tiers will come when we exit beta.

No. You can play and log rounds without one. If you link your GHIN, we pull your handicap index automatically so your differentials and stats stay current. Completely optional. Automatic GHIN posting back to the USGA is on the roadmap for Spring 2027.

Either. A Saturday group of four is a "trip." A county-wide club championship is an "event." Same tools, same math, same chat. It scales from a weekend foursome to a 100-player tournament without changing how you use the app.

iPhone today (TestFlight during beta, App Store at launch). Android is coming soon — we'll send a notification when it's live. In the meantime, Android users can use formula18golf.com in any mobile browser for registration, payments, and viewing event details.

Event registration and payment happen on the website only — the iOS app never asks for money. When you register for an event, you'll see a breakdown:

• Course Fee — the green fee the course charges
• Entry Fee — paid to your commish (waived if you're a season member)
• Pot Buy-Ins — Skins, CTP, Birdies, etc. — opt-out of any you don't want to play

One Stripe Checkout charges the total. You'll get two emails: a Stripe receipt and a Formula 18 "= Locked In" confirmation. Funds flow to your commish via Stripe Connect.

Course Fee = the green fee paid to the golf course (it's their charge for playing). Entry Fee = paid to your commish for running the event. Both apply unless the commish has waived one (e.g., season members typically have the entry fee waived).

Your commish sets up seasons (e.g., "Spring 2027 League"). If they've added you to a season's roster and you've paid the season fee, your entry fee is automatically waived for every event in that season. Course fees and pot buy-ins still apply per event. Talk to your commish to join one of their seasons.

Finish the Math = you've joined an event but haven't paid yet. Pick your pots, square up the fee, and you're done. = Locked In = you're fully paid and in the field. Pot selections lock at this point — to change them, contact your commish. (Stops refund headaches if you decide mid-week you want to add a pot.)

One is from Stripe (the financial receipt, required for legal/tax purposes). The other is from Formula 18 — our branded confirmation with the line-item breakdown. To turn off Formula 18's version, go to /player/settings → Notifications → Payment confirmation. Stripe's receipt is independent and can't be turned off from our side.

Reach out to your commish first — they can process a refund through Stripe. When the refund goes through, your registration is automatically cancelled and your spot opens to the waitlist. The refund lands in your bank within 5-10 business days.

Your registration cancels automatically and your spot opens to the waitlist. Your commish gets an urgent alert. Please contact your commish first if it was a mistake — they can ask their bank to withdraw the dispute. Disputes have time limits (typically 7-14 days) and the dispute fee can come back on the commish.

ACH transfers take 3-5 days to clear. If your bank rejects it (insufficient funds, account issue), you'll get an email and your registration cancels. To re-claim your spot, sign back in and pay again — try a card if ACH keeps bouncing.

/player/payment shows every open event you owe for, the full breakdown, and a "Pay" button. Your home dashboard also surfaces unpaid events with a badge.

That's the live bubble row. It shows two things in real time: (1) your Formula Buddies who are currently playing a round (solo, event, or trip), and (2) other players who are currently watching your scorecard or a leaderboard of an event you're in. The row only renders when something live is actually happening — when no one's playing or watching, it disappears. Tap a buddy bubble to watch their round read-only; tap a spectator bubble to see the event they were watching.

When your Formula Buddy starts any round in the iOS app, we mark it "in progress" with a started-at timestamp. For up to four hoursafter they start, you'll see their avatar in your bubble row. Once they end the round, or after the 4-hour window, their bubble disappears. Rounds tracked outside Formula 18 (paper card, Arccos, GHIN posts) do not generate the signal.

That's the spectator side of the bubble row. When another member of your Commissioner's roster opens your scorecard or a leaderboard of an event you're in, their view is briefly visible to you for about one houras a bubble on your dashboard. After that hour they vanish. You only see their first name and avatar — never email, phone, or anything else. This is scoped to your shared roster — viewers outside your Commissioner's roster never appear in your bubble row, and your views of unrelated events never appear in anyone else's. You opted into this visibility when you joined the Commissioner's events.

You're a Spectator — anyone who's played in one of your commish's events automatically joins their roster. When they run another event, you get notifications about birdies, leaderboard changes, and the closing.

iOS Settings → Formula 18 Golf → Notifications → Off. That's the only way to silence them entirely. There's no per-commish toggle by design — the roster is locked to your real-world gameplay history, so we don't add a knob for it.

You're fully paid and registered for the field. Pot selections are locked. You'll get pairings emails about a week before the event and another the day before. On event day, score from the iOS app.

/player/settings → Notifications → Payment confirmation. Stripe still sends its own receipt regardless of this toggle.

Most tiles (Scores, Leaderboard, My Games, Chat) only activate when you're in an active event or trip. If you haven't joined or been invited to anything yet, those tiles stay inactive until one opens.

Rounds = history of every round you've played (solo, trip, or event).
Scores = live hole-by-hole scoring for the event or trip you're playing right now.

No. Live scoring happens in the iOS app. The website is for registration, payments, reviewing results, managing trips, checking your roster, and chat. Live scoring is designed for on-course use on your phone.

Top nav → Trips. You'll see trips you've been invited to, trips you've accepted, and (if you're a Coordinator) trips you've created.

A Trip is a multi-round golf vacation with a group — 2-3 rounds over a weekend, capped at 12 players including the Coordinator. An Event is a single tournament, usually one day, with formal scoring, pot buy-ins, and payouts.

Coordinators organize trips. Commissioners run tournaments and events. Players play in trips or events. Any Player can organize a trip; becoming a Commissioner is a separate onboarding (talk to us).

A Spectator is a player who's on your commish's roster (from a past event) but isn't playing the current one. Spectators get push notifications about event activity — birdies, leaderboard changes, the final closing — so the league stays engaged even when not in the field.

Green "Settled" next to a player means they've paid their share for the trip (confirmed by the Coordinator). Gray "Unsettled" means they haven't yet. Trips currently handle payments person-to-person (Venmo, Zelle, etc.); Events use Stripe on the website.

A Variable status is a player who accepted a trip invite and later dropped out. They stay visible (in yellow) so the roster history is honest, but they don't count toward pairings or the cost split.

The summary block at the top of every trip — dates, destination, lodging, and costs. Everything that defines the trip at a glance.

The shared costs (food, entertainment, lodging, vendor fees) split evenly across the roster. When Balance divides evenly and everyone's Settled, the trip is "All Squared Up."

Your Formula is your circle — golfers you connect with through the app. Once connected, you can invite them to trips, events, and rounds with one tap. Tap Orbit from your Golfers list to see a visual layout instead of a flat list — icons get bigger for golfers you play more rounds with.

Click the link in your invite email. On the website, log in (or sign up if it's your first event), search for the event by name, and click Join. You'll get a "Finish the Math" email with a link to pay and confirm your games.

Check your email for the invite link, or log in and look for a Pending Trip banner on your dashboard. Accept, and you'll see it under Trips.

Yes. On the trip page, click Subtract me from Trip. You'll become a Variable (visible but not active). You can rejoin later if spots remain.

You go on the waitlist. If anyone drops out or has their payment reversed, you're promoted automatically and emailed.

Trips still use person-to-person payment (Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, check, cash). Your Coordinator picks the method. Once you've sent payment, tap All Squared Up in the app and pick the method you used — your Coordinator confirms on their side, and your status flips to Settled.Note: This is different from event registration, which uses Stripe Checkout on the website.

The trip page shows your Settled/Unsettled status. For dollar amounts and methods, contact your Coordinator directly — they have the full picture.

Solo = a round you played outside of a trip or event. Trip = a round that's part of a Coordinator's organized trip. Event = part of a scheduled tournament. The icon on each row in My Rounds tells you which is which — plane for trip, medal for event, dot for solo.

Not yet. You'll need to post rounds manually through your GHIN account or app. Formula 18 calculates your differentials and tracks your handicap index internally, but we don't push scores to the USGA network today. Automatic GHIN posting is on the roadmap for Spring 2027.

A single-round USGA calculation: (Gross − Course Rating) × 113 / Slope Rating. Your handicap index is the average of your best 8 of your last 20 differentials.

Rounds sync from your phone to our servers when the phone has internet. If you played with signal, wait a minute and refresh — it should appear. If you played offline without downloading the course first (see next question), the round data may not have saved.

Partially. If you download your course before teeing off (Hamburger Menu → Solved Courses → tap the course to download), you can score a round with no signal — the data stays on your phone and syncs when you reconnect. Without that download, scoring requires a live connection. Before any round in spotty coverage, download the course first and keep a paper card as backup.

Chat is visible only to players on the trip roster. If you declined or haven't accepted yet, you'll see a placeholder asking you to join. Once you're on the roster, the chat unlocks.

On the login screen, click Forgot password. We'll email you a reset link. Check spam if it doesn't arrive within 2 minutes.

Your data is tied to your account, not your phone. Log in on the new device and everything's there — trips, rounds, Formula connections, stats. Your push notifications will re-register the first time you open the app on the new phone.

Log in → Settings → Account → Delete Account. This permanently removes your data per the Privacy Policy.