Player+: fun games with friends

Quick answer. Open the menu and press Player+. The first time, the page asks you to start a free trial: press Start my free week. Then press Go to My Games, New game, pick the game and the course, and press Create game. Send your friends the invite link, press Start the game, then Enter scores. When you are done, press Finish the game.

Who can do this: any signed-in golfer can host once Player+ is on. Your friends only need the link.

Before you start

You need to be signed in. Signing in, and what to do if you cannot covers that. We walked this on a phone-sized screen with four made-up golfers. We did not walk anything in the phone app.

Hosting is the part that asks for Player+. Joining a game your friend made is a link and a button. After the trial starts, the page also shows a part about keeping hosting after the free week, with buttons for paying. We did not press them and this article does not describe them. The pricing page is the place for that.

We made a Skins game. Wolf, Stroke, Scramble and Best Ball are on the same page, and we did not walk them.

The steps

1. Open Player+. In the menu, press Player+. The page says "Host fun games with your friends" and "Skins, Wolf, or Stroke play — with live leaderboards and the math done for you."
2. Start the trial. A golfer who has not started one sees "Start your free week" and the button Start my free week. We pressed it. The page then said "You're a Player+ host" with Go to My Games. Before we pressed it, My Games showed "No games yet." with a Try Player+ button, and New game said "Hosting is a Player+ feature" with See Player+.
3. Press New game. On My Games, press New game.
4. Pick the game. Under "1 · What are you playing?" there are five buttons: Skins ("Win a hole outright, win a skin"), Wolf ("Pick a partner — or go alone (3–6 players)"), Stroke ("Classic round — low score wins"), Scramble ("Teams — everyone hits, play the best shot") and Best Ball ("Teams — each plays their own, best score counts").
5. Pick the course. Under "2 · Where?" type part of a course name or its city, then press your course in the list. A list headed "Which tees?" opens, with the tee name and the length in yards. Press one. Change takes the course back.
6. Check the day. Under "3 · What day?" the date is already filled in.
7. Look at the rest. The form has an optional part called "Playing for anything?". We set it to nothing. The game page then said "Playing for bragging rights". It also has "Use handicaps (net scoring)", "Nassau side game (optional)" and "Name your game", with a name already in it. We left those as they were.
8. Press Create game. Until you have picked a game, a course and tees, the page says "Pick a game, course, and tees to continue."
9. You are on the game page. It has the game’s name, a line such as "Skins · Heron Lakes — Great Blue Course · Red, White, Blue tees · Thursday, Oct 15", the status "Setting up", and the button Start the game. Under "Players" you are listed as "Host", with two numbers joined by an arrow, for example "5.6 → 3". We did not find a line on the page that explains them.
10. Invite your group. Under "Invite your group" the page says "Text this link — friends tap it to join." Press Copy and send the link to your group.
11. Add people yourself. Under "Friends" there is a button with a friend’s name and a plus sign. Pressing it put that friend in the game at once, with the words "no hcp" next to their name and Edit and Remove buttons. Friends, and sending a round to them shows how to get friends in that list. For a golfer with no account, use "Add someone without the app": fill in First name, Last name and Hcp, then press Add. They are listed as "Guest". The page says: "You (or anyone in the group) can enter their scores." There is also a button Ask friends "You in?" with the words "Tap a name to add them now, or ask first — they answer from their Inbox." We did not walk the asking.
12. A friend joins from the link. If they are not signed in, the page says "YOU'RE INVITED TO PLAY", shows the game’s name and the course and day, and offers Sign in to join and "New here? Create a free account". Signed in, they see Join this game and Not now. After Join this game they land on the game page and appear in the Players list. They do not see Start the game.
13. Start the game. On your game page press Start the game. The status becomes "Live" and the page says "Game on — scoring is open." There are now three buttons: Enter scores, Leaderboard & payouts and Finish the game.
14. Enter scores. Press Enter scores. A scorecard opens with the game’s name, the hole, and "ENTER A SCORE FOR" and a player’s name. Under "YOUR GROUP" the players are listed with "0 OF 4 IN". Tap a score button, such as Par or Bogey. The page moves to the next player and says who is being entered, for example "Now entering: Beth Calloway · Dave Prentiss's 4 is in". When everyone has a score for the hole, it moves to the next hole.
15. Look at the leaderboard. Press Leaderboard & payouts. The page shows LIVE, a Leaderboard table with #, Player, Thru, Gross, Net and +/-, and the line "Live — updates automatically".
16. Finish. Press Finish the game. It did not ask us to confirm. The board changed to FINAL, and My Games lists the game as "Final".

What you should see

A game page with your friends listed, then a Leaderboard with a row for each player. A friend who joined sees the same board and the Players list, and a "Final results & payouts" button when the game is over.

If it goes wrong

• Your friend’s link says "This invite isn't active". The page adds "The link may have expired or been replaced. Ask your host to send a fresh one." We saw this with a made-up code.
• Your friend taps the link after the game has finished. The page still shows Join this game. When a golfer who was not in the game pressed it, the page said "That game has already finished."
• Your friend taps the link after the game has started. We did not walk this one. In the app’s code the answer is "That game has already started — ask your host to add you next time."
• A player shows a dash under Net. In our game the golfer with "no hcp" had a dash under Net. Their Gross and +/- still showed.
• You pressed Finish the game too soon. We did not find a way to reopen a finished game, and we did not try to.
• You want people to watch without playing. The game page has a second link under "Anyone can watch live — no account needed:". Watch a friends’ game covers what they see.
• Wolf, Stroke, Scramble and Best Ball. We did not walk this one. Scramble and Best Ball say "You'll split everyone into teams on the next screen, once friends have joined" on the New game page.

Director's tip

This one is our advice, not a rule of the app. Add your regulars from the Friends list and send the invite link only to the golfers who are not on it. Most of your group is then on the game page before the first tee.

Related

• Watch a friends’ game
• Friends, and sending a round to them
• Play a casual round on your own
• Playing in an event: what to expect

Still stuck?

Email support@back9ops.com and tell us what the page said and what you pressed last. Never send an invite link.