Start your league

Quick answer. Press New League on the Leagues page and answer five short pages. Press Create League and your season appears as a Draft, with every week already on the calendar. Put your golfers on the Roster, then press Start League. Starting is what lets golfers sign up. It does not send anyone an email.

Who can do this: an Admin or an Organizer can make a league and start it. Front Desk can put golfers on the roster but does not see the other buttons. Who can do what in your club has the full list.

Before you start

• Your club needs a course. If it has none, the wizard stops and says "Add a course before creating a league." with an Add Course link. Your first event shows how in steps 3 to 6.
• Your golfers need to be on your club's player list. Press Players in the side menu, then Add Player. You pick the league's roster from that list.
• Know three things: the night you play, the first tee time, and the date the season starts.

The steps

1. Press Leagues in the side menu, then New League at the top. A club with no leagues yet shows "No leagues yet" and a Create League button as well. Either one opens the same five pages.
2. Basics. The page asks "What should players call this league?" Type the League Name, such as "Monday Night Nine". The Description is optional. Press Continue.
3. Format & scoring. Choose Individual players or Teams, and 9 holes or 18 holes. Pick a Scoring Format. Stroke Play is the plain one: fewest strokes wins. Under "How should the season standings be ranked?" pick how the season is decided. Tie handling says it allows ties unless your rules call for a countback or a playoff. Press Continue.
4. Weekly schedule. Choose the Weekly Play Day and the First Tee Time. Choose the Start Method: Tee Times (groups start one after another) or Shotgun (every group starts at once, on different holes). Set Minutes Between Groups, then the Season Start. Season End is optional. Press Continue.
5. Rules. The page says "Every group has good defaults — open only what you want to change." For a first league, press Continue without touching anything. Every setting here can be changed later from the league's Edit button.
6. Sign-ups & review. "When can players start registering?" offers Right away ("Players can sign up the moment you start the league.") or On a specific date. Player Limit can stay empty for no limit. Read the review below it. At the bottom, "When you press Create League" tells you how many weeks will be made, such as "13 Monday weeks at 5:00 PM". Press Create League.
7. The league opens as a Draft. Golfers cannot see a Draft. At the top you have Manage This Week, Edit and Start League, and a More league actions menu that holds Cancel League. An Admin also sees a Delete button, for a league that is not Active. It asks "Delete this league?" first and a deleted league can be brought back for 30 days. An Organizer never sees Delete.
8. Open the Roster tab. Under Enrolled Players, click the box under "Enroll player from org roster" and type a golfer's name. Pick the name and press Enroll. To add many at once, press Add several at once, tick the names and press the button that reads Add and the number you ticked. The page says "Added 7 players." (or however many you ticked). No golfer is emailed when you enroll them.
9. Optional: to bring one golfer into Back9Ops, press Send player invite on that golfer's row. It emails that one golfer at once, with no question first, and the page says "Invite sent to" and the golfer's address. On each row it is one of two small icons side by side, so hold the pointer over the icon to read its name before you press. The other is Withdraw player. See If it goes wrong below before you press either.
10. Press Start League. The page says "League status changed to Active." and the status changes to Active. League Enrollment now says OPEN, and "Registration is open." Starting sends no email.

What you should see

The league marked Active, your golfers listed under Enrolled Players with a count such as "8 / ∞", and THIS WEEK showing your first week with its date and tee time.

If it goes wrong

• The Leagues page says Get Leagues, not New League. Your club's plan does not include leagues, for example after a trial has ended. The button opens the plans page, which explains. Nothing is wrong with your club. A club on its free trial sees New League.
• The wizard says "Add a course before creating a league." Add your course first, then come back.
• The note on Weekly schedule names a course your weeks do not use. The weeks are made on your club's first-added course, whatever the note says. Check the course name on the week's page. If it is wrong, tell us.
• You pressed Withdraw player by mistake. There is no question first. The page says "withdrawn from the league." with an Undo button, and the golfer's row shows Withdrawn with Put back in. Press either one to put them back.
• You pressed Send player invite by mistake. The email has already gone. It says "You've been invited to" and the league's name, with a Create My Account button, and replies go to your club's office address. Press it only for a golfer who needs an account.
• A golfer is missing from the list. The list is your club's players. Add them under Players first.
• You do not want strangers signing up. After you start the league, press Lock Registration, or Close registration under League Enrollment.

Director's tip

Make the league a week or two before the first night, enroll your regulars yourself, and start it the same day. You only see how the weeks behave once the league is Active, so there is no reason to wait.

Related

• Your first league, start to finish
• A league week, start to finish
• Set up the week: groups and tee times
• Who can do what in your club

Still stuck?

Email support@back9ops.com and tell us the league's name, which step you were on, and what the screen said.