Read the players' notes after the round

Quick answer. With Official Marker Mode on, each golfer in a group is marked by another golfer in the same group, and the marker keeps the official score. The golfer being marked can leave a note, or a score they think they made, on any hole. Those notes never change a score. After the round, on the Pairings page, press Review Player Notes. You see every hole, start with the rows marked Needs Review, fix any score on the scoring page, and press Mark Reviewed.

Who can do this: an Admin. This was walked as an Admin. We did not walk it as anyone else.

Before you start

Official Marker Mode is for single-player Stroke Play and Stableford only. For a scramble, best ball or skins event the switch is not on the page at all.

You need groups made already, because a marker is picked from the golfer's own group. If you have not made groups yet, start with the article on making the groups.

Tell the golfers what a note is. It is a heads-up for the marker and for you, such as "my second shot went in the creek, I think I made a 5". It is not a score. The page the golfer sees says so.

The steps

1. Turn Official Marker Mode on. On the event page, press Pairings on the round's card. Near the top is a card called Official Marker Mode, with the words "Each player verifies (marks) another player's scorecard." Switch it to On. The label beside the switch changes from Off to On.
2. Pick each golfer's marker. Every group now has a section called Marker assignments. Beside each golfer's name, Marker for and the name, is a list that starts at Unassigned. Pick one of the other golfers in the same group. The page saves each pick as you make it.
3. Let the golfers write notes. A golfer who is being marked opens their scorecard, taps CARD, and opens Your Score Notes. Each hole has a box Your score (optional) and a box Notes for marker (optional). The golfer presses Save Note and sees "Saved." under the hole. The page tells them: "Your marker is entering your official score. You can add notes and suggestions for review. Your notes do not change the official score."
4. Open the review page after the round. Back on Pairings, with Official Marker Mode on, a button Review Player Notes sits beside the switch. Press it. The page is called Player Score Notes Review. The button is the only way in. Nothing on the event page links to it.
5. Work from the top. The page lists every hole of every golfer. The columns are Player, Hole, Official Score, Player Suggestion, Note, Status and Certification, and the last one holds the buttons. Above the table the page says "Start with Needs Review rows first. Then check Note Only rows." Use the lists Player, Hole and Status to cut it down. Pick Needs Review in Status to see only the holes where the golfer and the official card disagree.
6. Fix a score if it needs fixing. On the row, press Go to Scoring, or press Open Scoring Page at the top. That opens the official scoring screen for the round. Change the score there. Nothing on the review page changes a score.
7. Mark the row reviewed. Back on the review page, optionally type something in the Review note box, and press Mark Reviewed. The page says "Row marked reviewed." The row now shows Reviewed by your name and Reviewed on the date and time. A reviewed row keeps a Save Review Note button if you want to change what you wrote.

What you should see

Here is a practice round at Heron Bend Golf Club, a fictional club, with a golfer called Dave Prentiss who is marked by Ed Kessler. Dave wrote notes on four holes. The review page then showed:

• Hole 1: official score 4, Dave's suggestion 5, note "My second shot found the creek and I took a drop. I think I made a 5." Status Needs Review.
• Hole 2: no suggestion, note "The rake was missing from the front bunker." Status Note Only.
• Hole 3: official score 4, Dave's suggestion 4. Status Matches.
• Hole 4: official score 4, Dave's suggestion 3, note "Chipped in from just off the green." Status Needs Review.
• The other fourteen holes: No Player Note.

We pressed Mark Reviewed on hole 1. The page said "Row marked reviewed." and the row showed "Reviewed by Patricia Holloway", the admin who did the review. The official score on that row was still 4. The Certification column said Awaiting Marker on every row, with the words "Marker confirmation is pending."

If it goes wrong

• I do not see Review Player Notes. Official Marker Mode is Off. Switch it On on Pairings. If the whole card is missing, the round is not single-player Stroke Play or Stableford.
• The review page says it is not available. We did not walk this one, the words are in the program. For a round that is not Stroke Play or Stableford it says "Player notes review is only available for Stroke Play and Stableford." For a round with the switch off it says "Official Marker Mode is not enabled for this round."
• A golfer says there is no place to write a note. A golfer can write notes only when someone marks them and they mark no one. In our walk, Dave marked Tom and was marked by Ed. He saw Your Score Notes, but only as a read-only list of the notes about Tom, with no boxes to type in. When we set Tom's marker to Unassigned, so that Dave marked no one, Dave's boxes appeared. If every golfer in a group marks another golfer in a circle, nobody can write a note. Give each group one golfer who marks no one.
• A golfer wrote a note and I cannot see it. The golfer must press Save Note. Typing alone does not keep it. The hole shows "Saved." once it is kept. Check you picked the right round on Pairings before pressing Review Player Notes.
• I pressed Mark Reviewed and the score did not change. It is not meant to. The page says "Reviewed does not change the official score." To change a score press Go to Scoring.
• The page is very long. It lists all eighteen holes of every golfer, with the quiet ones too. Eight golfers make 144 rows. Pick Needs Review in Status, then Note Only.
• A row says Not Yet Scored. The golfer gave a suggestion but no official score has been entered for that hole. Score it on the scoring page first.
• Who sees the notes? The golfer's page says "Notes are visible to your marker and event organizers for review only. They do not change scoring or leaderboard results."

Director's tip

Open the review page before you post the results, not after. Read the Needs Review rows first, because those are the holes where a golfer is saying one thing and the card says another. A two-minute chat at the scoring table is worth more than an argument on Monday.

Related

• Make the groups
• How scoring works on game day
• Stroke play: gross and net
• Your event's home base

Still stuck?

Email support@back9ops.com and tell us the event's name, the round, and the name of the golfer whose note you cannot find.