Run contests: closest to the pin and more

Quick answer. A contest is a prize on one hole, such as closest to the pin on hole 7. On the event page, in the round's card, press Side Games, then New Contest. Give it a name, a type and a hole, and press Create Contest. It starts as a Draft, which nobody but you can see. Press Open when golfers are on the course. On Enter Scores you type each golfer's distance. At the end, press Locked, press Set Winner beside the right name, then press Final. A golfer can also tap a button on their own phone to say they are closest. That tap is only a claim. You decide the winner.

Who can do this: an Admin or an Organizer. Both were walked. Anyone else who opens the page is told "Contests are set up by an Admin or Organizer. Ask them to add this contest for you."

Before you start

You need an event with a round, and golfers on the field. A contest belongs to one round and to one hole, so for a day with two par 3s you make two contests.

Take a tape or a rangefinder and a tee peg out to the hole. Nothing in the app measures a shot for you. You type the distance in, and the page keeps it with the golfer's name.

The steps

1. Open the contests page. On the event page, find the round's card. Beside Export CSV is Side Games. Press it. The page is called On-Course Contests, with the round's number and a button New Contest. If you have none yet, it says "No contests yet" and "Add a Closest to Pin or Longest Drive contest for this round." with Add First Contest.
2. Fill in the form. Press New Contest or Add First Contest.
   • Contest Name, such as "Closest to the Pin - Hole 7".
   • Type: Closest to Pin, Longest Drive or Longest Putt.
   • Applies to Holes: press the number of the hole. The numbers 1 to 18 are buttons.
   • Prize (optional), such as "Sleeve of balls".
3. Press Create Contest. If you leave the name empty the page says "Name is required." If you pick no hole it says "Choose the hole this contest is played on." The contest appears as a card with the name, the type, "Hole(s): 7" and the word DRAFT.
4. Open it. Press the card to expand it. A row called Status: has four buttons: Draft, Open, Locked and Final. Press Open. Golfers can see it now. On their scorecard, under the CARD tab, a heading ON-COURSE CONTESTS shows its name, the hole, the prize and who is leading. On your public event page it shows under On-Course Games with a LIVE badge. Until someone claims it, the page says "Wide open — no one's claimed it yet!"
5. Measure. After each group plays the hole, press Enter Scores on the round's card. Lower on that page is a panel called On-Course Contests. Each golfer has a number box, a unit box with Feet, Yards or Meters, and a Save button. Type the distance and press Save.
6. Lock it. When the last group has played, go back to Side Games, press the card, and press Locked. The contest stays visible, but a golfer can no longer claim it.
7. Name the winner. With the contest Locked, the card shows a table of Player and Measurement, best first. Press Set Winner beside the right golfer. A gold trophy appears beside the name. The winner's row shows Clear instead, which takes the trophy away.
8. Make it final. Press Final. Your public event page now shows the contest under Contest Results, with the winner's name, the distance and the prize.

What you should see

Here is a practice outing at Heron Bend Golf Club, a fictional club, with a Closest to Pin on hole 7 and the prize "Sleeve of balls". We opened it and typed three distances: Phil Garrity 6.5 feet, Beth Calloway 8 feet and Ron Ashby 12 feet. We pressed Locked, then Set Winner beside Phil, then Final. The public page said Contest Results, Closest to the Pin - Hole 7, Hole 7, Phil Garrity and Sleeve of balls.

Then we opened the contest again. A golfer called Jordan Lee saw "Closest to the Pin - Hole 7", OPEN, "Hole(s): 7", the prize, "Leader: Phil Garrity" and a button I'm closer →. Jordan pressed it, and the card at once said "You're leading!" The public page showed LEADING beside Jordan's name. Your page showed Jordan in the table with no distance, a dash, and the trophy. That is why the winner is your call.

This walk used Closest to Pin. Longest Drive and Longest Putt are the other two types in the same list. They were not walked.

If it goes wrong

• Golfers cannot see the contest. It is still a Draft. A Draft is hidden from golfers' scorecards and from the public page. Press the card, then Open.
• A golfer tapped "I'm closer" and was not. The tap put them in front at once, with no distance. Press the card, press Locked, find the right golfer in the table and press Set Winner beside them.
• I closed the event and the wrong golfer won. Closing the event settles every contest still Open and gives the prize to whoever is leading, even a golfer who only tapped. We closed a practice event with the contest open, and the public page then listed the tapper under Contest Results. Lock the contest and press Set Winner before you close the event. The warning the page showed when we closed it said nothing about contests.
• I reopened a Final contest and the old winner is still shown. The winner stays until a golfer makes a new claim or you change it. Press Locked again, then press Clear, or Set Winner beside someone else.
• A golfer says the button is gone. The contest is not Open. Open it again if play is still going.
• The contest page will not open. Only an Admin or an Organizer can. The page tells anyone else to ask them to add the contest.
• I do not see the prize on the contest page. The prize is shown to golfers and on the public page, not on this page.
• I pressed Delete Contest. The page does not ask first, so the contest is gone. Make it again with New Contest.

Director's tip

Say at the first tee how the winner is judged: by your tape, after the last group, and not by a tap on a phone. Put a tee peg where each ball lands and measure when the group has moved on. Then nobody argues at the scoring table.

Related

• How scoring works on game day
• Your event's home base
• Picking the right format for your outing

Still stuck?

Email support@back9ops.com and tell us the event's name, the name of the contest, and which button you pressed last.