Whether you’re playing now or scheduling a round for later, LivePlay makes it easier than ever to set up games, keep scores, and track results in real time.
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- Add a guest who doesn't have the app
- Let everyone add their own scores
- How positions and ties are decided
- Schedule a round for later
- Join a round you've been invited to
Set Up Your Round
- Open the Hole19 app, choose your course, and tap Play Golf.
- Decide whether to Play Now or Schedule a Round.
- Choose Scoring Mode.
- Select General Play mode.
Add Players
- Tap Add Player to invite your Hole19 friends. The round lands on their profile by itself when it finishes.
Playing with someone who doesn't use Hole19?
- Tap Guest and enter their name, handicap and email. They appear on the leaderboard and play along just the same, and they get their scorecard by email at the end. If they install Hole19 later and sign up with that address, they can add the round to their profile from there.
Notes:
- To edit a player’s starting tee or handicap, tap on their photo.
- You can have up to 100 players in a round.
Organise Groups
Once you've added your players, you can optionally tap Draw to organise your groups:
Random – Shuffles players into random groups.
Handicap-Based – Creates groups with similar handicaps.
Balanced – Mixes high and low handicaps for fair teams.
Need to swap players? Long press on their profile to move them between groups.
Organiser Control
In a big group there is usually someone who taps around and moves a player or changes a tee without meaning to. Turn on Organiser Control in the round settings and only the organiser can edit round settings, including managing players and draws.
You can switch it on and off during the round. It only shows up once there is more than one player in the round.
From the flyover view tap the Quick Actions button on the bottom-right and then settings to see the toggle on the top of the screen.
Everyone still enters their own scores as usual. This locks the setup, not the scoring.
Entering Scores
Everyone can enter their own scores from their own phone, and the leaderboard updates on every device in the round as they do. If you would rather one person keep the card for the whole group, that still works.
Adjust Settings During the Round
If you need to make changes after starting:
Tap the LivePlay button on the right and then the tab Players.
You can drag the photos to change groups or tap them to remove them from the round. On this screen you can also add more players.
If Organiser Control is on, only the organiser can make these changes.
Leaderboard
Tap the Leaderboard button on the right to see every player's position and score, during the round and after it.
Tap the share icon in the top right corner to share the round.
At the bottom of the leaderboard you can switch between Stableford and Stroke Play, and turn Net on or off. With Net on, each player's Playing Handicap is applied to their score. With it off, positions are based on gross scores, before handicaps.
How Ties Are Decided
On the Stableford leaderboard, when two or more players finish on the same points total, the player with the lower Playing Handicap is placed higher.
Hole19 does not settle ties on a countback. If you are used to club competitions being decided on the last nine, last six or last three holes, the order on your leaderboard can look different from the one you would expect.
Scheduling a Round
- Choose your course, then select Play Golf.
- Tap Starts and pick a date and time for the round.
- Press OK, then Finish Scheduling at the bottom.
- Edit starting tees/handicaps (if needed) and press Save.
Add your regular friends or guests. Use the Draw feature to easily organise groups.
- Adding players now is optional for scheduled rounds. You can always invite them later. When you're ready, tap Done.
Your scheduled rounds will appear under the Play Golf tab. Tap a round to edit date, time, or players, or delete it by pressing "…" in the top right corner.
The Start Round button wakes up at midnight on the day you picked, so you are not tied to the tee time you wrote down.
How to Join a Scheduled Round
If a friend invites you, you’ll get a notification (make sure notifications are enabled).
You’ll also see the invite when you open the Hole19 app.
Tap the invite to see details, players, and add new players.
If you change your mind, tap “…” in the top right to leave the round.
Notes
Everyone needs the latest version
- LivePlay is free on iOS and Android. The golfer who creates the leaderboard and everyone joining it need to be on the latest version of Hole19.
Turn notifications on
- Round invites arrive as notifications. Without them you only see the invite when you next open the app. See Follow Golfers, Add Friends & Get the Latest Updates.
If the Add Round button in your email doesn't work
- Some browsers open that link in a window that can't finish adding the round. Open the same link in Chrome and it goes through.
Related Articles
- Follow Golfers, Add Friends & Get the Latest Updates
- Stroke Play & Stableford
- How to Calculate Your Handicap (Premium)
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