Privacy Policy

Last updated October 25, 2026 (connecting GHIN)

Golfing With Buddies ("the app", "we") is a golf app for everyday rounds and group trips: course maps and yardages, scorecards, a handicap index, matches, schedules and shared costs. This policy explains what we collect, why, and the choices you have.

What we collect

Account: your email address, used to sign you in with a one-time code. If you play your first round without signing up, the app uses a temporary guest account with no email; becoming a Member adds your email to it so you keep that round. Guest accounts that never become Members can be deleted.
Profile: the name you choose and, if you add them, a nickname, phone number, GHIN number, handicap index, and the ways you can be paid back: a Venmo username, PayPal.Me name, Cash App $cashtag, and the email or phone you use for Zelle.
Your rounds and trips: golf scores and hole stats, the handicap index the app works out from your scores, pairings and side bets, shared expenses and IOUs, travel plans and lodging, schedules, rules and hole notes.
GHIN scores: if you connect GHIN, your phone signs in to GHIN directly with the GHIN number or email and password you enter. Your password goes only to GHIN: we never receive or store it. Your phone keeps GHIN’s sign-in token so the app can check for new scores when you open it, at most once a week, until you disconnect. If you turn on Stay connected, your phone also keeps your GHIN login in its Keychain (on that iPhone only) so it can sign in to GHIN again when GHIN asks; disconnecting deletes it. We store the Handicap Index, Low Index and last 20 scores it reads (date, course, score, rating, slope and differential). If you import screenshots instead, they are read once to copy the scores and are not kept.
Trip photo: if a commissioner adds a photo for a trip, it is stored and shown to that trip's members.
Tracked shots: if you turn on shot tracking and mark a shot, we save where that shot was hit so the app can show your distances and stats.
People you add from your contacts: when you add players to a trip from your phone's contacts, we save the name, email and mobile number of each person you pick, so they appear on the trip and can be invited. If the trip is covered by a resort partner and they haven't joined the app, we send them one text and one email when the trip's free Pro starts (two weeks before it), with the trip's link; replying STOP or tapping unsubscribe stops any more. We never upload your address book; the app only reads contacts you choose, and only after you allow access.
Notifications: if you allow them, a push notification token for your device so we can send score and trip updates.
Purchases: if you subscribe to Pro or pay a trip's setup fee, whether you have Pro, until when, and which trip you unlocked. Apple handles the payment; we never see your card or Apple ID details.
Creator code: if you enter a golf creator's code or open their link, which creator sent you, so we can credit and pay them. Creators see totals, never who you are.
App usage steps: a short log of key steps, such as finishing onboarding, starting or finishing a round, seeing the Pro offer, and subscribing, so we can tell which parts of the app work. It's kept in our own database, linked to your account, and never shared with advertisers or analytics companies.
Weekly plans: if you have Pro, the plans the app writes for you, the statistics they were written from, and the drills you tick off.

AI features (Pro)

Ask AI and the weekly plan use Claude, an AI model made by Anthropic. When you ask a question, the app sends it with a summary of what's relevant: the round you're playing (course, holes, yardages, your group's scores, format and bets), your Handicap Index, your recent statistics and your bag. You can see that summary in the app before you ask. For the weekly plan, it sends your statistics only, with no names or courses. Anthropic processes this to write the answer and, under its commercial terms, does not use it to train its models. We keep a count of questions to apply the daily limit, not the questions or answers; Ask AI conversations stay on your phone.

If you ask out loud, your iPhone's speech recognition (Apple's) turns your words into text, on the device itself where your iPhone supports it; only the text is sent as your question. The app listens only while the microphone button is on, and doesn't record or keep audio. Answers are read aloud in a natural voice made by OpenAI's text-to-speech: the app sends the answer's text (not your voice, your name or your round) to OpenAI to turn into audio, which plays once and isn't kept. Without signal, your iPhone's own voice reads it.

Location

With your permission, the app uses your phone's location to show yardages on the course map, find the hole you are on, and suggest when to mark a shot. During a round you are playing today, it keeps location on while the app is in the background, with the blue location indicator showing, so yardages are current when you look at your phone. It stops when your scorecard is finished or the round ends, and it uses "While Using the App" permission only. Your live location stays on your phone and is not stored by us; only the spots of shots you choose to track are saved.

To show the elevation change to the green, the app sends your approximate position and the green's position to our weather provider (below). You can turn location off at any time in your phone's Settings; distances are then measured from the tee.

We do not collect device advertising identifiers. The app contains no advertising and no third-party analytics or tracking; the usage steps above stay with us.

Who can see it

Trip content and your profile, including your handicap index, are visible only to members of the trips and rounds you belong to. Rounds you finish in Regular mode (course, date and score), with your name and handicap index, also appear in the Friends feed of people you have played a trip or round with. A commissioner may add you to a trip using your name, email address or mobile number; you are linked to that entry when you sign in with that email.

How we use it

Only to run the app: signing you in, showing your rounds and trips, computing scores, handicaps, standings and balances, sending invites and notifications you ask for, and responding to support requests. We do not sell or rent personal information and do not use it for advertising.

Service providers

Data is stored and processed by Supabase (database, authentication and file storage), hosted in the United States. Sign-in codes, and the one-time email to players on resort-covered trips, are sent through Resend; that one-time text is sent through Twilio. Pro subscriptions and trip setup fees are bought through Apple's App Store and managed by RevenueCat, which receives your account ID and your purchases (not your payment details). AI features are provided by Anthropic, and spoken answers by OpenAI, as described above. Green reading and elevation (the rise or drop to the green, and slope-adjusted yardages) use public terrain data from the U.S. Geological Survey (3DEP); for elevation it receives the coordinates of points on the course, which can include your approximate position, with no account or personal details. Push notifications are delivered through Apple's Push Notification service. Weather comes from Open-Meteo, which receives the coordinates of the course, with no account or personal details. Maps are shown with Apple Maps. Course data comes from our course database providers and OpenStreetMap; no personal data is sent to them. The app is distributed through Apple's App Store. Texting an invite opens your phone's Messages app, and tapping a Venmo, PayPal or Cash App button hands off to that app; their own policies apply there.

Retention and deletion

We keep your data while your account exists. You can delete your account at any time in the app under Account → Delete account. Deletion removes your sign-in, email, phone, GHIN number, payment handles (Venmo, PayPal, Cash App, Zelle), handicap and profile details immediately. Trips where you are the only member are deleted. In trips shared with others, scores and expenses you were part of remain so the group's results and balances still add up, shown under "Former member" and no longer linked to you.

Security

Data is encrypted in transit. Access is enforced on the server so members can read only their own trips.

Children

The app is not directed to children under 13 and we do not knowingly collect their information.

Your rights

Depending on where you live you may have rights to access, correct, export or delete your data. Most can be done in the app; for anything else email support@golfingwithbuddies.com.

Changes

If we change this policy we will update the date above and, for material changes, tell you in the app.