Nine things a scoring app has to do.
A golf scoring app has to pass nine tests before your group trusts it. It keeps one card everyone can follow, runs several side games at once and does the math, then shows who owes what. It's for the group done with the paper card.
The card
The card is the whole job. Get it wrong and nothing after it counts.
One card for the whole group
Four phones with four versions is how arguments start. One card, and everyone looks at the same one.
Anyone can follow it hole by hole
The partner at home or the player who left after nine can watch it fill.
Fairways, greens and putts on the same card
If the stats live somewhere else, nobody fills them in.
The games
A card with no side game is a diary. The games are why the group shows up.
Runs the side game in the same round
Skins, Nassau, Wolf, whatever the group plays. On the card, not on a napkin.
Runs more than one at once
Two of you have a Nassau. All four have skins. The teams overlap. The app should not care.
Does the math
Carryovers, presses, strokes given. If a human still has to add it up, the app failed.
The end of the round
Eighteen holes is easy. The last five minutes is where apps get deleted.
Shows who owes what
One screen. Every player, every game, one number each.
Nets it down
If A owes B and B owes A, that's one payment, not two. The app works it out and the players settle between themselves.
Keeps the round forever
A lifetime card. Every round, every course, and stats only that player can see.
Three things it must not do
Hold your money
A scorecard keeps score. It should show the number and stay out of your pocket.
Charge before the first round
If it wants a card number before it has seen a card, walk.
Need a manual
Setup on the first tee should take less time than the group ahead takes to putt out.
The checklist, checked
Run Big Fairways down this page and it ticks all nine. One card for the whole group that anyone can follow hole by hole, with fairways, greens and putts on it. Skins, Wolf, Nassau, Vegas and more, several at once, across teams that overlap, with clean math. SettleUp shows who owes what and nets it into simple payments between players. There's a lifetime card with stats only you see. It's free, and the account takes about twenty seconds. Nine for nine at Big Fairways.
Missed a test?
Tell us the tenth thing a scoring app has to do. If it's right, it goes on the pad.