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Since the devil is in the details, let’s review the creation of a typical 5 round trip, with one round played on day one, and 2 rounds played on each of days two and three. We have a group of 16, staying in eight 2-bedroom condos. A Ryder Cup format is very popular on a trip like this, so we’ll divide the field into two teams of eight (North team and South team).
After creating the trip, the captain will first import all of the courses being played using the USGA Course Rating Directory.
The captain will then most likely add players manually or create a simple spreadsheet with one row for each golfer: name, GHIN number or handicap index, email address, cell phone number, perhaps emergency contact name and phone number, and maybe arrival and departure details (as shown below).
Next, the captain will add the rounds and click on the calendar presented to set up rounds. There is one round on Friday, two on Saturday, and two on Sunday. (as shown below).
After adding the rounds, the captain will make any changes to the trip portal. By default, the results, player roster, and tee sheet will already be made available. However, let's say the captain also would like to add a collage page with the trip itinerary, rules, and Ryder Cup teams.
Once the portal is finalized, the captain would then email a link to the players to create excitement and communication information for the trip. The captain would also inform the players to download the mobile app and use the Foursome GGID to log in for the time being.
Next, the captain will create the Ryder Cup teams, placing eight golfers on each team. For our example here, the captain will also create “Condo” teams - eight to-person teams where each team has golfers sharing a condo or a room. In summary, you should have two team lists created (Condo team list and Ryder Cup team list) as shown below.
Now let’s talk about competitions. A Ryder Cup format is any combination of two or more rounds with two or more teams playing any combination of four-ball (best ball of pair), alternate shot, and singles. In fact, a four-ball tournament and singles tournaments can be played in the same round. Each foursome has two players from North and two players from the South. There is the best ball of North vs. best ball of South and at the same time two singles tournaments - North 1 vs. South 1, and North 2 vs. South 2.
Let’s assume the captain is planning a Ryder Cup format for rounds 2, 3, and 4. In rounds 2 and 4, Four-Ball and Singles are played concurrently, and in round 3 (afternoon) alternate shot is played. The tournaments are scored in the traditional Ryder Cup format of 1 point to win a match and ½ point to tie. The example below shows the Four-Ball tournament setup with traditional scoring of one point per match.
If scoring in the traditional method of one point per match, there will be 3 points in play for each foursome (one for the fourball and one for each of the singles matches). There are four foursomes for the 16 players, so there are 12 points for rounds 2 and 4. For round 3, there is just one point per foursome, for a total of four points over the four foursomes. For the entire Ryder Cup, there are 28 points. Points are set for each tournament. For rounds 2 and 4, create two tournaments - one for fourball and one for the singles matches. The points will automatically roll up over the rounds and tournaments, and you can easily view the Ryder Cup status at any point in time.
Now the captain has taken care of the competitions for rounds 2, 3, and 4, at least partly. For round 1, which is a warm-up round, let’s play condo “team vs. field” competition. Each condo team has two players, and the neat aspect of this is that the two players on a team do not need to be in the same foursome. The system will find the teams across foursomes and score the tournament. Typically, this would be the better ball of the team, but it could also be both balls of the team. For round 5, the last round, a good format would be best 3 balls of the foursome on the par 3’s, best two balls on the par 4’s and best ball on the par 5’s. The example below shows the tournament setup for the best ball tournament using the condo teams.
Now let’s assume the trip captain would like to create some multi-round tournaments. The captain will create a low gross and low net aggregate Stableford tournaments for rounds 1, 2, 4, and 5, dropping the worst round. Round 3 is skipped because it is an alternate shot. The example below shows the tournament setup for an aggregate net Stableford tournament.
Now the captain would like to add skins tournaments in some of the rounds. Perhaps in round 1, foursome vs. field skins will be played using the best two balls. In rounds 2 and 4, traditional player vs. field skins will be played, and in round 5, pair vs. field skins will be played. The example below shows the tournament setup for an individual gross skins tournament.
The trick here for the captain is to set up enough tournaments that make for a great trip, but not so many that golfers are overwhelmed. With the mobile app, golfers can enter hole-by-hole scores and view live leaderboards for all tournaments. This gets really exciting for Ryder Cup events where everyone can view all of the matches as they progress.
After creating the tournaments, the captain will then create pairings for all rounds using the scheduler. In rounds 2, 3, and 4, the pairings must be organized by the Ryder Cup teams to establish the matches. Repeat partners and opponents will be minimized as much as mathematically possible. For rounds 1 and 5, the Ryder Cup is not played so the pairings are created randomly while still minimizing repeats. Furthermore, a rule is added that two players should not be in the round 1 pairings because they will not arrive in time to play.
After the pairings are generated, the captain will set the course, tee, and tee times for all the rounds.
With the trip quickly approached in a few days, the captain will then go through and check the setup using the Handicap Analysis and Pre-Play Audit. The captain will also test the leaderboard with random scores.
Because scores are going to be entered on the mobile app, scorecards will not need to be printed. The portal will also provide all the other information needed like format, itinerary, tee times, etc. The only report that will be needed to be printed is the Pro Trip Sheet, which includes the Foursome GGIDs (to log in) for all the foursomes on the trip.
After arriving at the first course on the trip, the captain will log into the mobile app as the trip captain and enable mobile score entry, and move the round to "in progress". Scores will then be entered throughout the round while a live leaderboard is made available. Players will also be uploading photos from the round onto the portal using the mobile app. After the first round scores are entered, the captain will move the round to completed and repeat these steps for all the remaining rounds on the trip.
On the flight home, the captain will then use the Trip Accountant to compile the expenses throughout the trip to find out "who owes what". Players can then square up and there will be no need to track down money from players long after the trip.
After returning home, the captain will send a follow-up email to the trip with links to results, statistics, photos, and much more.