Setting up a golf tournament shouldn't be more stressful than a downhill 4-foot putt. If you find the Golf Genius platform powerful yet a little intimidating, you're not alone. This guide cuts through the confusion, walking you step-by-step from creating your first event to crowning a champion. You'll learn how to run flawless competitions with confidence, so you can spend less time at the computer and more time on the course.
Once you log into Golf Genius, the main dashboard can look like a command center. Before you touch anything, let’s get our bearings. The two primary ares you'll work with are "Events" and "Leagues." For today, we’re focusing on setting up a single-day tournament, so we will be working almost exclusively in the **"Events"** section. Every tournament, whether it's the Club Championship or a casual Sunday Four-Ball, begins here.
The beauty of Golf Genius is that it follows a logical workflow. Think of it like this: first you create the container for your event, then you put the players inside it, tell them what game they're playing, and finally, arrange them into groups. We’ll follow that exact path.
The first step is to tell Golf Genius you're planning something. On your main dashboard, look for the button labeled **"Add New Event/League"**. Clicking this opens the initial setup page, where you’ll lay the foundation for your tournament.
Next, you’ll see "Default Settings." This part is a time-saver. You'll set defaults for players per pairing group (usually 4), number of rounds (usually 1 for a single-day event), and holes per round (18 or 9). Set these to what makes the most sense for your tournament. If you're running a standard 18-hole foursome event, the defaults will likely work perfectly. Click **"Save,"** and just like that, the shell of your tournament is created.
An event isn’t an event without players. This is one of the most important steps, and Golf Genius gives you several flexible ways to build your field of competitors. On the event dashboard, navigate to the **"Golfers"** menu. From there, select **"Event Roster."**
If you're running an event for club members, this is the most efficient method. Your Master Roster contains all the golfers at your facility with their handicap information. Simply select this option, and you’ll see your full member list. You can then search, filter by gender or membership type, and select the players participating in this specific event. Check the boxes next to their names and click "Import." Their data, including their all-important Handicap Index, will be pulled into the event roster instantly.
This method is ideal for guest tournaments, charity scrambles, or corporate outings where participants aren't in your club's system. Golf Genius allows you to upload a simple spreadsheet with player information.
A simple file might look like this:
FirstName,LastName,HandicapIndex,Email
John,Smith,12.5,john.smith@email.com
Jane,Doe,21.2,jane.doe@email.com
Dave,Johnson,5.8,dave.johnson@email.com
For those last-minute additions or when you're only dealing with a few players, you can add them manually. Inside your Event Roster, click the button for **"Add New Players to Roster."** A form will pop up where you can type in their details one by one. It’s simple and direct for making small adjustments to your player list.
This is where you tell the software what game everyone is playing. It’s a two-part process: first, set up the physical round of golf, then define the competition format that will be played during that round.
Go to the **"Rounds"** menu item on your event dashboard. Since you set up a default round in Step 1, you should see "Round 1" waiting for you. Click on it. Here, you'll confirm the details:
Now for the fun part. Inside the "Round 1" settings, click on the **"Tournaments"** tab, then **"Add New Tournament."** This is where you specify the competition format.
Let's use a common example: a four-person team scramble.
You can create multiple tournaments within the same round. For example, you could have an individual gross and net competition, a team Stableford, and a skins game all running simultaneously off the same scorecards. Each is set up as a separate "Tournament" within the round.
With the players and the format ready, it’s time to create the tee sheet. This is a task that traditionally took hours but can now be done in minutes. From the "Rounds" menu, go to **"Create New Pairings."**
Let the computer do the work. This is the fastest and most popular method for creating a fair and balanced tee sheet. You can instruct Golf Genius to create pairings based on different instructions:
Once you select your method and click **"Create Pairings,"** the system will generate a preliminary tee sheet for you in seconds.
If you need to make specific adjustments or accommodate player requests, use the visual pairings editor, often called the **"Tee Sheet."** Here, you'll see a list of unpaired players on one side and your tee times or starting holes on the other. You can simply drag a player’s name from the list and drop them into the desired a in a pairing group. It's an a incredibly intuitive way to make last-minute changes or build the entire tee sheet by hand if you prefer full control.
You're almost there! The final step is preparing the materials for tournament day.
Navigate to the "Rounds" Menu, then **"Report Composer."** This is where you can print all your tournament materials. For scorecards, you can choose a template and customize it fully. Options include:
You can also print cart signs, tee sheets, and tournament results from this same menu. Spend some time exploring the templates to give your event a professional look and feel.
One of Golf Genius's best features is its live scoring capability, which creates a huge amount of excitement. To turn it on, go to the Round dashboard and enable **"Mobile Score Entry."** The system will generate a unique **GGID** (Golf Genius ID) for your event. This is the code you will give to the players.
Players can go to the Golf Genius website on their phones, enter the GGID, and find their pairing group. One player in each group can then enter scores for the entire foursome after each hole. The scores are immediately uploaded to a live leaderboard, which can be displayed on TVs in the clubhouse or viewed by anyone with the link. It’s a game-changer for engagement.
Following these steps turns Golf Genius from an intimidating platform into an incredibly reliable tool for running impeccable golf events. From the initial setup and player imports to automatic pairings and live leaderboards, you now have a complete roadmap to execute any tournament format smoothly, professionally, and with far less stress.
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