First you're asked for your date of birth. Then sign up with your name, email and a password; the web also asks for an optional Home Zip Code, used to find golfers and tournaments near you. Golf Sync picks your username from your email.

You can also sign up and sign in with Google, or with Apple on an iPhone. An account made that way has no Golf Sync password: see Your password.

A password needs 8+ characters with an uppercase letter and a number. It expires after 90 days: the next time you sign in with it, you're taken to Change Password to enter the old one and pick a new one. Golf Sync only checks this when you type your password, so if you stay signed in you may not be asked until you next sign in.

To change it before then, at any time:

On the web: Account Settings › Security › Change password →. You stay signed in on this browser; any other device asks you to sign in again with the new password.

On the phone: Account › Change Password. The screen checks the rule as you type.

Signed up with Google or Apple? Then you have no Golf Sync password: nothing expires, there's nothing to change, and Account says so instead of offering Change Password. If you made a password first and later signed in with Google using the same email, both ways work, and your password still expires every 90 days.

On the sign-in screen, tap Forgot password? and enter your email. We email you a reset link that works for 1 hour; asking again sends a fresh link and the old one stops working. We send at most 3 of these an hour. If your account signs in with Google or Apple, the email reminds you to use that button instead, because there's no password to reset.

On other events, joining with a code makes you an account from the email you give, with no password you know. To set one, use Forgot password on the sign-in page with that email.

After 5 wrong passwords in a row, sign-in is locked for 15 minutes. While it's locked you'll see "Invalid email or password" even if you type the right one. Wait the 15 minutes and try carefully, or reset your password: a reset unlocks you straight away.

You stay signed in as long as you open Golf Sync at least once a week. After more than a week away you're asked to sign in again. Changing or resetting your password signs you out on your other devices within a day.

After you sign up we email you a verification link that works for 24 hours. Until you verify, the emails an organizer sends to all their members skip you.

No email? Check your spam folder, then ask for a new link (up to 3 an hour):

On the web: the Verify your email card at the top of Account Settings has Resend email.

On the phone: the Verify your email banner on Full 18 and on Account has Resend email.

Your name, home zip (used to suggest golfers near you) and phone are under Edit Profile. Your handicap index goes from -10 to 54 (a plus handicap is a negative number, so +2.4 is -2.4), with your GHIN number if you have one.

On the web: Account Settings has Edit Profile, then a separate Handicap card with GHIN number (optional). Your friend QR code is here too: a friend scans it to add you.

On the phone: Account › Edit Profile holds all of it, and Verify with screenshot checks your GHIN handicap from a screenshot. Your friend QR code is at the top of Account.

Your profile handicap and the one you play off. The number on your profile is what casual rounds and golfer suggestions use. A league or a Golf Sync XP event plays you off the handicap its organizer holds for you, so changing your profile doesn't change your strokes there. If that number looks wrong, ask the organizer, or contest their proposal (below).

On the phone: after 8 qualifying league or Golf Sync XP rounds (18 holes, on a course with slope and rating on file), the Account screen also shows your Golf Sync Index, worked out from those rounds. It's for your information: event handicaps don't use it.

When a league or event organizer proposes a new handicap for you, it appears at the top of your account page under Handicap proposals, showing the current and proposed numbers and which league it's for. Tap Accept, or Contest and say what the number should be. If you don't answer within 48 hours, the proposed number sticks, and your profile shows who updated it.

Handicap history, on the same page, lists every change to your handicap and who made it.

On the web: Account Settings › Email Preferences has two switches: Emails from my organizers and Marketing & product updates.

On the phone: Account › Email Preferences has two switches: Emails from my organizers and Marketing emails.

Emails from my organizers is on until you turn it off. Emails a league or event organizer sends to all their players, and their reminders to register. Leave it on so you don't miss a tee-time change. It covers a league or event owner's email to every member (and the phone notification that goes with it), the emails sent from a Golf Sync XP's Email tab, and the reminder to register.

Marketing & product updates covers tips, feature announcements and other news from Golf Sync. Turning it off doesn't stop your organizers' emails.

Receipts, invitations, and password and security emails always arrive, whatever this is set to.

Local sponsor targeting (web: under Playing Partner Suggestions; phone: Account › Privacy) decides whether your approximate region picks which local sponsors you see. Turning it off doesn't hide an event's own sponsors: those are part of the event.

Open Playing Partners from the menu and search by username or name. Tap Add Partner next to someone; the button changes to Pending until they answer. They see your request at the top of their Playing Partners page, where they can Accept or Decline.

Not on Golf Sync yet? Use Don't see your partner? Invite them by email under the search box, and we email them a sign-up link.

Clubhouse Chat, also in the menu, is where you message your partners: tap New chat and pick one. Conversations with unread messages show a count.

If someone behaves badly, tap Report next to their name (in search results or your partner list), pick a reason (Harassment, Inappropriate Behavior, Fake / Spam Account or Other), describe what happened and tap Submit Report. Our team reviews every report.

Suggested Golfers Near You lists up to 10 golfers near your home zip with a handicap close to yours. You only get suggestions when your profile has both a home zip and a handicap. In Account Settings you choose how far to look (Search distance: 5, 10, 25 or 50 miles) and how close a handicap (Handicap range). Turning off Appear in suggestions hides you from other golfers and also stops suggestions for you.

Golfer tags. After a casual round is marked complete, the players who were in it can tag each other with traits such as Fast pace, Knows the rules, Good sport or Honest scorekeeper, from the round's page, and can change a tag for 7 days. Once three different players have tagged you, your top three tags show next to your name when other golfers find you. League and Golf Sync XP rounds don't use tags.

On the web: your own tags are on Account Settings under How other golfers describe you.

On the phone: your own tags are at the top of Account, under your name.

Ask for directions. Ask Golf Sync, on your web dashboard, answers questions and takes you to the right page (try "Where do I set up Saturday's scramble?"). If it offers to do something for you, nothing happens until you confirm.

Playing in an event? Use Playing today? Join with a code on your dashboard, or go to golfsync.io/play. Codes are 6 digits, and you don't need an account to join with one. See Playing in an event.

Your rounds. My Scorecards holds your own casual rounds and the cards you scanned. Rounds you played in a league or a Golf Sync XP event are kept with the event: on the web under My Tournaments › Played, and on the phone under Account › Golf › Past events. See also Scorecards and Leagues.

Golf Sync is free for golfers, with no subscription: scoring, partners, chat, leagues and joining events. An event may have an entry fee, set by its organizer.

On the web: Account Settings › Danger Zone › Delete My Account.

On the phone: Account › Account Management › Delete Account.

Type delete my account to confirm. It happens straight away and can't be undone: your profile, rounds, scores, messages and partner connections are removed, you're signed out, and we email you a confirmation.

A league or Golf Sync XP event you own isn't deleted with you: one of its delegates becomes the owner, or Golf Sync takes it over if it has none. The other players keep their tournaments and payments.

On the web: the Share Your Feedback card at the bottom of Account Settings.

On the phone: Account › Support › Share Feedback.

How we use your data, and the cookies we use to keep you signed in, are in our Privacy & Cookie Policy. The rules for using Golf Sync are in the Terms of Service.