I built a golf scoring app for my own foursome. Now I need people to break it.
My group plays Sixes most Saturdays, Nassau when it's a twosome, Nines when it's a threesome, Skins when eight of us show up. Every round ended the same way: somebody doing arithmetic on the back of a scorecard in the parking lot, and somebody else disagreeing with the total. So I wrote an app that keeps track of it — the teams, the presses, the trash, and who ends up owing who.
It's far enough along to run a real round on, and rough enough that I want strangers using it before it goes anywhere near the App Store. It's on TestFlight for iPhone, it's free, there's nothing to buy inside it, there are no ads, and it never asks you to create an account.
iPhone only for now (iOS 16 or newer) · takes a couple of minutes · nothing to pay
Straight answers before you tap anything
- I wrote it, so treat everything on this page as coming from a biased source.
- It's free for testers, and I'm not going to change that on you mid-round. Being honest about the long game: once it's finished and in the App Store, I plan to charge for it — somewhere around $10 a year. Nothing in the beta is locked, nothing asks for a card, and I'd rather tell you now than have you find out later and feel like you got used.
- No account, no sign-up, no email required. Your rounds are saved on your phone, not on a server of mine.
- It doesn't touch money. It counts what a game came to; settling up is between you and whoever lost.
- TestFlight builds expire after 90 days. When one runs out you'll get a fresh build through TestFlight — nothing to reinstall by hand.
- I want the bad news. A message saying "hole 12 in Sixes charged me twice" is worth more to me than a five-star review.
What I'd like you to actually do
Play one normal round with it — your usual game, your usual stakes, your usual arguments about strokes. That's it. Then tell me:
- Where you had to stop and figure out what the app wanted from you.
- Anywhere the money came out different from what your group would have paid by hand.
- Whether the presses fire the way your group presses. Every group has house rules and I've mostly encoded mine — I want to hear where yours differ.
- How handicaps and strokes are handled compared to how you do it.
- Anything that felt slow or fiddly to tap while you're standing on a tee box holding a club.
What's in the build
Nine formats. All of them are unlocked in the beta, including the ones I've tested least — the obscure ones are where the bugs will be hiding.
Sixes
Four players split into three 6-hole matches, teams rotating each segment. Presses, trash and running dollar totals are tracked as you go.
- Best ball match play, 3 × 6 holes
- Teams rotate every 6 holes
- Optional auto press at 2 down, and 1 down on the last hole
- Birdie, sandy and greenie trash
- Live dollar total per player
Four Ball
The Ryder Cup format. Two teams of two, best ball on every hole across the full 18, with strokes entered the way your group does it.
- Full 18-hole best ball match play
- Direct stroke-off entry per player
- Live match status (3 up, all square, and so on)
- Net scoring with handicap dots per hole
- Match closes out automatically, e.g. 3&2
Skins
Every hole is its own competition, low net takes the skin, ties carry over. Works for a foursome or for however many carts you can round up.
- Individual or team skins
- Carry-over on ties
- Handicap adjustment by stroke index
- Colour-coded card showing who won each skin
- Configurable dollar value per skin
Quota
Each player has a quota off their handicap and earns points per hole. Good for mixed groups where match play falls apart.
- Quota is 36 minus handicap
- Bogey 1, par 2, birdie 4, eagle 8
- Live points against quota
- Card coloured by performance
- Final ranking by score against quota
Nassau
Front, back and total, tracked separately. Presses on the front and back, automatic or manual. The 18 bet can only be pressed on 17 or 18 when you're 2 down.
- 1 v 1 or four ball (best ball)
- Three live bet statuses: front · back · 18
- Auto or manual presses
- Handicap strokes off per player
- Full settlement summary at the end
9-Point
Nine points split every hole on net scores. Win outright and take 5. It mostly evens out over 18 — until the trash starts moving money around.
- 5-3-1, 4-4-1, 5-2-2 and 3-3-3 splits
- Birdies and eagles detected automatically
- Sandy and greenie buttons
- Dollar settlement summary
- 54-point baseline with variance tracked
Wolf
The Wolf tees last and after each tee shot can take a partner, pass, or go it alone. Pass on everyone and you're playing the field by yourself.
- Wolf rotates through 16, special rules on 17 and 18
- Pick a partner after their tee shot, or go lone / blind lone
- 2 v 2 win: +2 each winner, −2 each loser
- Lone win: wolf +3, opponents −1 each (blind lone doubles)
- Low-man stroke off, live settlement per point
Net Vegas
Two teams for all 18. Each team's net scores run together into one number and the lower number wins the difference. A gross birdie flips the other team's digits.
- Nets pair into one number (4 and 5 becomes 45)
- Lower number wins the spread
- Birdie reverse on the opposing number
- Optional net double-bogey cap per player
- Live settlement per point through 18
Stats
Stat tracking for one golfer over 18 holes, or pick a stats player during Skins or Quota and record theirs without changing the group game.
- Drive distance by GPS on par 4s and 5s
- GIR with miss direction: short, long, left, right
- Fairway hit or miss on par 4s and 5s
- Putts, penalties, and last putt length
- Career averages built from saved rounds
What it looks like on the course
CardSync
Tournaments already ask for two scorecards per group. CardSync does that digitally: two people keep the same foursome on their own phones, and the app compares the cards hole by hole. If the two of you disagree about what somebody made, it flags it right there on the hole instead of in the clubhouse two hours later.
- Two phones, same tournament code — the comparison happens on its own
- Scores, birdies, sandies and greenies are all checked
- The mismatch alert shows up on both phones as soon as it's detected
- No extra button to press; it runs as you advance the hole
Everything else it does
Works with no signal
Scoring runs entirely offline and saves to the phone. You only need a connection to look up a new course or to run live tournament scoring.
15,000+ courses
Search a course and it pulls in par and stroke index, so you're not typing in a card by hand on the first tee.
Round history
Every round is kept. Reopen an old card, fix a score somebody called in wrong, and see the settlement again.
Who owes who
A running tab with the match, the presses and the trash broken out separately, so the total is arguable in a useful way instead of a mystery.
More than one group
Running Skins or Quota across several carts: one person makes a code, everyone else joins it, and there's a live leaderboard and payout at the end.
Scorecard scanning and voice entry
Optional. Point the camera at a paper card to read par and stroke index, or say scores out loud instead of tapping.
Known rough edges
Things I already know about, so you don't waste a message on them:
- iPhone only right now. An Android build is coming, but it isn't ready for testers yet.
- Course search and live tournament scoring need a connection. Everything else doesn't.
- Rounds live on your phone only. There's no cloud backup, so deleting the app takes your history with it.
- No GHIN or handicap-service integration — you enter strokes yourself, or import course handicaps by stroke index.
- House rules vary and mine are the defaults. If your group presses differently, that's a difference of opinion I'd like to hear about rather than a bug you should work around.
Getting it installed
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Install TestFlight from the App Store
It's Apple's own app for trying out builds that aren't in the store yet. Free.
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Open the invite link on your iPhone
Tapping it on a computer won't do much — it needs to be the phone you'll play with.
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Tap Accept, then Install
GameIsOn shows up on your home screen like any other app. Needs iOS 16 or newer.
Free · no account · no ads · nothing in it to buy
When it breaks, tell me
Either way works, and neither one needs to be polite or well written:
- TestFlight feedback — take a screenshot while the app is open, then hit Share Beta Feedback. It sends the shot and the details along with it, which is the fastest way for me to see what you saw.
- Email bhowell@gameison.golf — or reply to me wherever you found this link.
If you can, tell me the format, the hole, and what you expected the number to be. "Nassau, hole 14, the back should have been 2 up and it said all square" is enough for me to find it.
Questions people ask first
Is it actually free, or is this a free trial?
Actually free, and everything is unlocked — there's no trial timer and no payment screen anywhere in the build. Once it's finished and in the App Store I do plan to charge for it, around $10 a year. If you tested it for me, I'm not going to be the guy who flips a switch and locks you out.
Why isn't it just in the App Store?
Because it isn't done. I've played plenty of rounds with it inside my own group, which means it works fine for the way my group plays and I have no idea how it holds up for yours. I'd rather find that out from a few dozen golfers than from public reviews.
Do all four of us need to install it?
No. One scorekeeper per group is all it takes, same as the paper card. The exception is CardSync, where a second person keeps their own card on purpose so the two can be compared.
Does it work at courses with no service?
Yes. Scoring is fully offline and saves as you go. A connection only matters if you're importing a course you've never played or running live scoring across several groups.
What do you do with my data?
Nothing. Names, handicaps, scores and history stay on your phone, there's no account, and sync is off unless you turn it on. GPS is only read when you tap to mark a drive. Apple will show me crash logs and whatever you send through TestFlight feedback, and that's the extent of it. The full policy is in the privacy policy.
Is this a betting app?
No. It's a calculator with a scorecard attached. It doesn't take deposits, hold stakes, or pay anybody out — whatever your group plays for is settled between you, exactly like it is now.
What happens to my rounds when the beta build expires?
TestFlight builds stop working after 90 days and get replaced by a newer one; your saved rounds carry over because they're stored in the app on your phone. Deleting the app does delete them, since I'm not keeping a copy.
Android?
Coming, but not yet — iPhone is the only build I'm handing out right now. The Android version is the same app underneath, so most of what testers find on iOS gets fixed for both.
Who are you?
One golfer who writes software, not a company. I built this because my own group needed it, and I'd rather it be good than be everywhere.