GolfTracker Trips Now open
Your buddies trip deserves a real leaderboard.
For the group, not the gala. Ryder Cup teams, skins and side games, rotating pairings — and one cumulative leaderboard running the entire weekend across every course you play. Bachelor party, girls' getaway, or the 12th annual grudge match: one trip code, and the whole trip is live, scored and settled.
Set up your trip in about two minutes
Name it, add your rounds, split the sides — then share one code with the group. No app to install to get started, and no card to enter.
Start your trip — freeFree for up to 8 players and 2 rounds. Bigger weekend — up to 24 players, unlimited rounds — is a $99 Trip Pass.
Why we built Trips
Golf travel is enormous, and the person running the trip is on their own. More than 12 million Americans travel to play golf every year — up 49% versus pre-COVID — and golf travel now drives over $30 billion a year in tourism spend, the second-largest segment of the U.S. golf economy. Nearly half of all U.S. golfers expect to play on a trip in the coming year. Myrtle Beach alone drew 759,000 traveling golfers in 2024. And the golfers fueling the growth — younger players and women, up 41% since 2020 — are exactly the ones taking group trips.
Yet every one of those trips is run by one trip captain with a spreadsheet: a Google Sheet for the roster and standings, a group text, Venmo requests nobody answers, and screenshots of tee times. The pains show up on every golf forum, year after year: collecting the money, no-shows repricing the lodging, pairings that keep putting the same guys together, and the one thing almost no app can do — a day-one scramble, a day-two four-ball and a day-three singles session feeding one trip leaderboard.
The tools that exist split the job in half. Tournament software is powerful but priced and designed for committees. Scorecard apps handle a single round beautifully and lose the plot on a multi-day trip. Trip planners handle lodging and dates and can't score a hole of golf. Nobody bundles the scoring, the teams, the pairings and the money — so we built it, on the platform that already runs live-scored, live-paid golf events.
Sources: National Golf Foundation travel & participation research (2024–2026); Forbes / Golf Tourism Solutions Myrtle Beach economic study (2025); Grand View Research golf tourism outlook. Trip-spend range based on published Myrtle Beach, Scottsdale and Pinehurst package pricing.
How a trip works
Build your trip
Name it, pick your dates, add each round — any course, any format per round. Split the group into teams, set handicaps (official index or honest estimate), and set the per-player buy-in if you're collecting money.
Invite the group
One trip code does it all. The trip is yours — your name, your team colors, your schedule. Nobody has to make an account to score or follow along; the free GolfTracker app adds GPS yardage and offline scoring for those who want it.
Play the weekend
Score hole by hole; the team race and individual boards update live across all rounds, with the leaderboard on the rental-house TV at night. At the end: trip champion crowned, cup decided, one settle-up sheet for every game and side pot.
The app your group already knows how to use
Real screens from the GolfTracker app, running live golf events today — the same scorer, yardage and leaderboard your trip runs on.
Team formats — the spine of the trip
Split into two sides for the weekend and every round feeds the team score: the classic Ryder Cup sessions plus the team games groups actually play.
Ryder Cup — four-ball
2v2, everyone plays their own ball, the better score counts. The classic Friday-morning session.
How it works →Foursomes (alternate shot)
2v2, one ball per team, partners alternate shots. The most pressure per swing in golf.
How it works →Singles match play
1v1, usually the final-day session that decides the cup. Dormie drama included.
How it works →Scramble
Everyone hits, play the best ball, repeat. The equalizer — perfect for the arrival round.
How it works →Shamble
Best drive, then everyone plays their own ball in. Half scramble, half real golf.
How it works →Best ball
Own ball, team's best score counts each hole. Works 2-person or 4-person.
How it works →Team Stableford
Points per hole, added across the team — a blow-up costs one hole, not the round.
How it works →Team match play
Head-to-head by holes, any pairing size, closed out when it's mathematically over.
How it works →Individual boards — running all weekend
Underneath the team battle, every player's rounds roll into individual standings across the whole trip — the answer to “who actually played the best golf this weekend?”
Stroke play — gross
Total strokes, no help. The purist's board and the trip-champion trophy.
How it works →Stroke play — net
Handicaps applied by hole index, so the 18 and the 4 are both in it on Sunday.
How it works →Individual Stableford
Points against your handicap. Rewards aggression, forgives disasters, keeps play moving.
How it works →Multi-round cumulative
Day 1 scramble, day 2 four-ball, day 3 singles — different formats, one trip leaderboard.
How it works →Eclectic / ringer board
Your best score on each hole across every round, combined into one dream card.
How it works →Side games & money games — where the trash talk lives
The games inside the game, tracked per round and rolled into one settle-up sheet at the end of the trip: who owes whom, netted across everything.
Skins
Win the hole outright, win the skin — with carryovers stacking the next one.
How it works →Nassau
Three bets in one: front nine, back nine, overall 18 — with optional presses.
How it works →Wolf
Rotating captain picks a partner after the tee shots — or goes lone wolf for triple.
How it works →Vegas
Team scores pair into two-digit numbers. Big swings, bigger comebacks.
How it works →Bingo Bango Bongo
First on, closest once on, first in. Handicap-proof and beginner-friendly.
How it works →Snake
Three-putt and you're holding the snake — and the pot — until someone else does.
How it works →Dots / junk
Greenies, sandies, barkies, polies — the little pots for great (and lucky) shots.
How it works →Closest-to-pin & long drive
Classic par-3 and designated-hole pots, tracked with winners on the trip board.
How it works →Your account, your history, your data
The trip doesn't end Sunday.
Create an account once and it's yours: every trip you play stays in your history, so next year opens with last year's record already in it — and everything you put in, you can take out.
Start your tripHow Trips compares to other golf trip apps
The field splits in two: powerful-but-pricey organizer software on one side, free scorecard apps on the other — and nobody collecting the trip's money. Here's the honest map.
| Product | Price | Multi-round trip leaderboard | Ryder Cup / team match play | Side games & settle-up | Collect the trip money | Play without accounts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GolfTracker TripsStart freeEverything in one app, including the money — set your trip up free in about two minutes, no card | Free · $99 big weekend | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Golf Genius Trip ManagerThe established trip tool: pairings, formats, trip site, expense calculator — web-portal era, and it never collects the group's money | $149 / trip | ✓ | ✓ | Partial | — | — |
| SquabbitFree, well-liked indie app with 30+ formats; single-developer project, no money layer | Free | ✓ | ✓ | Partial | — | ✓ |
| CupTrackerNew Ryder Cup-specific app, priced per event by group size; scoring only | $25–100 / event | ✓ | ✓ | Partial | — | Partial |
| Unknown GolfTrip scoring with GHIN; settles side bets via Venmo links but doesn't collect trip dues | Freemium | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| GolfifyTrip scoring with team matchplay; the free tier stops at 8 players — where buddies trips start | Free ≤8, then sub | ✓ | ✓ | Partial | — | — |
| Golf GameBookBig consumer scoring app with Reds-vs-Blues team play; trips are a feature, not the product | Free + Gold sub | Partial | ✓ | Partial | — | — |
| TheGrintHandicap-first app with a Ryder Cup mode and multi-event Tours behind the Pro tier | Free + ~$99/yr | Partial | ✓ | ✓ | — | — |
| 18BirdiesFree single-event tournaments; no team match play, multi-day trips need stitched events | Free events | — | — | Partial | — | — |
Compiled 2026-08-12 from vendor websites, app-store listings and published pricing. GolfTracker Trips is new and shipping fast — ticks in our row are rolling out now and land in your trip as they do, at no extra cost. Corrections welcome: info@golftracker.ai.
Trip resources & format guides
Everything a trip captain needs to run the competition — formats, games, handicaps and logistics. Browse all trip resources →
Golf Trip Formats: The Complete Guide
Every team format, individual board and scoring system for a multi-round trip — and which to play on which day.
How to Run a Ryder Cup Golf Trip
Full setups for 8, 12 and 16 players: sessions, points tables, pairings and tiebreakers.
Golf Side Games & Money Games, Explained
Skins, Nassau, wolf, Vegas and the rest — rules, payouts and how to keep the books straight.
How to Organize a Buddies Golf Trip
The trip captain's playbook: money collection, headcount, tee times, pairings rotation and the schedule.
Common questions
What is GolfTracker Trips?
GolfTracker Trips is the golf-trip product from GolfTracker.ai, built for small groups — buddies trips, bachelor and bachelorette party golf weekends, girls' golf getaways, and annual Ryder Cup-style trips of roughly 8 to 24 golfers playing 2 to 4 courses over a weekend. One trip holds every round, every format, team and individual standings, and the group's money — instead of a spreadsheet, a group text and three different apps.
How is a golf trip different from a tournament on GolfTracker?
A tournament is one event on one day with a committee behind it. A trip is multiple rounds on multiple courses across a weekend, with the same 8 to 24 people, team sides that persist all trip, and standings that accumulate round over round. Trips is built for exactly that shape — no tournament committee required.
Does GolfTracker Trips support Ryder Cup format for a buddies trip?
Yes — Ryder Cup-style team play is the heart of Trips: four-ball, foursomes (alternate shot) and singles sessions, with configurable points per session and a running team score across the whole trip. Mixed schedules work too, like a day-one scramble and day-two four-ball feeding the same cup.
What golf formats and side games does Trips cover?
Team formats: Ryder Cup four-ball, foursomes (alternate shot), singles, scramble, shamble, best ball, team Stableford and team match play. Individual boards: gross and net stroke play, Stableford, multi-round cumulative standings and an eclectic (ringer) board. Side games: skins with carryovers, Nassau, wolf, Vegas, bingo bango bongo, snake, dots and junk, and closest-to-pin and long-drive pots — all rolling into one end-of-trip settle-up sheet.
Do I get an account that remembers my trips and scores?
Yes. Your GolfTracker account is yours and it persists: every trip you play stays in your history with its rounds, scores and results, so next year's trip opens with last year's record already there — past champions, head-to-head records and your own scoring history across every trip you've played.
Can I export or download my trip data?
Yes. Trip results and your personal round history are exportable — download your scores, the round-by-round detail and the final standings as a file you keep. Your data belongs to you and leaves with you; nothing is locked inside the app.
Will the app be customized to our trip?
Yes. A trip works like its own private event: your trip's name, your team names and colors, your courses and schedule. Players join with a trip code and the experience is themed to your trip — the same engine that already powers branded tournaments on GolfTracker today.
Do all my buddies need to create accounts?
No. Like GolfTracker tournaments today, players can score and follow the live leaderboard from a link or QR code in a phone browser — no install and no login required. Creating an account is what saves your history between trips, so most players make one after their first weekend, but nobody gets homework before a golf trip.
Can it collect the money for the trip?
That's the part nothing else on the market does: the organizer sets a per-player amount, everyone pays by card from a link, and the organizer sees exactly who has paid — powered by the same payment rails GolfTracker events use today, with no bank setup needed to start collecting. Side games settle differently: Trips tallies every game and produces a who-owes-whom sheet at trip's end, but game money stays between players — GolfTracker never holds or moves wagers.
What about handicaps if some players don't have an official index?
The organizer sets each player's playing handicap directly — official indexes where players have them, honest estimates where they don't — and the engine applies strokes hole by hole using each course's real stroke index, with adjustable allowances per round.
Does it work across multiple courses with no cell signal?
Multi-course is the whole point — each round has its own course and its own format. And the GolfTracker app's scorer already works offline: scores entered in a dead zone save on the phone and sync the moment signal returns.
How does GolfTracker Trips compare to Golf Genius Trip Manager?
Golf Genius Trip Manager is the established trip tool at $149 per trip: strong pairings, a deep format library, a trip website and an expense calculator. GolfTracker Trips is app-first and group-priced, with the two things Trip Manager doesn't do — collecting the group's money up front with a who-has-paid dashboard, and letting players score from a link with no account. The comparison chart on this page shows the full field.
What does GolfTracker Trips cost?
Start free: up to 8 players and 2 rounds, no card, no trial clock. The bigger weekend — up to 24 players and unlimited rounds — is a one-time $99 Trip Pass for the whole group, not per person and not per year. That's one price for the trip, against $149 per trip for Golf Genius Trip Manager. You only decide when your trip outgrows the free plan, and the price is on screen before you're asked for anything.
Get your group on the board
Set up the trip free in a couple of minutes — and if you run charity or corporate events too, the full tournament platform is live today.
Start your trip — free