get started 101
Getting Started with GolfLeagueGenius 101 In this article, we will discuss, at a bare minimum, what NEEDS to get done before you start managing events. WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE: 1. Set up the League Profile 2. Add course(s) 3. Add Players 4. Add Events 5. Create Teams, Divisions, and Flights (if applicable) Set up League Profile (est. time: 2 minutes): The first step is to set up the league profile. This is where you specify preferences for your league. When logging in, go to the League Menu, and click “Edit League Profile”. The default selections in the league profile are the popular selections, so you may not have to change anything within the league profile. While this should only take a couple minutes to review, it is very important to make sure you make the proper selections. If you want more information on setting the League Profile, Click Here. Add Course (est. time: 3 minutes)
This is another quick step that should only take a couple of minutes. Go to the League Menu and click “Maintain Course Details”. Grab the scorecard for the league’s course(s) and select “+Add a Course”. You will then be brought to an empty scorecard (look at above screenshot). Enter the information for each tee and save it. If you have multiple courses, add them as well. If you would only like to add a 9 hole course, simply enter the information for holes 1-9. Put in the Front 9 Slope and Rating and you will be all set. For more information on managing your league courses, Click Here. Add Players (est. time: Varies): The quickest way to add players to the league is to upload a player roster from a spreadsheet. If you have access to a spreadsheet with all the league players already, then you will be able to upload all the players right away. If the players all come from the same club, contact the handicap service provider that the club uses (GHIN, GolfNet, etc) and they
should be able to provide a spreadsheet with all the club’s players and their information. If you are using GHIN or GolfNet, it is important that the player’s GHIN number or GolfNet ID are in the spreadsheet as well. These IDs will be used to update the player’s handicap indexes throughout the season.
Before uploading the player roster to GLG, you’ll want the spreadsheet to look something like above. Items that you will need to put in immediately are last name, and index or handicap service ID. We highly recommend that you include email addresses. If you are using GHIN or GolfNet to automatically sync indexes, enter their GHIN ID or GolfNet ID. If GolfNet and GHIN are used, current indexes will not have to be entered(they will update automatically when you sync). If you enter a first name and last name for the players, but no handle, they will be automatically assigned a handle with the last name and first initial (eg. Anderson, A). While we recommend first name and last name, only last name is required. If you do not enter a first name, the handle will be last name. The handle is what is used to identify a player on schedule, leaderboards, etc. You must have column names in the first row. These column names can be anything convenient for you. When uploading the spreadsheet, we will ask you to match the column name to the variables we are looking for. You can also have columns that are not required (phone number, spouse name, etc.). We will pull these in as “custom fields” and you can use them in a variety of ways. When you are happy with the spreadsheet, go to the Golfers Menu, and click “Upload Roster as Spreadsheet”. Browse your computer for the saved spreadsheet and select “Upload”. You will then be asked to match the column names on the spreadsheet with the fields we are looking for. This is easy. Simply click on the column name from the spreadsheet and then click on the same variable from our side. Then select “Match”. Please note that you do not have to match all of the column names. For instance, if you have a column in the spreadsheet with your player’s phone number, you can leave it on the spreadsheet and we will create a custom field for phone number and import the phone numbers. Once all of the attributes are matched, select “Import”. And now the player roster is set for the league. If any additional players need to be added, go to the Golfers Menu, then “Add Players to Roster”. You can also download the roster as a spreadsheet, make changes, and/or add golfers, and upload. It is important to note that any changes that are made via spreadsheet must be done by downloading the current player roster as a spreadsheet, editing it, and uploading it back to GLG. You cannot use the original spreadsheet file that was used to upload previously. We help you keep track of your current and past spreadsheets by assigning Versions to them. Once you download the spreadsheet for the second time, it will be saved as "V2". Another important note is you cannot delete golfers from via the spreadsheet. For more detailed information on uploading the player roster with a spreadsheet, Click Here.
Add Events (est. time: a few seconds per event) Ok, the league profile set, the course info set, and the players are in the system. Now the events need to be added. To add the events, go to the Calendar Menu, and click “Add Events”.
There are two ways to add events. If you have a weekly league that plays on the same day of the week, select a start date, end date and what day you play. Then click “Save”. Events will be created for that day within that time frame. If you want to add an event individually, simply click on the date (it will highlight orange), and select Save. You can have multiple events on the same day – just click on the date again. We will name the events “Event 1”, “Event 2”, etc. Go to Calendar/Tabular view of calendar and change the name of these events. Just click on an event name, enter a new name, and press return. If there are multiple events on the same day, you really do want to name them. From the tabular list, you can also indicate if an event is a golf event or a social event. A social event does not involve golf. For instance, it could be a Couple’s Dinner. Members can register for these social events via GolfLeagueGenius and you can manage these registrations as well. Creating Divisions, Teams, Flights: (est time: varies) If your league does not use teams, divisions, or flights, skip this section. If one of the three is used, you will want to create them before the first event. When you are ready to setup teams, divisions, or flights for your league, go to the Golfers Menu, and click “Manage Division/Teams/Flights.” If you don't see this option, you will have to go to the League Menu and check that you play divisions, teams, or flights.
You will be brought to a page similar to the screenshot above. If divisions are used, add them first. Click on the "add new division" button on the bottom to create the division. Enter the division name and click "next".
Now, its time to place players in the division. Simply click on the player's names to put them in the division. You can always click the "x" next to their name to remove them from the division. When you are finished, click "save division".
Above, you will see that there are three divisions created. The All Golfers division is added for you automatically. There will always be an All Golfers Division. The other two divisions were created by the League Manager (A Division and B Division). You will see all of your options within each division. If you want to add/remove a player from the division, click "edit membership". If you want to edit the teams, groups, or flights WITHIN the division, click on the appropriate button. And finally, you can edit the name of the division at any time as well as delete the division. Now, for all the team-based leagues, let’s add teams. Click on "edit team lists" for the division that you want to add teams. Then click "add new team list"
Name the team list (eg Spring Better Ball Teams, Ryder Cup Teams) and select the minimum number of players that can be on a team. Click "next". Then click "add team"
Name the first team that you are going to create and click "next"
Now its time to select who you want to be on the "Boston Team". Simply click on the players you want added and click "save team". Click "Add a New Team" at the top to create another team. Repeat this step until all teams are created.
Now, at any time you can go in and "edit the membership" to add/remove players from the Boston team or any other team that you've created. And finally, if there are any flights in your league, you will want to go to the division that you want flights (if you don’t have divisions, go to the “All Golfers” division). Simply click on "edit flighted golfers" for the division you want to setup flights in. Then click "add new flight"
Now, simply name the first flight you are creating and click "next"
If you’d like to flight by handicap index, you can organize the players and “sort by” index for your convenience. Click on the players you want in the "A Player Flight" and then click "save flight".
Now the "A Player Flight" is saved. Click on "add new flight" to add the "B Player Flight." You can also create Divisions/Flights/Teams within a specific event. You can do this by going to the Events Menu, selecting the event, and then "Manage Event Division/Flights/Teams". When adding a division, flight, or team list here, it can only be used for that specific event. Need some more info on teams, divisions, and flights? The following are some supporting articles that will help. Divisions or Flights? Team-based Leagues So now you have all the basic ingredients for your league to make it operational. Players, course, events, teams, flights, divisions, and league setup. Check out the GLG 102 article for information on what else you SHOULD be doing to build a successful league.
This is another quick step that should only take a couple of minutes. Go to the League Menu and click “Maintain Course Details”. Grab the scorecard for the league’s course(s) and select “+Add a Course”. You will then be brought to an empty scorecard (look at above screenshot). Enter the information for each tee and save it. If you have multiple courses, add them as well. If you would only like to add a 9 hole course, simply enter the information for holes 1-9. Put in the Front 9 Slope and Rating and you will be all set. For more information on managing your league courses, Click Here. Add Players (est. time: Varies): The quickest way to add players to the league is to upload a player roster from a spreadsheet. If you have access to a spreadsheet with all the league players already, then you will be able to upload all the players right away. If the players all come from the same club, contact the handicap service provider that the club uses (GHIN, GolfNet, etc) and they
should be able to provide a spreadsheet with all the club’s players and their information. If you are using GHIN or GolfNet, it is important that the player’s GHIN number or GolfNet ID are in the spreadsheet as well. These IDs will be used to update the player’s handicap indexes throughout the season.
Before uploading the player roster to GLG, you’ll want the spreadsheet to look something like above. Items that you will need to put in immediately are last name, and index or handicap service ID. We highly recommend that you include email addresses. If you are using GHIN or GolfNet to automatically sync indexes, enter their GHIN ID or GolfNet ID. If GolfNet and GHIN are used, current indexes will not have to be entered(they will update automatically when you sync). If you enter a first name and last name for the players, but no handle, they will be automatically assigned a handle with the last name and first initial (eg. Anderson, A). While we recommend first name and last name, only last name is required. If you do not enter a first name, the handle will be last name. The handle is what is used to identify a player on schedule, leaderboards, etc. You must have column names in the first row. These column names can be anything convenient for you. When uploading the spreadsheet, we will ask you to match the column name to the variables we are looking for. You can also have columns that are not required (phone number, spouse name, etc.). We will pull these in as “custom fields” and you can use them in a variety of ways. When you are happy with the spreadsheet, go to the Golfers Menu, and click “Upload Roster as Spreadsheet”. Browse your computer for the saved spreadsheet and select “Upload”. You will then be asked to match the column names on the spreadsheet with the fields we are looking for. This is easy. Simply click on the column name from the spreadsheet and then click on the same variable from our side. Then select “Match”. Please note that you do not have to match all of the column names. For instance, if you have a column in the spreadsheet with your player’s phone number, you can leave it on the spreadsheet and we will create a custom field for phone number and import the phone numbers. Once all of the attributes are matched, select “Import”. And now the player roster is set for the league. If any additional players need to be added, go to the Golfers Menu, then “Add Players to Roster”. You can also download the roster as a spreadsheet, make changes, and/or add golfers, and upload. It is important to note that any changes that are made via spreadsheet must be done by downloading the current player roster as a spreadsheet, editing it, and uploading it back to GLG. You cannot use the original spreadsheet file that was used to upload previously. We help you keep track of your current and past spreadsheets by assigning Versions to them. Once you download the spreadsheet for the second time, it will be saved as "V2". Another important note is you cannot delete golfers from via the spreadsheet. For more detailed information on uploading the player roster with a spreadsheet, Click Here.
Add Events (est. time: a few seconds per event) Ok, the league profile set, the course info set, and the players are in the system. Now the events need to be added. To add the events, go to the Calendar Menu, and click “Add Events”.
There are two ways to add events. If you have a weekly league that plays on the same day of the week, select a start date, end date and what day you play. Then click “Save”. Events will be created for that day within that time frame. If you want to add an event individually, simply click on the date (it will highlight orange), and select Save. You can have multiple events on the same day – just click on the date again. We will name the events “Event 1”, “Event 2”, etc. Go to Calendar/Tabular view of calendar and change the name of these events. Just click on an event name, enter a new name, and press return. If there are multiple events on the same day, you really do want to name them. From the tabular list, you can also indicate if an event is a golf event or a social event. A social event does not involve golf. For instance, it could be a Couple’s Dinner. Members can register for these social events via GolfLeagueGenius and you can manage these registrations as well. Creating Divisions, Teams, Flights: (est time: varies) If your league does not use teams, divisions, or flights, skip this section. If one of the three is used, you will want to create them before the first event. When you are ready to setup teams, divisions, or flights for your league, go to the Golfers Menu, and click “Manage Division/Teams/Flights.” If you don't see this option, you will have to go to the League Menu and check that you play divisions, teams, or flights.
You will be brought to a page similar to the screenshot above. If divisions are used, add them first. Click on the "add new division" button on the bottom to create the division. Enter the division name and click "next".
Now, its time to place players in the division. Simply click on the player's names to put them in the division. You can always click the "x" next to their name to remove them from the division. When you are finished, click "save division".
Above, you will see that there are three divisions created. The All Golfers division is added for you automatically. There will always be an All Golfers Division. The other two divisions were created by the League Manager (A Division and B Division). You will see all of your options within each division. If you want to add/remove a player from the division, click "edit membership". If you want to edit the teams, groups, or flights WITHIN the division, click on the appropriate button. And finally, you can edit the name of the division at any time as well as delete the division. Now, for all the team-based leagues, let’s add teams. Click on "edit team lists" for the division that you want to add teams. Then click "add new team list"
Name the team list (eg Spring Better Ball Teams, Ryder Cup Teams) and select the minimum number of players that can be on a team. Click "next". Then click "add team"
Name the first team that you are going to create and click "next"
Now its time to select who you want to be on the "Boston Team". Simply click on the players you want added and click "save team". Click "Add a New Team" at the top to create another team. Repeat this step until all teams are created.
Now, at any time you can go in and "edit the membership" to add/remove players from the Boston team or any other team that you've created. And finally, if there are any flights in your league, you will want to go to the division that you want flights (if you don’t have divisions, go to the “All Golfers” division). Simply click on "edit flighted golfers" for the division you want to setup flights in. Then click "add new flight"
Now, simply name the first flight you are creating and click "next"
If you’d like to flight by handicap index, you can organize the players and “sort by” index for your convenience. Click on the players you want in the "A Player Flight" and then click "save flight".
Now the "A Player Flight" is saved. Click on "add new flight" to add the "B Player Flight." You can also create Divisions/Flights/Teams within a specific event. You can do this by going to the Events Menu, selecting the event, and then "Manage Event Division/Flights/Teams". When adding a division, flight, or team list here, it can only be used for that specific event. Need some more info on teams, divisions, and flights? The following are some supporting articles that will help. Divisions or Flights? Team-based Leagues So now you have all the basic ingredients for your league to make it operational. Players, course, events, teams, flights, divisions, and league setup. Check out the GLG 102 article for information on what else you SHOULD be doing to build a successful league.
