A golf trip app for your buddies trip

1. On the Play tab, tap Tourney and create the trip. Give it a name, a single date or a first and last day, a location and an optional buy-in per player.
2. Work through the setup checklist inside the trip. Invite players from your friends, by searching for anyone on Wedge, by texting the invite link, or by adding a guest.
3. Add games. Pick a Ryder Cup, a Classic stroke play leaderboard or side games, and give each one a dollar amount per player out of the buy-in and the number of places it pays.
4. If a game uses handicaps, the Handicaps step lists anyone without an index. They can link GHIN, or you can set the index they play off on this trip.
5. If you added the Ryder Cup, set teams: name the two sides and place each player.
6. Build the schedule. Add a leg for each round, then add tee times. You pick the course for each tee time, the players in each group, and whether the group plays a Ryder Cup match or a group round.
7. Start the tournament from the menu once the checklist is complete. On the day, each group tees off from its tee time, and every board updates as scores are saved.

• Buy-ins. Set one buy-in per player and split it between the games, for example $100 for the Ryder Cup and $150 for Stableford. The buy-in locks once play starts.
• Optional games. Any game except the Ryder Cup can be optional. Players are in unless they opt out, and the choices lock for everyone when the trip starts.
• Payouts. Each game pays one to five places, and tied players split the places they share.
• Teams. The host names the two Ryder Cup teams and places every player, including players who have been invited but have not joined yet.
• Handicaps. Ryder Cup matches use the recommended allowances by format: 100% for singles, 90% for four-ball, 50% of the combined handicaps for alternate shot, and the USGA percentages for a scramble. An official GHIN index always takes priority over an index set by the host.
• Side matches. When a group tees off, it can add a side match such as a Nassau among its players, and Wedge settles it like any other match.

Every trip has an invite link at wedge-golf.dev/join followed by the trip's code. Text it to the group. On an iPhone with Wedge installed, the link opens the trip's join screen, where the player sees the buy-in and picks any optional games. Without the app, the link opens a page with the App Store download, and the player opens the link again once Wedge is installed.

Not everyone on a trip will download an app, and they do not have to. You can add a guest by name with a Handicap Index. Guests need no Wedge account. Whoever keeps their group's card enters their scores, and those scores count on every board. A tee time needs at least one Wedge player in the group, and each alternate shot side needs one Wedge player.

Players who join with their own account follow every board live from their phones, see the schedule and their next tee time, and get a notification when they are invited.

Wedge is free to download. Creating or joining a tournament needs Wedge Pass, which costs $29.99 a year, and new subscribers get a 3-month free trial. Each player who joins the trip with their own Wedge account needs a pass. Guests do not need the app or a pass. Wedge works out the buy-ins and payouts, but it does not collect or pay out money, so the group handles the pot itself.

The guide to running a Ryder Cup on your golf trip covers picking teams, sessions and a sample schedule. For the formats themselves, read the guides to best ball, alternate shot, the scramble, Stableford, quota and skins. To compare trip features with other apps, see Wedge vs TheGrint and Wedge vs 18Birdies.