Finding and joining a round

Find a round shows rounds other golfers are hosting that still have space. You can join some straight away and ask the host for a place on others.

Finding rounds near you

Open the Play tab and tap Find a round. Golf Buds searches near a course you choose, near your current location if you allow it, or near your home course. It starts with your travel radius from your profile, and you can change the distance to 10, 25, 50, 100 or 150 miles, or Anywhere in the UK.

You can also filter by:

• When: today, tomorrow, this weekend, the next 7 days, or dates you choose
• Time of day: morning, afternoon or evening
• Open spaces: how many places are still free
• Only rounds I can join: hides rounds whose handicap range does not include yours
• Region or town

Results are sorted soonest first, or nearest first when Golf Buds knows where to measure from. Once a round’s tee time has passed, it no longer appears in search.

Before you can join

You need a verified account to join a round or ask for a place. If yours is not verified yet, the round shows:

Verify your email to continue.

The app offers to resend the verification email from the same place. Verifying your account has the details.

Instant join and Host approval

Each round shows its joining policy.

Instant join Tap Join round and you have a confirmed place straight away.

Host approval Tap Send request, with an optional message to the host of up to 250 characters. The host approves or declines it. Until then, the round shows that your request is waiting for the host to respond, and you can withdraw it. A request the host has not answered by tee time expires.

Why a round may not accept you

If the host has stopped taking new joins, the round shows:

The host isn’t taking new requests for this round right now.

The host can start taking joins again later, so it may be worth checking back. You also cannot join a round when:

• you are the host of it
• the host has cancelled it
• it has already started
• it is full
• it is an Instant join round and your handicap is outside its range

On a Host approval round, a handicap outside the range does not stop you. Your request still goes to the host, who decides. If you have chosen No handicap, the handicap range never stops you joining.

Leaving a round

To give up your place, open the round and tap Leave this round. You lose your spot, and the round does not count toward your playing history.

If you are the host and need to leave, you can hand the round to one of the confirmed golfers on it, so the round goes ahead without you. You can also cancel the round instead.