How to Run a Tournament in SimCap

Tournaments in SimCap belong to a group. Only the group Creator or an Admin can create and manage them. If you don't have a crew yet, set that up first: How to Invite Friends and Start a Group.

Before you start

1. Open Social.
2. Select the group under My Groups.
3. Scroll to Tournaments.

A group can only have one active tournament at a time. If something's already running, you'll manage that one instead of creating another.

Create a tournament

Tap Create Tournament and walk the short wizard. The first step asks for a Tournament name, then the format.

Format — all four

Pick one:

• Stroke Play — total strokes win. Players log rounds; lowest average net over the tournament wins.
• Match Play — single-elimination bracket seeded by SimCap index. Win holes to advance. Needs an even number of players between 2 and 30.
• Scramble — everyone hits, the team plays the best shot. One team score per hole. Needs at least 4 group members.
• Best Ball — everyone plays their own ball; lowest score on each hole counts for the team. Needs at least 4 group members.

Who's playing?

Right after you pick a format, you'll choose who's actually in this tournament. Every group member is checked by default — uncheck anyone sitting this one out. Larger groups get a search field and a Select all / Deselect all toggle. SimCap validates your selection live against the format's requirements (an even headcount for Match Play, for example) before letting you continue.

Scramble / Best Ball extras

You'll choose players per team (2–5 presets when they divide evenly, or Custom), then assign teams — auto-assign by handicap snake draft, or drag people manually. For Scramble, each team also needs a Designated scorer — see Scorekeeping, by format below.

Settings

Set start date, end date, and — for formats that use them — how many rounds count toward standings (default 4). Holes per round — 18 holes (full round) or 9 holes (Front or Back). For Match Play, picking 9 holes also asks which nine (Front or Back) — that's locked in for the whole bracket so every matchup compares the same holes. For Scramble and Best Ball, teammates just need to actually play the same nine when they submit scorecards; SimCap checks for that rather than fixing it up front. Use SimCap handicap defaults to on and adjusts with each player's effective handicap when the format uses it. Optional notes field is there for course, tees, putting mode, whatever your crew needs to remember.

Match Play skips the "rounds that count" control and shows the seeded bracket instead (#1 = lowest index).

Review the summary and tap Launch Tournament.

Scorekeeping, by format

Every format gets scores into the tournament from the same place — the regular Log a Round screen — but who's allowed to enter what is different for each one:

• Stroke Play — everyone just logs their own rounds. No shared scorecard.
• Match Play — no shared scorecard between opponents either. You enter your own hole-by-hole gross scores, your paired opponent enters theirs separately, and SimCap compares both sides to decide who won each hole. If you've finished and your opponent hasn't, you'll see an "awaiting opponent" status — that's normal.
• Scramble — the whole team plays one ball, so there's only one score per hole. Only that team's Designated scorer (picked at setup) can open the scorecard and enter it. Make sure whoever's actually keeping score for your foursome is the one set as scorer.
• Best Ball — no single scorekeeper. Every player logs and enters their own round, same as Stroke Play. SimCap automatically keeps the best score per hole among teammates who played on the same date — if teammates play on different days, their rounds won't be combined for that comparison.

How players enter scores

1. Log a round as usual from the center tab.
2. If you're in an eligible active tournament, you'll see Apply this round to [name]? — Yes / No (defaults to Yes).
3. What happens next depends on format:
   • Stroke Play — the round counts toward standings right away (net = gross minus handicap when handicap is on).
   • Match Play / Scramble / Best Ball — you're sent to a Tournament scorecard to enter all the hole scores for that round (9 or 18, depending on how the tournament's set up). Pending cards don't count until you finish them; you can Finish later and come back from the banner.

If your hole-by-hole total doesn't match the gross score you first logged, that's fine — tournament standings use the hole totals, while your SimCap index still uses the gross score you logged.

Best Ball rounds count toward your SimCap index like a normal round. Stroke Play tournament rounds do too.

Standings and managing

The active tournament card on Social shows format, days left, and a preview, plus See full standings →. Stroke / Scramble / Best Ball rank by low net from each player or team's best counting rounds. Match Play uses the bracket itself as the standings.

Past tournaments for this group live in a collapsible Past tournaments list on the same Social screen — tap to expand and each one shows its date range and who won (or the bracket champion for Match Play), then tap through for the full final standings.

Manage tournament (Creator/Admin) lets you rename, extend the end date, end early, or delete. You can also:

• Match Play — regenerate the bracket, if it failed to generate at launch or you need to reseed before any results are recorded. Once any match has a result, this option disappears — a completed match can never get wiped out by a reseed.
• Stroke Play — add or remove players after launch. Removing someone doesn't erase rounds they already logged (those still count), it just stops them applying new ones. Adding someone lets them start applying rounds right away; earlier rounds aren't backfilled.

Team rosters in Scramble, Best Ball, and Match Play still don't edit after launch — if those need to change, create a new tournament.

Tip: prefer a start date of today or earlier. Future start dates can make the event look weird in the Social list while still blocking you from creating another active one.

Want to tie multiple tournaments into one points race? See How to Run a Season in SimCap.

Full how-to list: How-to hub.