SUPPORT · UPDATED 2026-07-23

Help & Support

Most answers live on this page. If a question here doesn't match what the app does, email us so we can fix it: support@matrixgolf.app.

Getting started

Matrix is an iPhone app, iOS 17 and up, in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Dutch, and Swedish. Apple Watch is supported as a companion, in English and Spanish (the watchOS app was called Caddiewatch in earlier builds).

The app isn’t on the App Store yet. We’ll post the link here when it is. If you’re on the TestFlight invite list you already have it.

What makes Matrix different: it turns your golf group into a league. Peñas, scheduled outings, real formats, season standings, Ryder-style cups, and live leaderboards anyone can watch from a link. Underneath you get the full toolkit: GPS, plays-like distances, green maps, a full scorecard, handicap, and deep stats (including your real shot pattern on real holes, if you import launch monitor data).

Account

Sign in / sign up. Sign in with Apple is one tap. Email + password works too: we send a six-digit confirmation code to verify the address. In the app there’s no magic link; the code is the only thing you ever type.

Your account on the web. matrixgolf.app/login signs you into the same account from a browser: Sign in with Apple, Google, or an emailed sign-in link. The email also carries a six-digit code you can type instead, handy if the link opens on another device. Once in, matrixgolf.app/account shows the email you’re signed in with, your Pro status, and a form to redeem codes.

Reset your password. Settings → Account → Reset password. We email you a six-digit code; type it into the app. The code is single-use and short-lived.

Change your email. Settings → Account → Change email. We send a confirmation code to the new address before the change takes effect.

Delete your account. Settings → Account → Delete account. Your avatar and photos are gone within seconds; the rest of the deletion cascades behind that. There is no undo. See Privacy for the full mechanics.

Free vs Pro

What’s free. Signing up, the onboarding, importing your launch monitor data (or loading sample data), and your first full shot-map hole preview. You can see the product do its thing with your own numbers before paying anything.

What Pro adds. Every hole and every club on the shot map, Strokes Gained everywhere, saved strategies, use during a live round, sharing and export, and more sessions.

Pricing. A 7-day free trial, then a yearly or monthly plan. Exact prices show in the app and are billed by Apple. There is no lifetime tier.

Earn Pro holes free. Invite friends and you earn Pro holes at your home course. Settings → Home course & Pro holes shows your progress.

Redeem a code. Got a Matrix promo or Pro code? Redeem it at matrixgolf.app/account, signed in with the same account you use in the app. What the code grants (Pro time, or Pro holes at your home course) applies to your account right away. If a code answers that you already have Pro, it isn’t used up: redeem it again once your current access ends.

Restore purchases. Settings → Subscription → Restore pulls your purchase history from the App Store.

Cancel or manage. Subscriptions are managed by Apple: iPhone Settings (the system one) → your name → Subscriptions → Matrix. Cancelling during the trial means you pay nothing.

Web subscription

Subscribe on the web. You can also get the Pro subscription at matrixgolf.app/premium: 49.99 € per year or 9.99 € per month, in euros, with a 7-day free trial. After the trial, the plan renews automatically each year or month until you cancel. The price shown at checkout is the price charged.

How it links to your app account. You sign in before you pay, and the subscription attaches to that Matrix account. Open the app, sign in with the same account, and Pro unlocks there automatically.

Manage or cancel. Web subscriptions are managed on the web, not through Apple. Open the subscription portal, enter your payment email, and follow the sign-in link it sends you: from there you can cancel, change the payment method, or download invoices. Cancelling stops the renewal; you keep Pro until the end of the period already paid. Cancelling during the trial means you pay nothing. Every receipt email carries the same management link.

Refunds. Something wrong with a charge? Email support@matrixgolf.app within 14 days of the charge and we’ll sort it out.

Web and App Store are separate bills. If you already subscribe through Apple, don’t also subscribe on the web (or the other way around): both unlock the same features and you’d be paying twice. Cancel one before starting the other.

Reading the hole view

The hole view packs a lot into one screen. Here’s every element, top to bottom.

The aim line. The green line from tee to pin is your plan for the hole. Drag any node to change it; yardages update as you move. Each segment shows a distance chip.

The club next to the distance (like “151y · 7i”). That’s the club whose average total distance, from your imported shots, lands closest to that segment. Load your launch monitor data and it’s really yours; with sample data loaded it reflects the sample bag. You can override it with the club picker.

The PLAYS compass. Tap it to toggle plays-like mode. Distances gain a small superscript (like +12): the difference between the tape-measure yardage and what the shot actually plays, accounting for elevation, wind, and temperature. The arrow in the compass shows wind direction.

The tan number near a bunker or water (like “244”). Carry distance: the yards needed to fly the near edge of that hazard from your position.

Elevation tags (▲16ft, ▼50ft). How much the ground rises or falls along that part of the hole. Uphill plays longer, downhill shorter; plays-like mode folds this in.

The dashed box or circle around your aim point. Your dispersion: the area your imported shots actually cover with that club (one standard deviation). Off the tee it’s a sector; on approach it’s a circle. If the box overlaps a bunker, that bunker is in play. That’s the point.

Strokes Gained labels. Small values by each aim node estimating how many strokes that decision gains or loses versus the baseline for your handicap. Based on published Strokes Gained baselines, adjusted to your level.

The small number by the flag in the hole bar (like ”○ 14”). Stroke index: the hole’s difficulty ranking on the scorecard, 1 hardest to 18 easiest. It decides where handicap strokes are given in net formats.

The tee selector (“339 yds”) switches tee sets, and the arrows move between holes.

The right-side icons toggle each overlay on or off: aim line, elevation labels, hazard carries, pin-side distance, Strokes Gained, dispersion, your plotted shots, and the green map.

The green thumbnail (bottom right). Opens the full green view. See Green maps.

Shot map & launch monitor import

Settings → Launch Monitor Data.

1. Pick units (yards / metres for distance; yards / feet / metres for side).
2. Import a CSV with columns Club, Type, Target, Total, Side.

We don’t promise compatibility with a specific brand: if your launch monitor exports something close to that shape, it works. SkyTrak, Trackman, and Garmin R10 exports have been tested informally. There is no live Bluetooth link; import is by file.

Sample data. The Load Sample Data button seeds a realistic 13-club bag (about 130 shots) so you can try everything without your own numbers. It’s always labelled as sample data.

Why do my plotted shots land short of my aim? Shot dots are anchored to where you’re standing, not to your aim point. If you pick a club that averages 150 and aim at 170, the cloud lands short on purpose: that’s the app showing you the mismatch.

Stats, Strokes Gained & handicap

Handicap Index. Calculated the World Handicap System way: your best 8 score differentials from the last 20 rounds (with sensible fallbacks when you have fewer). It tracks your official index closely but it is not a replacement for one issued by your club or federation.

Score differential. What your round was worth after adjusting for the course’s difficulty (course rating and slope). Two 85s on different courses can be very different differentials. Your index is built from these, not from raw scores.

The skill constellation (Skills tab). Every bubble is one part of your game expressed as a handicap: what your index would be if your whole game looked like that skill.

• DRV driving · APP approach · PUT putting · SCR scrambling (saving par after missing the green) · PEN penalties · SCO scoring · GIR greens in regulation · PAR par-3 performance
• A bubble worse than your index sits with a red ring (weakness); better sits green (strength). In the example of a 15.0 index with APP 7.3, that player approaches like a 7; with DRV 19.3, they drive like a 19.

Focus this week. The skill with the biggest gap above your index, in other words the biggest leverage for lowering scores. The bar shows how far it sits from your index in handicap points. Tap through for the full detail.

Performance Index. The same idea as a chart: skills below your index line are strengths, above are weaknesses.

Match Play Index. Every hole scored as a match against the course on net score: win the hole +1, halve 0, lose −1. The index is your average holes up (positive) or down (negative) per round, overall and split front 9 / back 9. Positive means you’re beating the course net.

Handicap table columns.

• Current: your index today (best 8 of last 20).
• Best: your lowest index ever.
• SVA: score value average, the mean of your recent differentials, a steadier “how I usually play” number.
• Anti: your worst-10-of-25 average, a realistic bad-day number.

GIR / FIR. Greens in regulation (green reached with two putts left for par) and fairways in regulation (tee shot finishing in the fairway on par 4s and 5s).

Green maps

Courses with the Green Maps badge have hole-by-hole green terrain: an elevation heat map (blue low, green high) and hillshaded contours, so you can read the slope before you get there. Tap the green thumbnail in the hole view, or the flag icon in the toggle rail.

Not every course has green maps or full surface outlines yet; holes without them still get distances, satellite imagery, and scoring.

Rounds

Start a round. Tap Start round on the Play tab. Pick a course, pick a tee, set the format if you’re playing with others, hit Start. A solo round drops you straight into scoring; you can still add players mid-round from the in-round menu.

Score per hole. Each hole shows par + your strokes + putts; tap to set a number. The next hole advances when GPS detects you’re on it (or tap forward manually).

Finish a round. Tap Finish. The summary shows totals, the Strokes Gained breakdown, and any photos. The round is saved.

Edit after the fact. Open the round from your profile. Strokes and putts are tappable; edits persist.

Delete a round. Round detail → top-right menu → Delete. Confirms once.

Round privacy. Three settings: just you, followers only, public. Default is public for new accounts; change the per-round setting at finish, or your default in Settings → Privacy.

Scorecard photo import

When you didn’t track live, snap the paper card.

1. Home → Add round from scorecard.
2. Pick the date (last 30 days).
3. Pick the course (mandatory: we need par and stroke index to validate).
4. Pick the tee.
5. Take or pick a photo, then upload.

About a minute later you get a push that your scorecard is ready to review. The review screen shows the 18-cell grid prefilled, with low-confidence cells highlighted; tap to correct any cell and save. The result is a real round, identical downstream to a live-tracked one.

If the photo couldn’t be read you get a different push, with the options to retry or enter the round manually.

Games, peñas & competitions

Games. Every round is a game. Solo is a one-player game; you can add friends, add guests by email, split into flights, and pick a format: medal, Stableford (classic or modified), or skins (classic or birdie). Match play exists too, as team cups (below). Each participant has their own scorecard; anyone in a flight can score for anyone in that flight.

What do the formats mean? Every screen that names a format carries a small info button with a plain-language explanation of all of them: how Stableford points work, how skins carry, how match play is decided. Tap it whenever a format is new to you.

Guests. A guest doesn’t need an account: the host adds them by name, they get scored like anyone else, and their results stay on the record. If they later sign up, their history attaches to the new account.

Peñas. Your golf society inside the app: a named group with members, so organizing doesn’t start from zero every time.

Outings. A scheduled event for a peña: date, course, format, and player list. Upcoming means it hasn’t started; sign-ups may still be open or the start hasn’t been triggered.

Joining an outing (players). New outings appear in Your outings on the Play tab and arrive as a notification. Open one to answer in or out; you can change your answer until sign-ups close. Once the field is set you’ll see your flight, or in a cup session your match: who you play, who your partner is, and the strokes given or received. On the day, just score your flight as usual.

Running an outing (organizers). Schedule it with a course, date, and sign-up deadline: every member is invited and answers in or out. On match day, arrange flights in the lobby (random, by similar handicap, or an even mix); cup sessions use pairings, set by you and the captains. Start from the lobby, or let the first recorded score put the round live. Everyone in a flight can score for anyone in that flight, so you don’t have to play to run the day. When the golf is done, finish and confirm the results. Any admin or organizer can do this, not just whoever created the outing, and counted outings update the league table on their own. Reschedule from the outing screen, or cancel it from the ⋯ menu: the field is notified, the outing stops counting, and a cancelled cup session voids its matches. The same guide lives in the app behind the ? on your peña’s Outings header.

Leagues. Season-long standings across outings. Points per finish; the league settings decide whether all outings count or only your best N.

Cups. Team competition in the Ryder style: the peña splits into two named teams with captains, then plays sessions of matches: singles, fourball, foursomes, or greensomes. A won match scores its points, a halved match splits them, and the first team past half the total lifts the cup. Captains and organizers set the pairings; everyone else just shows up and plays their match. The cup board shows settled points plus a live projection while matches are out on the course.

Invite players. Profile top-right or in-game Add player → share a QR code (in person) or a link. Links open the app; friends without the app land on a page that helps them install it first.

Share it. Games, leagues, and cups all produce share links: a live leaderboard for a game, the order of merit for a league, the team board for a cup. Anyone with the link follows along in the browser, no app or account needed. Look for the share icon on each screen.

Game chat. Photos and short notes attach to the game and appear per hole for every participant. There is no standalone inbox; chat lives inside the game.

Apple Watch

The Watch is a companion. Rounds always start on the phone (that’s where formats and players live).

No active round on the wrist shows a gate screen asking you to start on the phone. With an active round, you get the satellite hole map, distances, club picker, scoring, and hill-shaded green.

Watch ran out of battery mid-round? Score on the phone; the round is synced. The Watch picks up when it wakes.

Courses & offline

Coverage. A worldwide library of tens of thousands of courses, searchable by name or city, sorted by distance from you.

Offline. Course data is downloaded and cached on your phone, so an active round keeps working without signal. Download the course while you have connection (opening it once is enough).

Missing detail on some holes. Surface outlines (fairway, green, bunkers, water) aren’t universal. Holes without them still get GPS distances, satellite imagery, and full scoring; hazard markers fall back to single points.

Wrong course data? If pars, tees, or hole layouts look wrong, email us the course name and what’s off. Same for a course you can’t find.

Cloud sync

When you sign in, your profile, rounds, launch-monitor history, bag configuration, and handicap stay in sync across devices. Sync runs at app start, when the app returns to the foreground, after you finish or edit a round, and on demand via Settings → Sync Now. Edits on different devices reconcile per hole; the most recent edit wins.

Sign out and back in? Local data is wiped at sign-out. Signing back in pulls everything down again.

Notifications

Per-channel controls live in two places:

• In the app, Settings → Notifications.
• On the web, every email we send carries a footer link to your preferences page, no login required.

Channels you can turn off: new followers, likes and comments, scorecard ready, game invites and joins, round started, round summary, launch-monitor imports, team assignments and pairings, trial reminders, and promotions. Account-security emails stay on.

Privacy & data

The short version: we don’t sell your data, don’t run ads, and don’t load third-party tracking pixels on the website. Round visibility is under your control per round and by default. Full mechanics on the Privacy page.

Troubleshooting

GPS distances look off. Check that Matrix has location permission set to While Using with Precise Location on (iPhone Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Matrix). Tall trees and buildings can degrade accuracy for a few seconds.

Plays-like numbers look strange. Plays-like needs fresh weather; without a connection at the course it falls back to the last data it saw. Toggle the PLAYS compass off to read raw yardages.

No club suggestions on segments. Suggestions come from your imported shot data. Import a CSV (or load sample data) under Settings → Launch Monitor Data.

Scorecard photo push never arrived. Check Settings → Notifications → scorecard ready channel, and iPhone-level notification permission. The review link also appears in the app when processing finishes.

Your sign-in link expired or was already used. Request a new one at matrixgolf.app/login. Every sign-in email also includes a six-digit code you can type on that same page instead of tapping the link.

Purchases not recognized. Settings → Subscription → Restore. If it persists, email us with your App Store receipt.

Paid on the web but the app still shows free. Your subscription is attached to the Matrix account you were signed in with when you paid. Sign in to the app with that same account and sync (Settings → Sync Now). Still showing free? Write to us from your account email and we’ll take a look.

Sync looks stale. Settings → Sync Now forces a pass. Signing out and back in re-downloads everything.

Watch shows “start a round on your phone” even mid-round: bring the phone and Watch close together, keep the app open on the phone for a few seconds, and the round handshake retries.

Contact