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Let Us Do the Heavy Lifting: Send Us Your Data, We'll Load It In

April 10, 20255 min readAll Posts

Got 20 years of round history in a spreadsheet? A player list in Excel? Don't type it all in by hand. Send it to us — we'll import it for you.

You've Been Keeping Records. We Can Use Them.

Most groups coming to Your Golf Group have been running on spreadsheets, dedicated scorekeeping apps, or paper ledgers for years. Maybe decades. That history matters — and not just for sentimental reasons. It's where your handicaps come from. It's proof of who won the 2019 Championship Medal and who hasn't broken 90 since the pandemic. It's the thread that connects one season to the next.

That history shouldn't disappear just because you upgraded your tools. The good news: it doesn't have to. Send us what you have and we'll load it in. Your leaderboard will be populated from day one, your handicaps will be based on actual round history rather than guesswork, and the 2019 champion will have their title where it belongs — on the record.

What We Can Import

We handle two main types of data imports:

Player List

Your full roster: names, email addresses, member numbers, current handicaps, initial scoring averages, and group assignments. Instead of adding 40 players one by one through the UI (an experience we do not recommend), send us the spreadsheet and we'll load them all at once. Invites can go out in bulk the moment the import is done.

Round History

Past round results: dates, player scores or Stableford points, and group associations. Import one year or twenty — the system ingests it all. Once round history is loaded, handicaps are recalculated immediately based on real data, and the season leaderboard has a proper foundation instead of starting from zero.

Partial Data Is Fine

Even if your records are incomplete or messy — missing some scores, gaps in the date range, inconsistent formatting — send them anyway. Our team can work with partial data. We'd rather have something to work with than start from zero. The messier the spreadsheet, the more time we save you.

Download the Templates

To make the import go smoothly, we provide standard CSV templates. You fill them in from your existing records and send them back. No custom formatting, no guesswork about column names — just the template, your data, and one email.

Download Players Template (.csv)Download Round History Template (.csv)

How to Fill Out the Players Template

The players template has one row per player. Here's what each column means and how to fill it in:

first_name / last_name

Straightforward — but please match the spelling to what the player actually goes by. “Rob” and “Robert” are different people on a leaderboard. If your spreadsheet has full names in one column, split them before filling in the template or note it in the email and we'll handle it.

email

Strongly recommended — required if you want the system to send invite emails. Without an email, the player exists in the system but has no way to log in or self-signup. If you don't have emails for everyone, include what you have and leave the rest blank — we'll create the player records without invites and you can add emails later.

member_number

Optional. If your club uses membership numbers, include them here. They show on admin reports and exports. Most groups leave this blank — don't fill it in just to fill it in.

handicap

The player's current playing handicap as a decimal (e.g., 14.2, 7.0, 22.8). This is their starting handicap in the system. If you're importing round history at the same time, the system will recalculate handicaps based on actual rounds after the import — so this number only matters if you're doing a players-only import without history.

initial_18_hole_avg_points

For Stableford groups only. This is the player's average Stableford points per 18 holes before enough system rounds are logged to calculate an accurate average. Enter it as a decimal (e.g., 34.5, 38.0). If you don't know it and you're sending round history, leave it blank — we'll calculate it directly from the history you provide. If you're not importing history, a reasonable estimate of 34 works for most mid-handicap players.

group_name

Must exactly match the group name in your Your Golf Group organization. Spelling and capitalization matter. If a player is in multiple groups, add multiple rows for that player (one row per group assignment) or note it in the email and we'll sort it out. If the group doesn't exist yet, set it up before sending the import.

How to Fill Out the Round History Template

The round history template has one row per player per round. A 20-player round means 20 rows with the same date and group_name, one per player.

date

Format: YYYY-MM-DD. So January 6, 2024 becomes 2024-01-06. If your spreadsheet has dates in a different format, most spreadsheet apps can reformat a whole column at once — or note the format in the email and we'll handle it.

player_first_name / player_last_name / player_email

Used to match each row to the correct player record in the system. If the player is already in the system (loaded via the players template), we match by email first, then by name. Include email wherever you have it — it makes matching much more reliable. Name-only matching works but can fail if two players have the same name (yes, it happens — every group has two Mikes).

gross_score

The player's actual stroke count for the round (e.g., 84, 91, 76). Optional if you only have Stableford points. For stroke-play groups, this is the primary field.

stableford_points

The player's total Stableford points for the round (e.g., 34, 38, 29). For Stableford groups, this is what populates the leaderboard and drives handicap calculation. If you only have gross scores but no points, include the gross scores and we'll calculate points from handicap data.

group_name

Must exactly match the group name in the system. Same rule as the players template — spelling and capitalization matter.

notes

Optional free text. Use it for anything worth flagging: WD (withdrew), DNS (did not start), “played 9 only,” “guest player,” “score entered from paper card — may be off by 1.” This shows up in the round detail in the admin view and helps explain edge cases.

Send What You Have

You can send just the player list without round history, or just recent history without the full archive, or only the last two seasons because that's all you can find — whatever you have. Partial is better than nothing. We'll load what you send and you can always send more later.
Golf course at golden hour
All those rounds deserve to be on the leaderboard.

What Happens With Your Data

Once we receive your files, here's the sequence:

  1. Players get created and attached to their assigned group(s)
  2. Invite emails go out to players with email addresses on file (if you want them to — just say so in your email to us)
  3. Round history gets loaded into the system, attached to the correct player records
  4. Handicaps recalculate immediately based on actual round history — accurate from day one
  5. The leaderboard populates with historical standings, so the system hits the ground running

After the import, you'll get a confirmation with a summary: X players created, Y rounds loaded, any rows that couldn't be matched (usually due to name mismatches or missing group references) flagged for your review.

Allow 1–2 Business Days

Data import is a manual process performed by our team. Please allow 1–2 business days from receipt of your files to completion. Email your files to support@yourgolfgroup.com with your organization name in the subject line. If your files are large or your data is complex, we may reach out with clarifying questions before proceeding.

Privacy and Security

Your data is encrypted in transit and at rest. We don't sell it, share it, or use it for anything other than populating your account. The player records you send us belong to your organization — they live in your account, under your admin control, accessible only to you and your players. Standard stuff, but worth saying explicitly: your 40-year round history is yours, and it stays that way.

Alternatively: Import It Yourself

If you'd prefer to handle the import yourself, the Import History feature in the dashboard lets admin users upload CSV files directly. It's available in the Reports section and supports the same CSV format as the templates above. You get a dry-run preview before anything is committed, so you can review what's about to be loaded and catch any issues first.

The self-serve route is great if your data is clean and well-formatted. If it's a bit rough around the edges — dates in four different formats, some names with typos, a few mystery entries from 2011 — send it to us and we'll sort it out. That's what we're here for.

Twenty years of data. One email. We’ll do the rest. (We’ve imported stranger things than a golf spreadsheet. Though it was close.)

Ready to get started? Download the templates above, fill in what you have, and send them to support@yourgolfgroup.com with your organization name in the subject. If you haven't set up your organization yet, start here — it takes about five minutes. Create your org, set up your groups, then send us the data. We'll have everything loaded before your next round.

Ready to try it?

Start your group today.

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