Getting Started

From signing in to settling your first round.

1. Sign in

FOREPAID uses email magic links — no password to remember.

1. Enter your email on the sign-in screen.
2. Tap Send link.
3. Open your email, tap the link, and the app opens you signed in.

The link works only once. If you wait too long it may expire — just tap Send link again to get a fresh one. If the email doesn't arrive at all, check spam first; if it's still missing, email support@forepaid.app.

2. Set up your profile

Tap your avatar in the top-right to open the Profile sheet.

• Name — your first name and last name. Scorecards show "First L." everywhere except the Profile and Friend Search screens.
• @username — an optional handle so friends can find you instantly. Once you set one, anyone adding players to a round can search you by @username instead of hunting by name or email.
• Gender — used by Russ to address you naturally during play. Pick male, female, non-binary, or prefer not to say.
• Avatar — optional. Tap the photo to upload or replace.
• Home course — pick a course you play often. Used to pre-fill new rounds.

3. Pick your Russ

Russ Golfcaster is the live commentator FOREPAID drops into your foursome. He announces every player to the first tee by name, calls your birdies, and roasts your blow-ups — no setup required.

The one choice that's yours is how hard he goes. You set a trash-talk level on the Pick Your Russ screen while setting up a round (or ahead of time under the YOUR RUSS section on Profile):

• Friendly — good-natured, no hurt feelings.
• Spicy — locker-room energy.
• Nuclear — full send.
• Uncensored — adults only; the round host turns this on.

Any player can mute Russ on their own phone at any time, and the host can adjust his level mid-round. For the full breakdown, see Russ.

4. Set your handicap

One number, entered during profile setup. Whatever you currently play to. Plus-handicaps (like +1.4) are supported. You can update it anytime — but it locks for the duration of each round once you tee off.

5. Add your payment handles

On Profile, add the handles you use to send and receive money — Venmo, Cash App, Zelle, or any combination.

These appear on the Settle screen when someone owes you. Your friends tap the handle to pay you directly through that app. FOREPAID never touches the money — we just route the buttons.

6. Start your first round

When you tap New Round, you're the host of that round. The host picks the course, the tees, the players, and the games. Joiners come in with whatever the host set — settings lock the moment you tap Start.

Tap New Round from the home screen.

1. Course. Search by name. If your course isn't listed, tap Request this course — we'll add it within a day or two.
2. Tee. Pick Black, Blue, White, Red, or whatever your course offers. The tee determines the Course Rating^™ and Slope Rating^® used for your net score.
3. Players. Add up to three friends. Search by name, email, or @username if they already have FOREPAID, or add a ghost player by name only (useful when your buddy doesn't have the app yet).
4. Pick your Russ. Set the trash-talk level for the whole foursome — Friendly, Spicy, Nuclear, or (host only) Uncensored. Anyone can still mute Russ on their own phone.
5. Pick a game. Choose a preset (Easy Money, Real Money, All the Smoke) or tap Custom and pick the games yourself. See Games & Bets for what each game does.
6. Tap Start Round. You're on hole 1.

Ghost players

A ghost player is someone you add to a round by name only — useful when your buddy doesn't have FOREPAID installed (yet) or doesn't want to.

• Their scores are tracked exactly like anyone else's. Anyone in the round can type them in.
• The wager engine treats ghosts like real players — they can win skins, lose Nassau segments, all the math runs the same.
• At settle time, debts involving a ghost still show up on the Settle screen, but the Venmo / Cash App / Zelle buttons stay grey since there's no account to deep-link to. You and the ghost handle that payment the way you usually would.
• If your ghost later signs up for FOREPAID and wants past rounds linked to their new account, email support@forepaid.app with their name and we'll connect the history.

Host-only powers

• Cancel the round. Only the host can stop a round in progress. If you cancel, every other player is notified immediately.
• Change Russ's trash-talk level mid-round. Tap the Russ icon on the Score Entry toolbar to dial him up or down. The new level applies to everyone right away.
• Resolve ghost-player scores. Ghost players don't have a phone in the round, so any player can enter their scores — but if a conflict comes up, the host has final say.

7. If you're joining someone else's round

When a friend invites you to a round, you'll get a push notification (if you've granted notification permission) and the round will be waiting for you on the home screen the next time you open the app.

Accepting the invite

1. Tap the invite on your home screen, or tap the push notification.
2. Confirm you want to join. You'll land on the Waiting for Host screen.
3. When the host taps Start Round on their phone, your screen automatically navigates to Score Entry on hole 1. You're in.

What you can do as a joiner

• Enter scores for yourself or for anyone else in the round.
• Mute or unmute Russ on your phone (independently from everyone else).
• See the live scorecard, GPS distances, and Russ Says feed.

What only the host can do

• Cancel the round.
• Change the games or stakes (those lock when the host taps Start).
• Change Russ's trash-talk level for the group.

8. During the round

Entering scores

The Score Entry screen shows one hole at a time, one row per player. At the top you'll see the hole number, par, yardage, and stroke index. Each player's row has:

• Their name and handicap.
• A Par button — tap once to set their score to par for that hole.
• A − button and a + button to step the score up or down.
• The score chip, which colors and shapes itself based on the result: a green circle for a birdie, a filled green circle for an eagle, a gold trophy for a hole-in-one, a hollow crimson square for a bogey, a concentric crimson square for a double, and a solid crimson chip for a triple bogey or worse.

Swipe left or tap the chevron to move to the next hole. Swipe right to go back.

The Review & Settle button appears at the bottom only once every player has a score for every hole.

Anyone in the round can enter anyone's score. Cart partner shooting? Phone in the bag? Your buddy can type your scores in. The app records who entered which.

Resolving conflicting scores

If two phones enter different scores for the same hole, a yellow ⚠️ appears on every device for that cell. Only the score-owner — the player whose score it is — can resolve it.

1. Tap the ⚠️ to open the resolution sheet.
2. The sheet shows both values and who entered each.
3. Tap Confirm to keep your own value, or Revert to take the other player's.

Every edit is logged. The editor's initials show as a small badge on the scorecard cell, so you can always see who typed what. This is intentional — it lets the cart-mate / forgot-my-phone case work cleanly while still giving the score-owner final say.

Russ

Russ chirps in at key moments — birdies, snowmen, segment closeouts, round wrap. The host picks Russ's trash-talk level (Friendly, Spicy, Nuclear, or Uncensored) at round setup, and can dial it up or down mid-round.

Mute Russ on your phone by tapping the speaker icon on Score Entry. Your mute is independent — it doesn't affect anyone else.

For the full Russ breakdown, see Russ.

First-tee intros

When scoring opens on hole 1, Russ announces every player to the first tee by name — your group's signature start. No setup needed.

GPS distances

If your course has GPS geometry, distances appear on the Scorecard. Tap the GPS pill on the Scorecard header to open the hole layout.

9. After the round

When every hole is scored, tap Review & Settle from the Score Entry screen.

• Review shows the full scorecard with everyone's gross, net, skins won, and the money standings per game.
• Settle shows pairwise debts — "Bryan owes Martin $35" — with a pay button that opens Venmo (or Cash App or Zelle) pre-filled with the amount.
• After the money moves, tap Mark Paid. That's bookkeeping only — it records the obligation as settled.
• Tap Share scorecard to send the round to your group chat. It generates an image and a link to forepaid.app/r/<your-round>.

For the full settle-up flow, see Settling Up.