Settling Up

How money moves at the end of a round.

On this page

How settlement works
FOREPAID doesn't hold the money
Paying through Venmo, Cash App, or Zelle
Marking debts paid
The three post-round phases
When a bet voids — no money moves
If someone leaves mid-round (DNF)
Finishing a round early
If a score or settlement looks wrong
What FOREPAID doesn't do

1. How settlement works

When the last score lands, the Score Review card opens on the host’s phone. You can get back to it any time with the green Review Scores button. The review shows the full scorecard. Tap Settle Up and FOREPAID works out the pairwise debts.

FOREPAID Review Scores for The Minikahda Club, White tees: a note to tap any score to fix it, Stats logged on 1 of 18, the scorecard grid with yards, par and handicap rows and each player’s scores, and a green Finish Round button

The Score Review card. Tap any score to fix it, then tap the green button below to move on.

Pairwise means every bet runs between every pair of players. In a foursome, your Nassau with Bryan is a separate bet from your Nassau with Ravi. Six pairings in a foursome total.

At settle time those pairwise debts net out and you see one number per pair.

Friendly rounds skip all of this. If you played with no wager, there's nothing to settle. The button reads Finish Round instead of Settle Up, there's no ledger and nothing to mark paid, and your Golfcaster keeps it money-free. You go straight to the recap.

Example

You won the Front 9 vs Bryan ($5). Bryan won the Back 9 vs you ($3). The Overall tied. Bryan won a $2 skin.

Net: Bryan owes you $5 − $3 − $2 = $0. You're square.

2. FOREPAID doesn't hold the money

We don't have a wallet. We don't sit between you and your friends. The actual money moves from your friend's Venmo (or Cash App or Zelle) directly to yours. FOREPAID tracks who owes whom — that's it.

This is intentional. Holding money would mean we'd be a regulated money-transmitter — which would mean fees, KYC checks, and a slow payout. Instead we route you straight to the apps you already use to pay your friends, and the transfer takes seconds.

3. Paying through Venmo, Cash App, or Zelle

On the Settle screen, each pair has one Settle up button. Tap it and FOREPAID asks How was this settled? Pick one:

Venmo opens Venmo with your friend, the amount and a “FOREPAID round” note filled in. Confirm the payment in Venmo.
Cash App opens your friend’s $Cashtag page with the amount filled in. Confirm the payment in Cash App.
Zelle (copy …) copies your friend’s Zelle email or phone to your clipboard. It doesn’t open Zelle, so send it from your bank app. When you come back to FOREPAID, it asks Did the payment go through? Tap Yes, mark settled once it has.
Paid in cash marks it paid.
Already settled marks it paid when you squared up some other way.

FOREPAID Settle Up, net down $190, with the How was this settled? dialog for a guest: You owe Tucker $70, with Paid in cash and Already settled buttons

Settling with a guest. There’s no payment app to open, so the choices are Paid in cash or Already settled.

Which options appear

Venmo shows if your friend has added a Venmo handle, and you’re the one who owes.
Cash App shows if they’ve added a $Cashtag, and you’re the one who owes.
Zelle shows if they’ve added their Zelle email or phone.

If a method is missing, your friend hasn't added that handle. They can add it under Profile → Payment methods, and it shows up the next time the Settle screen loads. You can always pick Paid in cash or Already settled.

4. Marking debts paid

When you come back to FOREPAID from Venmo or Cash App, it asks Did the payment go through? Tap Yes, mark settled, or Not yet to leave it open. Paid some other way? Use Paid in cash or Already settled. The pair then shows as paid, like “Paid · Venmo”.

Marking a debt paid is bookkeeping only. It doesn't move money. It records that the debt is settled so both players see it cleared on the Settle screen.

Already squared up in person? The host can tap Everyone's settled up, then Mark all paid, to mark every remaining pair paid and close the round.

FOREPAID Settle Up with the Mark all pairs as already settled? confirm, which marks every remaining pair paid and closes the round and can’t be undone, a Mark all paid button, and the Everyone’s settled up and Settle up later rows below

Everyone’s settled up asks once before it marks every pair paid. It can’t be undone.

Waiting on a payment? The host can tap Settle up later. The round closes and moves to History with an Unsettled chip. Open it from History anytime to mark the debts paid.

Marking a debt paid can’t be undone in the app, so double-check before you tap. If you marked one by mistake, email support@forepaid.app with the round details.

5. The three post-round phases

After hole 18, every round moves through three phases. Each phase has its own write rules. The host (round creator) drives the screens, and the whole foursome's screens follow. The first payment marked by anyone locks the scores.

A — Reviewing. All 18 holes are scored but no money has been paid yet. Anyone can still edit any score. The Settle screen recomputes live every time a score changes.
B — Locked. The first debt marked paid freezes the ledger. Scores become read-only. Money is the receipt, so we don't let the math change after dollars have moved. If a payment was marked by mistake, email support@forepaid.app.
C — Closed. Every pair has paid. The round is permanent and shows in History as completed. Nothing editable.

The hard re-confirm rule: if a score gets edited AFTER the host has opened the Settle screen but BEFORE any debt is marked paid, the host's view kicks back to Review with a "Scores changed — re-confirm" banner. The host has to walk the scorecard again before re-opening Settle. This prevents the race where a number changes between review and payment. You can't pay against stale math.

6. When a bet voids — no money moves

Some round outcomes mean the bet doesn't settle at all. The Settle screen makes these clear so you don't wonder where the money went.

Tied pairs and segments. Nassau segments, Match Play, Stroke Play, and Wolf all settle pairwise — when a pair (or a segment) ends level it shows All square (or Tie on that line) and no money moves between those two players, but everyone else still settles. A tie never voids the whole round.
Skins carry that never resolves. If skins are still carrying when the round ends (a tie on the last hole, or nobody made par or better on a par-or-better game), that carried pot refunds. You'll see a Skins bet voided note on the Settle screen.

7. If someone leaves mid-round (DNF)

Sometimes a player has to bail before 18 — work emergency, kid sick, lightning closed the course. FOREPAID handles it with a DNF (did not finish) mark.

The forfeit rule

DNF works two ways, depending on the game:

Per-hole games (Skins, Match Play, Wolf, a match-style Nassau segment) — a DNF hole is a forfeit: the hole goes to whoever’s still in.
Total-score games (Stroke Play, Pot, a medal-style Nassau segment) — a player can’t post a fair 18-hole total with holes missing, so the DNF player is excluded from that game’s settlement (a medal segment containing a DNF voids for that pairing) rather than hit with a made-up worst score.

Marking DNF

Long-press a player’s row on the score pad and confirm DNF — or just step their score below 1 with the minus button, which offers the same confirm. The hole locks with a gold “DNF” label instead of a stroke count. You can DNF yourself or a guest any time; another real player only while their cell is empty (the classic “picked up and walked in” case).

If a player has to leave for the rest of the round, mark each remaining hole DNF so the round can settle. The settle button doesn't unlock until every player has either a score or a DNF for every hole.

What about the rest of the round?

The other players keep playing. Their wagers settle normally based on the scores of whoever's still in. The DNF player owes the forfeit amounts but doesn't score anything more after they're out.

8. Finishing a round early

Cut it short? The host can end a round before the last hole from the ☰ menu: tap Finish at Hole N (N is the last hole scored). That opens the Score Review card. Tap Settle Up (or Finish Round) to close it out, or Keep Playing to go back. Finishing is different from Cancel: cancelling throws the round away, while Finish closes it out and settles what you actually played.

Settlement runs on the holes played. Unplayed holes simply don’t count, and nobody forfeits. Most games settle over those holes as usual: Skins, Wolf, Snake, Match, Stroke, Pot, Pot Skins, Four-Ball, Scramble and Vegas. There are two exceptions:

Nassau: any segment (Front 9, Back 9, or Overall) whose holes weren’t all played voids. No winner, no money for that segment.
FOREMajors: any major whose holes weren’t all played voids and its pot refunds. That includes the Crimson Jacket.

An early-finished round earns a “Partial” chip in your History, and your Golfcaster signs off with a “calling it here” wrap instead of the full-round close.

9. If a score or settlement looks wrong

Before tapping Settle Up, the score-owner can edit any score from the Scorecard, and any change updates everyone’s standings in real time. If two phones ever submitted different numbers for the same hole, a resolve sheet lists every conflict at review time — the score’s owner (or the host) picks the right value before the money can finalize.

Once a round is settled, scores lock to preserve an audit trail. If you spot an error after settlement, email support@forepaid.app with:

The course and date
The names of the players
Which score is wrong and what it should be

We can void the round on the back end so the group can re-enter it. We don't ever change individual scores ourselves — that has to come from the players in the round.

10. What FOREPAID doesn't do

We don't take a cut. The stake your group agrees to is the stake that moves. FOREPAID's revenue comes from the subscription (Monthly or Annual), not from your wagers.
We don't lend money. If someone owes more than they can pay, that's a conversation between you and them.
We don't issue tax forms. The amounts are personal friend-to-friend transfers. Handle taxes per your own situation.
We don't extend credit. Every settlement is between two people who already played the round together.

Still stuck on a settlement? Email support@forepaid.app with the round link from your share screen and we'll walk through it with you.