Parbook Golf · last updated October 8, 2026
Parbook Golf ("Parbook", "we") is a golf app for tracking rounds, stats and leagues, and for sharing them with friends. This policy explains what we collect, why, who we share it with, and the choices you have.
Account. Your email address (to send sign-in codes), your name and @handle, an optional profile photo, and, if you add one, a phone number. We store only a one-way hash of the phone number, used to match you with friends who have you in their contacts. Optional payment handles (Venmo, Cash App, PayPal) you add for match settle-ups. When you sign up we ask the year you were born to check you're old enough; we don't keep the year, only that the check was done, and when you accepted our terms.
Profile. Your goal score, handicap settings, the clubs in your bag and their distances, and, if you add it, your home area (a town or county, used to show nearby events). Your profile picture has a public web address, so it can show in messages, emails and share pages; anyone with that address can see it, and copies may stay in browser caches for a while after you change it.
Rounds and golf data. Scores, putts, fairways, penalties, playing partners' names and scores you enter on your card, practice sessions, and, when you use shot tracking, where each shot started and finished on the course.
Location. While you use the app, it uses your phone's precise location to show nearby courses, yardages, the hole map and weather, and to detect shots. We save shot positions with the round. Tee times you create store the course's location. Background location (iPhone and Android): only if you turn on spoken yardages (Pro) and allow it (on iPhone, location "Always"), the app keeps reading your location with the screen off during a round, so it can speak yardages with the phone in your pocket. It stops when the round ends or you turn spoken yardages off; on Android a notification shows while it's on. Those background readings are used on your phone and aren't sent to us. We don't track your location outside a round.
Apple Watch and Apple Health (optional). On Apple Watch, Parbook records each round as a golf workout in Apple Health. While the workout runs, the watch measures your heart rate and active energy (calories) as it does for any workout, and they're saved with the workout in Health. Parbook asks to read those so the workout is complete, but doesn't copy them out of Health: your Health data stays on your devices, is never sent to our servers, and is never used for advertising, sold, or shared. The watch sends your phone only your scores, putts, the hole you're on and where your shots were. The watch also reads its motion sensors on the watch to notice your swings.
Swing analysis (optional). When you analyze a swing, the video is sent to our server, which finds your body position in each frame. We keep the traced body points, the scores, and five small still pictures of the swing; the video itself is deleted after processing and stays only on your phone.
Motion sensors (optional). If you turn on swing listening, the phone's motion sensors are read on the phone to detect swings. The readings stay on your phone.
Contacts (optional). If you choose to find friends from your contacts, phone numbers are hashed on your phone and only the hashes are sent for matching. We don't store your address book.
Scorecard import (optional). When you import a scorecard photo or a file, it's sent to our server and to an AI provider (see below) along with the golfer name you typed, so the AI can read the scores. We keep the rounds you save, not the photo.
Social. Friend requests, friendships, claps, comments, the messages you send in chats, reports and blocks. Tee times and who's in them. Live rounds: with "Show friends my round while I play" on (Settings), your score so far, the course and hole you're on show on your friends' Feed while you play, and are removed when you finish. Private rounds are never shown.
Leagues, events and matches. The leagues, events and matches you join, and the scores you post to them.
Purchases. If you buy Parbook Pro or a League pass, Apple, Google or Stripe handles the payment. We receive the subscription status (plan, renewal date), not your card details.
Notifications. A push token for each phone you sign in on, and your notification and email settings.
GHIN (optional). If you enter a GHIN number, we use it to look up your handicap index.
Server logs. Like most websites, our servers log each request: your IP address, the page or address asked for, the time, and your browser or app version. We use the logs to keep Parbook running and secure, and keep them only for a short period.
To run the app: sign you in, save your rounds, calculate stats and handicaps, show your rounds to the people you choose, send notifications and reminders you've turned on, deliver messages, run leagues and matches, keep Parbook safe (handling reports, stopping abuse), and provide Pro features. We don't sell your data, we don't share it for advertising, and we don't use it for advertising.
These companies process data for us, only to provide their part of Parbook:
| Service | What for | What it gets |
|---|---|---|
| Railway | Hosting our servers and database | Everything stored in your account, and server logs |
| Resend | Sending email (sign-in codes, notifications you've turned on, receipts) | Your email address and the email's contents |
| Expo, Apple Push Notification service, Google Firebase Cloud Messaging | Delivering phone notifications | Your phone's push token and the notification's text |
| Stripe | Web payments for Pro and the League pass | Your email, payment details (entered with Stripe, never seen by us), and what you bought |
| RevenueCat | Checking App Store and Google Play subscriptions | Your account ID and your store purchase records |
| Apple App Store, Google Play | In-app purchases, app downloads and updates | Your purchases, under your Apple or Google account |
| Google (Gemini) and Anthropic (Claude) | AI: the caddy, the round analyst, and reading scorecard photos and files | What that answer needs: the hole, conditions, clubs and distances, your handicap, scores; for imports, the photo or file and the golfer name you typed. Never your email or phone. Their own terms cover how long they keep it |
| Esri (World Imagery) | Satellite pictures of courses in the web app | Your IP address and which map area you're looking at |
| Apple Maps (iPhone), Google Maps (Android) | Satellite maps in the phone app | Your IP address and the map area, under Apple's or Google's own privacy terms |
| Open-Meteo | Weather and wind | The location of the course or where you are, sent from your phone (or our server for tee time alerts), without your identity |
| YouTube (Google) | Drill videos | Your IP address when a video's picture loads, and the usual YouTube data once you tap play (the player loads only then) |
| OpenGolfAPI | Course search, scorecards and tees | Search words and course IDs, from our server only |
| OpenStreetMap (Overpass) and Nominatim | Hole maps, hazards and place names | Course areas and names, from our server only |
| U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) | Elevation and lidar for green slopes and plays-like | Course locations, from our server only |
| GHIN (USGA) | Looking up your handicap index, if you add your GHIN number | Your GHIN number, from our server only |
Fonts on parbookgolf.com are served by us. Some maps and videos load directly from these services in your browser or app, so they see your IP address like any website you visit.
Rounds are visible to your friends by default. You can make any round private, or change the default in Account and privacy. Other players can find you by your name or @handle. Messages are visible to the people in that chat. League scores and names are visible to that league. A swing, round or cup is visible to anyone with its share link only if you create or turn on that link. Course reports and map fixes you send are shown to all golfers (without your email).
Data is sent over encrypted connections (HTTPS) and stored on our hosting provider's servers.
We keep your data while you have an account. Download: in the app, Me → Settings → Account and privacy → Download my data gives you a copy of your account data as a file. Delete: in the app (Me → Settings → Account and privacy → Delete account), or on the web at parbookgolf.com/delete-account. That deletes your profile, rounds, stats, shot and swing data, friends, direct messages and notifications right away. Scores you posted to a league stay with that league, no longer linked to you, and course information you contributed for all golfers stays. Copies in backups and logs go away within a short period.
Parbook isn't directed to children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect personal information from them. Sign-up asks for a birth year and doesn't create an account for anyone under 13. If we learn we've collected a child's information, we delete it. If you're a parent and think your child has given us information, email support@parbookgolf.com or use parbookgolf.com/delete-account, and we'll delete it. League organizers can add players to a league by name; they're responsible for not adding a child's name without a parent's permission.
You can change what you share in Settings, turn off notifications and emails (every email has an unsubscribe link), download your data, and delete your account. Depending on where you live you may have more rights, such as asking what we hold about you or correcting it; write to us and we'll help.
If we change this policy, we'll update this page and the date above, and for big changes we'll tell you in the app.
Questions about privacy, or a request about your data: support@parbookgolf.com.