How Live Leaderboards Make Golf Trips More Fun

How Hole19's Live Play Turned a Golf Trip to France Into a Proper Competition

There's a moment on every golf trip — usually somewhere around the 11th hole — where you have absolutely no idea how the group behind you is doing. Are they flying? Collapsing? Still on the 8th? You just don't know. And that mystery takes something away from the whole experience.

That's exactly the problem Hole19's Live Play feature was built to solve.

Golfer and content creator Dan recently put it to the test on a lad's trip to Château des Ormes in France — and the results speak for themselves. His group finished the week with the team win they'd been chasing for two years. Coincidence? We don't think so. Watch the full video here:

What Is Hole19 Live Play?

Live Play is Hole19's live leaderboard feature, built directly into the app. It lets you set up a group event, track scores in real time across multiple groups, and follow a live leaderboard as everyone makes their way around the course — even if you're not playing together.

Think of it as your own private Ryder Cup scoreboard. Except instead of Rory and Scottie, it's you, your mates, and someone inevitably scrambling out of a ditch on the 17th.

Setting it up is genuinely simple. You open the app, find your course, configure your competition format and handicaps, and then build your groups. Players who don't have the app yet? No problem — you can add them as guests and plug in their handicap manually. Everyone's in.

Once you tee off, the leaderboard updates as scores come in. No waiting until the 19th hole. No relying on WhatsApp messages. Just live, accurate scoring — right there in your pocket.

What Dan Found Playing Château des Ormes

Dan was playing in a two-group format — his pairing up front with Phil and Rich, and a second group behind with Leon and Paul. From the very first hole, they had visibility of the whole picture.

After two holes, Dan's group was one under. The group behind was level par. By the sixth, Dan and Phil had pushed to five under, while Leon and Paul had clawed back to level. By the back nine, with the second group firing a 49-point haul, it had turned into a genuine shootout.

That's the thing about Live Play — it doesn't just tell you what's happening. It changes the way you play. When one of the guys in Dan's group spotted the leaderboard shifting, it created urgency. The second group could see they were chasing. That competitive pressure — the kind you usually only feel in club competitions — was suddenly alive on a holiday round in rural France.

As Dan put it at the end of the round: "When you're away on a trip like this, having that scoring system on the go just keeps you competitive and lets you keep an eye on what everybody's doing. It's just fun to use."

Why This Works So Well for Society Golf and Golf Trips

One of the standout moments in Dan's video is a conversation with one of his playing partners — a society organiser who tried Live Play for the first time on this trip.

His take? It works. Really well. His only concern was whether some of his less tech-savvy members would engage with it. Dan's answer cuts right to it: not everyone needs to use the app. As long as one person per group is tracking scores, the whole group benefits. Pair up the tech-comfortable players with those who prefer to just play, and the leaderboard takes care of itself.

This is one of Live Play's most underrated strengths. It meets golfers where they are. You don't need to force an app onto someone who'd rather focus on their swing. One engaged player per group is enough to keep the competition alive for everyone.

The society organiser left the trip ready to use it at his next event at Tavistock. That's the Live Play effect.

Live Leaderboards Change the Energy of Your Round

Here's what tends to happen when golfers don't have live scoring: the round fragments. Each group exists in its own bubble. You play your 18, convene at the bar, and only then does the drama unfold. The experience lives entirely in that final reveal.

Live Play rewires this. The drama happens in real time — across all 18 holes, for every group. When Dan's group had a rough stretch and dropped a few points, the leaderboard told them exactly what they needed to do to respond. When the second group went on a birdie run, everyone knew. That lift — the collective energy of knowing the whole picture — is genuinely different from anything a paper scorecard offers.

It's the difference between watching a match replay and watching it live.

Getting Started with Live Play

Live Play is free to use — all you need is the Hole19 app downloaded on your device. Set up your event, add your groups, and you're off.

For golfers who want the full Hole19 experience — GPS flyovers with precise yardages, Shot Tracker to log every club, Club Recommendations based on your personal distances, advanced performance stats, and HD course maps — Hole19 Premium takes it further. And right now, you can get 30% off Premium using Dan's link in the video description.

Whether you're planning a society trip, a lad's weekend, or just a competitive Saturday with your regular group, Live Play is the upgrade your golf events have been waiting for.

Download Hole19 for free, set up your leaderboard, and find out what it feels like when every hole matters — for everyone in the group.