ParClubParClub vs a spreadsheet
A spreadsheet, or a build that does the sums.
A spreadsheet is free, it's yours and everyone can open it. What it can't do is the sums. After every meeting somebody sits down with the cards and works out the penalties, the divisions and both tables by hand. A build does it as the cards go in.
Written by ParClub. Updated 30 September 2026.
After every meeting
What the spreadsheet leaves for you to do by hand.
Four jobs that land on the secretary once the cards come in, and what a build does with each one.
| The job | In the spreadsheet | In the build |
|---|---|---|
Penalty shots | Look up last season's winners, take their shots off, and remember whose have run out. | Win or finish runner-up and you lose shots for the rest of the season and all of the next. The build takes them off when a result is published, and drops them when they run out. |
Divisions | Sort the field by handicap, find the middle, split it and rank each half. | The field splits by handicap on the day. Each half gets its own winner and runner-up. |
The season table | Pick out each member's best three finishes from the meetings that count, add them up, sort again. | Kept for you. Publish a meeting and the table moves. |
The second table | Do it all again over a different run of meetings, with the penalties handed back. | Worked from the same cards, penalties handed back. No card is entered twice. |
Every row is live for a real society.
Being straight with you
What the spreadsheet does well.
It's free. It's yours. Anyone on the committee can open it, and nobody has to learn anything new. For a handful of mates who play a few times a year and keep no season table, that is all you need, and we won't pretend otherwise.
It stops being free when there's a season to keep and rules with conditions. Then it costs the secretary's evenings instead of money, and it only works for as long as the one person who understands it keeps doing it.
Keep the spreadsheet if
- you're a handful of mates with no season table
- your rules fit on the back of the card
- whoever does the sums is happy doing them
Think about a build if
- someone does the sums by hand after every meeting
- your rules have conditions: penalties, divisions, a second table, weight for age
- you'd like the next secretary to inherit something that runs
Moving across
Your members come across. The spreadsheet stays yours.
Your member list and handicaps come across from Excel, Numbers, a CSV or Airtable. Past results don't, so keep the spreadsheet as the record of the years before.
- Members and handicaps from Excel, Numbers, CSV or Airtable
- Members keep their own details up to date
- You choose what members see of each other
- Annual subs: paid, due or waived, with the bank reference
Playing with mates, not running a society?
You don't need a build. The ParClub app works on its own, with over 2,900 UK courses already loaded.
More about the app →
Our spreadsheet works. Why change?
Because one person keeps it working. Think about who does the sums after each meeting, and what happens the year they stand down. A build applies the same rules as the cards go in, with nobody doing the sums, and the next secretary takes over something that already runs.
Can you bring our old results across?
No. Your members and their handicaps come across. Past results and trophy history stay in the spreadsheet, so keep it.
What if the build doesn't match our spreadsheet?
You'll know before you pay the balance. The build is checked against your own results, and the balance isn't due until it has run a real competition of yours and you've signed it off.
We play four rounds over a weekend. Can it cope?
Yes. Four rounds over two days, with members playing anything from one round to all four. Set how many rounds count (say, the best two of four), so a player who misses a round isn't out of it. It's built and ready for your fixtures.
Do all our members need the app?
No. The secretary can enter any card in the portal, hole by hole or just the totals, and members without the app still appear on the start sheet, in the results and in the tables. Those who want the app get it free.
We just play with a few mates. Do we need any of this?
No. A build is for a society with rules of its own. For a game with your mates, use the ParClub app on its own, on iPhone and Android. Get the app.
Keep the spreadsheet. Stop doing the sums.
Send us your spreadsheet and your hardest competition. We'll tell you straight whether we can build it.
Your club uses HowDidiDo? Read ParClub vs HowDidiDo.