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Privacy Policy

This policy explains what information SwingShare collects, how it's used, and the choices you have. SwingShare is a community golf course tracker — you can browse course ratings without an account, or register to log your own rounds and contribute ratings.

1. Information we collect

We collect different information depending on how you use the app:

What	When	Why
Email address	Registration	Account login, password reset, verification
Username & display name	Registration	Identifies you to other users on shared content
Password	Registration	Account security (handled entirely by Firebase Authentication — we never see or store your raw password)
Courses, rounds, scores, ratings	When you log a round	Core app functionality — your personal golf history
Private notes	When you write them	Personal notes only visible to you
Public notes	When you write them	Shown to other users as part of community course reviews
Round photos	When you add them to a round	Shown on your round and, if you set the photo to public, on the course's community page
Home country, home course, handicap	Optional profile fields	Stored privately; not currently shown to anyone or used elsewhere in the app
Feedback submissions	When you use the feedback form	Bug reports and suggestions, reviewed by us
Course corrections & reports	When you suggest a correction or report content	Crowd-sourced data quality and moderation

2. What's public vs. private

Some information you enter is visible only to you, and some is visible to other users or the public:

• Private (you only): private notes, your full round history, your home country/course/handicap.
• Visible to other logged-in users: your display name and username alongside any public notes, ratings, or course suggestions you submit; your scores and ratings contribute anonymously to community averages.
• Visible to everyone, including logged-out visitors: aggregated course ratings and the overall star rating, and any photo you have marked public. Logged-out visitors cannot see who left a review, only that "N users reviewed this course."

Each photo you add has its own setting — public, friends, or private — which you can change at any time from the round it belongs to. Photos default to public.

3. Promotional use of public content

Content you have chosen to share publicly — public round photos, public notes and reviews, and course ratings — may also be used by us to promote SwingShare outside the app. That includes our social media accounts (such as Facebook, Instagram, X and similar platforms), our website and app-store listings, screenshots, newsletters, and other marketing or press material.

When we do this:

• We only ever use content that was public at the time we used it. Anything you have set to friends or private — including private notes, friends-only photos, hidden scores, and your home country, home course and handicap — is never used for marketing.
• Content may appear alongside your username or display name (the same attribution shown in the app), the course name, and the rating or review text. We never publish your email address, and we don't use your account details for anything else.
• Once material has been published to a third-party platform such as Facebook or Instagram, that platform hosts its own copy under its own terms. Changing a photo to private, or deleting your account, removes the content from SwingShare, but we may not be able to remove copies already published or reshared elsewhere.
• You can opt out at any time. Setting a photo to friends or private, or removing a public note, keeps it out of any future marketing use. If you'd like us to take down something already used, contact us with the in-app Feedback button and we'll remove it from material we control.

4. How we store your information

SwingShare is built on Google Firebase. Your account credentials are managed by Firebase Authentication, and your data is stored in Firebase's Firestore database. We do not run our own servers and do not store your data anywhere outside of Firebase's infrastructure.

5. Third-party services

To provide map and course-search functionality, SwingShare sends limited information to the following third-party services as you use the app:

• Map tiles (OpenStreetMap, Esri/ArcGIS, OpenTopoMap, CyclOSM) — these receive the coordinates of the map area currently in view as you pan and zoom, in order to display map imagery. No account information is sent.
• Photon (komoot.io) — receives your search text when you search for a golf course, in order to return matching locations.
• BigDataCloud — receives coordinates (e.g. when you place a course pin) to look up the corresponding place name and country.

These services operate under their own privacy policies, which we encourage you to review. We do not send your email address, name, or any other account information to these services.

6. Email communications

We use Firebase Authentication's built-in email system to send account verification links and password reset emails, and we email you about activity on your account (such as friend requests, likes and comments) according to your notification settings. We do not send marketing emails, and we do not share your email address with other users or third parties.

7. Your choices

• You can edit or remove your private notes, profile fields, and email address at any time from your Profile page.
• You can mark custom courses you create as private, so they are never shared with other users.
• You can set any photo, and your score, to friends-only or private, which also keeps it out of the promotional use described in section 3.
• You can permanently delete your account at any time from your Profile page. This removes your profile, your logged courses and rounds (including private notes), and your public contributions to community course ratings. Past suggestions, content reports, and feedback you submitted remain in our records in anonymized form, consistent with how most community platforms handle moderation history — they are no longer linked to an active account of yours.

8. Content moderation

Public notes and custom course names pass through an automated filter intended to catch common profanity. You can report any community note you find inappropriate; notes that receive multiple reports are automatically hidden pending review.

9. Children's privacy

SwingShare is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under the age of 13 (or the relevant minimum age in your jurisdiction).

10. Contact

If you have questions about this policy, or wish to request access to or deletion of your data, please reach out using the in-app Feedback button.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time as the app evolves. We'll update the "Last updated" date above when changes are made.

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Terms of Use

These terms govern your use of SwingShare. By creating an account or using the app, you agree to them. If you don't agree, please don't use SwingShare.

1. Your account

• You must provide a valid email address to register, and confirm it through the verification link we send.
• You're responsible for keeping your password secure and for all activity under your account.
• Unverified accounts cannot log rounds or add courses until the email is confirmed.
• You may delete your account at any time from your Profile page. See our Privacy Policy for what happens to your data when you do.

2. Acceptable use

You agree not to:

• Submit false, defamatory, or misleading course information, ratings, or reviews.
• Post content that is unlawful, harassing, hateful, or sexually explicit.
• Impersonate another person, or misrepresent your affiliation with any course or organisation.
• Use automated tools (bots, scrapers) to create accounts, submit data, or access the app outside of normal browser use.
• Attempt to interfere with, disrupt, or gain unauthorized access to the app or other users' accounts.
• Submit suggested corrections or reports in bad faith to vandalize community course data.

3. User-generated content

SwingShare lets you submit course details, ratings, photos, public and private notes, and suggested corrections ("Content"). You retain ownership of the Content you submit.

By submitting public Content (public notes, ratings, course details, scores, and photos you have marked public), you grant SwingShare and its other users a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to display, aggregate, and use that Content within the app — for example, your public notes may be shown to other users, and your ratings contribute to community averages shown to everyone, including logged-out visitors.

You also grant SwingShare a non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide licence to reproduce, adapt (for example by cropping or resizing), and publish that same public Content in material promoting SwingShare — including posts on our social media accounts such as Facebook, Instagram and X, our website and app-store listings, screenshots, newsletters, and press material. Such use may show your username or display name as attribution. We may only use Content that is public at the time of use; see section 3 of the Privacy Policy for how to opt out and what happens to material already published.

By uploading a photo you confirm that you took it or otherwise have the right to grant this licence, and that anyone identifiable in it consents to it being shared publicly and used as described above.

Private notes, and photos you have set to friends-only or private, are not licensed to anyone else and are never used in promotional material.

You're solely responsible for the Content you submit, and confirm you have the right to share it.

4. Content moderation

Public notes and custom course names pass through an automated filter for common profanity. Any user can report a community note as inappropriate; a note that receives multiple reports is automatically hidden pending review. We may remove, hide, or edit any Content, and suspend or terminate accounts, at our discretion if we believe these terms have been violated.

5. Community-suggested corrections

Course details such as type, features, and sub-courses can be corrected by community consensus — when enough users independently submit the same correction, it's applied automatically to the shared listing. We don't pre-screen these changes; if you believe a course's details have been incorrectly changed, you can submit a counter-suggestion or contact us via Feedback.

6. No professional advice

Course ratings, handicap fields, and other information on SwingShare are submitted by users and are provided for general informational purposes only. We don't verify the accuracy of course details, ratings, or reviews, and nothing on SwingShare constitutes professional, legal, or commercial advice.

7. Service availability

SwingShare is provided on an "as is" and "as available" basis. We don't guarantee the app will be uninterrupted, error-free, or available at all times, and we may modify, suspend, or discontinue any part of the service without notice.

8. Third-party services

SwingShare relies on third-party services for maps, search, and location lookups (see our Privacy Policy for details). We're not responsible for the availability, accuracy, or content of these third-party services.

9. No warranty of accuracy

Course details, ratings, reviews, scores, handicaps, and all other information on SwingShare are submitted by users and may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect. SwingShare does not verify, endorse, or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information on the site, including information that has been corrected through the community-suggestion system described above. You use this information at your own risk.

10. Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, SwingShare and its operators disclaim all liability, and will not be liable, for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or exemplary damages or losses — including but not limited to lost time, lost bookings, travel costs, or any other loss — arising out of or relating to:

• your use of, or inability to use, SwingShare;
• any inaccuracy, error, or omission in course information, ratings, reviews, or any other content on the site, whether submitted by users or otherwise;
• reliance on any information found on SwingShare; or
• any loss or damage incurred by you or by any third party as a result of content posted on, or actions taken based on, SwingShare.

This limitation applies regardless of the legal theory of liability (contract, tort, negligence, or otherwise) and applies to losses suffered by users of the site and by third parties alike. Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability that cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.

11. Termination

We may suspend or terminate your account if you violate these terms. You may stop using SwingShare and delete your account at any time.

12. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. Continued use of SwingShare after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated terms.

13. Contact

Questions about these terms can be sent using the in-app Feedback button.