Privacy Policy | Pitch & Putt Ireland

1. Introduction

We respect your privacy and are committed to safeguarding your personal information. This Privacy Policy outlines how we collect, use, and protect your data when you interact with our pitch & putt organisation, whether as a member, player, volunteer, or visitor to our website.

2. Information We Collect

We collect the following personal information to support our operations and services:

Your name, email address, phone number, year (or date) of birth
Postal addresses of officials
Membership details and competition participation records
Any other information you provide when registering, signing up for events, or engaging with our organisation
Player profiles, including scores, handicaps, and rankings (which may be publicly displayed unless otherwise requested)
Photos and achievements you add to your player profile, and the players you choose to follow
Scores and shot by shot stats you enter on the online scorecard or in Track Stats
The names of guest players on an online scorecard, and the email address of any guest who chooses to leave one
Questions you ask our rules or help assistant

For former members, we may retain a record of their name and registration number for identification purposes if they rejoin, but this will not be linked to other personal details.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your personal data to:

Administer membership records and competition entries
Communicate with you regarding events, club activities, and organisational updates
Maintain historical records of competition results and rankings
Comply with legal and regulatory obligations

We use your data because:

You are a member, and we need it to run your membership and competition entries
Running the sport needs it, for results, handicaps, rankings and player profiles
We are required to by law or by the sport's governing bodies

4. Data Security & Encryption

We take data security seriously and have implemented protective measures:

Encrypted Storage: Your personal information (such as contact details) is encrypted in our database using AES-256 (Advanced Encryption Standard) to ensure that even if data were accessed unlawfully, it would remain unreadable.
Limited Access: Only authorised NEC members or staff with a valid reason can access individual records.
Public Player Profiles: Competition results, handicaps, and rankings may be displayed publicly, but personal contact details will not be made available. The public profile shows your name, club, registration number, photo (if you add one), ranking and recent results, and may link to news articles on this website that name you. Your full results, stats, handicap history, honours and targets are only visible to you and Pitch & Putt Ireland staff. Photos and achievements you add are checked by staff before they appear. The players you follow are private.

5. Data Retention & Former Members

We retain personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil its original purpose. Our retention policy includes:

Active Members: Personal data is retained while membership is active.
Former Members: Names and registration numbers may be kept for up to 10 years for identification purposes if they rejoin, but no other personal details (such as email, phone, or DOB) will be stored beyond the necessary retention period.
Competition Data: Historical competition results, including names, may be retained indefinitely for statistical and historical purposes, unless a request for removal is made.
Data Deletion: Upon request, we will delete or anonymise personal data that is no longer required unless legal obligations prevent immediate deletion.

6. AI Services

Some features use Claude, an AI service run by Anthropic:

Score Card Scanning: Club and competition administrators can photograph a score card to read the scores. The photo, including the player's name and scores, is sent to Claude to read. An administrator checks every score before anything is saved. The photo is not stored.
Rules and Help Assistant: Questions you ask are sent to Claude to answer. We keep each question and answer with your account or registration number, so we can see how the assistant is used and what it costs. If you ask without logging in, we also keep your IP address for 30 days to limit misuse, and then delete it.

7. Online Scorecard

Rounds played on the online scorecard are saved with the names of everyone on the card, including guests. A casual round never changes your handicap or results, but its scores can appear in the stats on your player profile.
Guests can choose to leave an email address after a round. It is kept with the club where the round was played.
While you play, your scores are kept in your phone's browser until they reach our website, so they are not lost if you have no signal. The scores are removed from your phone once they reach our website. A copy of the scorecard page is also kept on your phone so it opens without signal.

8. Data Sharing & Third Parties

We do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information. Your personal data is only shared:

With authorised club admins who require access to manage affiliation and registration
When legally required (e.g., compliance with governing sports bodies or law enforcement requests)
With service providers who run parts of the website for us: Anthropic (score card reading and the rules and help assistant), Cloudflare (website security and delivery) and Google (Analytics and website fonts)
Live Inter-County results, including players' names and scores, are shown on an external live leaderboard website

9. Your Rights

Under applicable privacy laws, you have the right to:

Access the personal data we hold about you
Request corrections if your information is incorrect or incomplete
Request deletion of your personal data (subject to legal and competition record obligations)
Object to processing in certain circumstances
Restrict processing in certain circumstances
Receive your data in a common format
Change your mind about anything you agreed to, at any time

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at office@pitchandputtireland.ie.

You can also complain to the Data Protection Commission at www.dataprotection.ie.

10. Cookies & Tracking

We may use cookies or similar technologies to enhance your browsing experience and analyse website usage. You can manage cookie settings in your browser. The cookies we set are:

Login and security cookies, needed for the handicap system to work
my_reg_number: remembers the registration number you enter on the homepage, for up to a year, to show your handicap. Questions you ask the help assistant on the website are linked to that number.
my_club_id: remembers your club, for up to a year
A profile cookie that remembers which version of the player profile you use

When someone visits https://www.irishpitchandputt.ie, we use a third-party service, Google Analytics, to collect standard information and details of visitor behaviour patterns. This is done to find out things such as the number of visitors to various parts of the website. This information is processed in a way which does not identify anyone. If we do want to collect personally identifiable information through our website, we will be upfront about this and explain what we intend to do with it.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy periodically. Any significant changes will be communicated via our website and email updates to members.

Last updated: 28th Oct 2026

12. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

Email: office@pitchandputtireland.ie
Address: Irish Sport HQ, National Sports Campus, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15