Coach Guide
Last updated: May 2026
Features will expand — this guide will be updated accordingly.
Contents
- 1. Getting Started
- 2. Installing BirdieLab on Your Phone
- 3. Bottom Navigation
- 4. Board — Coach Hub
- 5. Team — Leaderboard & Feed
- 6. Intelligent Coach Alerts
- 7. Strokes Gained Analytics
- 8. Player Profiles
- 9. Qualifiers
- 10. Lineups
- 11. Recruiting Pipeline
- 12. Roster
- 13. Rounds
- 14. Practice
- 15. Team Updates / Feed
- 16. Settings
- 17. Tips
1. Getting Started
Setting Up Your Team
When you first log in as a head coach, your team is already created. To get players into the system:
- Go to Settings (tap your avatar in the top corner of any page).
- Under Team, find your Player Code — a short alphanumeric code like
7CHT88. - Share that code with your players. When they sign up and select Join a Team, they enter this code to join your roster.
Your Player Code is also surfaced on the Team tab when no players have joined yet — tap Copy to copy it directly from there.
Players appear in your Team Leaderboard once they have joined and logged at least one round.
During sign-up, passwords require a minimum of 8 characters, at least one uppercase letter, and at least one number.
Inviting an Assistant Coach
BirdieLab supports assistant coaches who share full coaching access to your team. Your team has a separate Staff Code — distinct from the Player Code — that grants assistant coach access.
- Go to Settings → Team and find your Staff Code.
- Tap Copy and share it with your assistant coach.
- Your assistant coach signs up at app.birdielab.net, selects Join a Team, and enters the Staff Code instead of the Player Code.
- They are automatically added as an assistant coach on your team.
Assistant coaches have the same view of player data, alerts, and coaching tools as the head coach. The Player Code and Staff Code are different — make sure you share the right one.
To remove an assistant coach, go to Settings → Coaching Staff, tap the remove icon next to their name, and confirm.
2. Installing BirdieLab on Your Phone
BirdieLab is a Progressive Web App (PWA). You access it through your browser, but installing it as an app icon on your home screen gives you the best experience — full-screen layout, no browser bar, and push notification support.
iOS (iPhone / iPad) — Safari
- Open app.birdielab.net in Safari (must be Safari — other browsers on iOS do not support installation).
- Tap the Share button (the box with an upward arrow) at the bottom of the screen.
- Scroll down and tap "Add to Home Screen".
- Confirm the name (BirdieLab) and tap "Add" in the top-right corner.
- The BirdieLab icon now appears on your home screen. Always open it from there.
Android — Chrome
- Open app.birdielab.net in Chrome.
- Tap the three-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner.
- Tap "Add to Home screen" or "Install app".
- Tap "Add" / "Install" to confirm.
- The BirdieLab icon now appears on your home screen. Always open it from the icon.
4. Board — Coach Hub
When you are logged in as a coach, the Board tab opens the Coach Hub rather than the standard player performance view.
The Coach Hub is a grid of quick-access tiles — your central launchpad for every major coaching function:
| Tile | Goes to |
|---|---|
| Team | Team leaderboard (same as the Team tab) |
| Alerts | Intelligent coaching alerts |
| Strokes Gained | Full team Strokes Gained leaderboard |
| Qualifiers | Qualifier management |
| Lineups | Lineup management |
| Roster | Your full player roster |
| Recruiting | College recruiting pipeline |
| Practice Plans | Create and manage practice plans |
| Courses | Course catalog for your team |
Tap any tile to navigate directly to that feature. The Coach Hub is designed so you can reach any tool in a single tap from your home screen.
5. Team — Team Leaderboard & Feed
The Team tab is your main view into team performance. It combines the team leaderboard with a live team feed, and houses shortcuts to every coaching tool.
Leaderboard
- Players are sorted by scoring average (lowest / best first).
- Use the filter pills at the top to narrow to All, Practice, Qualifier, or Tournament rounds only.
- Each row shows a player's rank, name, handicap index (if set), rounds logged, average score to par, best round, and last-5 average.
- Tap any player row to open their full Player Profile.
From the Team header you can also reach: Alerts, Strokes Gained, Recruiting, Qualifiers, and Lineups. An export button lets you export roster data or standings.
Team Feed
Below the leaderboard, a Team Feed section shows recent updates posted to the team. New (unread) updates are marked with a colored dot. Tap Post to compose a new announcement. Tap View all to open the full feed history.
Players see the same feed on their Team tab and receive a push notification when a new post is published (if notifications are enabled). The 3 most recent posts also appear on the player's Performance Board.
6. Intelligent Coach Alerts
The system automatically scans your roster and surfaces patterns that may need your attention. Tap Alerts in the Team header (or the Alerts tile in the Coach Hub) to view them.
| Type | What it means |
|---|---|
| Putting up | A player's putts per round has risen significantly over their last 3 rounds vs. the 3 before that |
| Scoring up | A player's scoring average has worsened over their last 3 rounds |
| GIR dropping | A player's GIR% has dropped meaningfully over their last 6 rounds |
| Inactivity | A player has not logged a round in 14 or more days |
| No sessions | A player has not logged a practice session recently |
| Comp/practice gap | A player has logged tournament rounds but no recent practice sessions |
Alerts are grouped by severity — High priority (red), Worth a look (amber), and FYI (blue). Tap any alert card to navigate directly to that player's profile.
7. Strokes Gained Analytics
Tap Strokes Gained in the Team header (or the Strokes Gained tile in the Coach Hub) to open the team Strokes Gained leaderboard.
- View the full roster ranked by any SG category using the tabs: SG: Putt, SG: App, SG: OTT, SG: Total.
- Tap a player row to go to their profile.
- Trend arrows (↑/↓) appear when a player has 6 or more qualifying rounds in the last 90 days.
Data requirements:
- 3+ qualifying rounds in the last 90 days for a value to appear.
- 6+ qualifying rounds in the last 90 days for trend arrows.
- Fewer rounds than the threshold shows a dash.
All Strokes Gained values use the last 90 days of data.
8. Player Profiles
Tap any player in the Leaderboard to open their profile. Here you can see scoring average, best round, trend over last 5 rounds, round-type breakdown, shot stats, Strokes Gained, active Targets, Recommended Focus, Player Notes, Mental Performance summary, and the player's last 20 rounds.
Setting Targets
Scroll to the Targets section and tap Add Target. Choose a metric and enter a goal value. The player will see their progress on their own Performance Board.
Available metrics: Scoring Average, Last-5 Average, Putts per Round, GIR %, Fairways %.
Adding Player Notes
Scroll to Player Notes and tap Add Note. Notes are coach-only to write; players can read them on their Performance Board under "Coach Notes."
Viewing Player Scorecards
Scroll to the Rounds section to see the player's last 20 rounds. Tap any round to open the full scorecard. When viewing as a coach, the edit and delete controls are hidden — you are in read-only mode. Only the player who logged the round can modify it.
Per-hole stat chips appear below each hole row when the player logged per-hole data: FW✓ / FW✗ (fairway), GIR✓ / GIR✗ (green in regulation), and putt count.
Recommended Focus
The Recommended Focus card appears on every player profile with at least 3 qualifying rounds in the last 90 days. It analyses Strokes Gained, scoring trends, recent practice history, and at-risk targets to surface 2–3 prioritised practice areas.
Push as Practice Plan: Tap the green button at the bottom of the card to instantly create a pre-filled Practice Plan from the recommendation.
Parent Access
The Parent button in the player profile header generates a private, shareable link for a parent or guardian. The link opens a read-only performance summary — no login required.
- Tap Parent in the player profile header.
- Tap Generate Link.
- Tap Copy Link and send it via text or email.
| Visible | Not visible |
|---|---|
| Player name and team name | Any other player's data |
| Rounds logged | Team standings |
| Practice sessions (last 30 days) | Coach notes |
| Scoring average with trend | Targets |
| Last 5 rounds score list | Mental check-in data |
| Detailed scorecards |
To revoke access: tap Parent → tap Revoke link. A new link can be generated at any time.
Generating a Progress Report
Tap the Report button in the player profile header.
- Set a date range (From / To).
- Add an optional coach note.
- Tap Generate Report.
- Tap Copy Link to share it.
Report links are public (no login required) and remain valid indefinitely. Share with parents, athletic directors, or college recruiters.
9. Qualifiers
A qualifier is a defined window of time in which rounds count toward a specific tournament selection.
Creating a Qualifier
- From the Team tab, tap Qualifiers in the header.
- Tap New (top right).
- Enter the qualifier name, optional tournament name, start date, and end date.
- Tap Create Qualifier.
Multiple qualifiers can overlap — each is completely independent.
How Players Qualify
Players log rounds in the Rounds tab and select Qualifier as the round type. When multiple qualifiers are open, the player sees a picker and must choose which qualifier the round counts toward.
Viewing Qualifier Standings
Tap any qualifier to see live standings. Players are ranked by average score to par across all rounds tagged to that qualifier. Players with no qualifying rounds appear at the bottom.
Building a Lineup from Qualifier Results
Once a qualifier is active or ended, a Build Lineup button appears at the bottom of the standings page. Tapping it creates a new lineup pre-populated in qualifier rank order.
10. Lineups
Creating a Lineup
- From the Team tab, tap Lineups in the header.
- Tap New Lineup.
- Enter the event name, date, and any notes.
Lineups are most commonly created via Build Lineup on a qualifier standings page.
Editing a Lineup
- Tap Add Player to add someone to the lineup.
- Use the ↑ / ↓ arrows to reorder.
- Tap ✕ to remove a player.
- Tap Save in the sticky bar at the bottom.
Sharing a Lineup
Once final, tap Share in the top-right corner. Players will see a card on their Performance Board showing their position number. Tap Shared again to unpublish.
11. Recruiting Pipeline
The Recruiting module is a lightweight CRM built directly into BirdieLab. Tap Recruiting in the Team header (or the Recruiting tile in the Coach Hub) to open it.
Pipeline Overview
The board shows all prospects in one view with a stat bar at the top showing counts by stage. Tap a stage card to filter the list.
Pipeline stages: Watching → Contacted → Visited → Offered → Committed → Signed
Prospects marked Declined are tracked separately and excluded from the active count.
Adding a Prospect
Tap + Add (top right).
| Section | Fields |
|---|---|
| Identity | Full name (required), grad year, handicap index, high school, hometown, GHIN # |
| Contact | Email, phone |
| Academic | GPA |
Set the Priority (High / Medium / Low) and initial Status before saving.
Prospect Detail Page
- Advance the pipeline — tap any stage in the pipeline rail to move the prospect forward; tap Declined to mark as declined, or restore from declined back to Watching.
- Change priority — tap High, Medium, or Low.
- Edit prospect info — tap the pencil icon in the header.
- Log activity — scroll to the Activity section and tap + Add Note.
Activity Log Types
| Type | Use for |
|---|---|
| Call | Phone conversation |
| Email exchange | |
| Visit | Campus or event visit |
| Offer | When an offer is extended |
| General | Any other note |
Filtering and Sorting
Use the status tab strip to filter by stage, and grad year pills to filter by graduation year. Within any filter, prospects are sorted by priority (High first), then alphabetically.
12. Roster
The Roster page gives you a full view of every player in your program, organized by status. Access it from the Roster tile in the Coach Hub.
| Status | Who appears here |
|---|---|
| Active | Current members of your team |
| Alumni | Players who have graduated |
| Inactive | Players removed from the active roster |
Each player card shows their name, handicap index, and number of rounds logged. Tap the → arrow to open their full player profile.
Changing a Player's Status
Tap Move on an active player's card to graduate them (Alumni) or remove them (Inactive). Tap Restore on an alumni or inactive card to return them to active status.
Historical rounds and stats are always preserved regardless of roster status.
13. Rounds — My Rounds
The Rounds tab has two sub-tabs: Rounds (your round history) and Matches (Head-to-Head match play).
Logging a Round
Tap Log Round in the Rounds header.
Step 1 — Setup
- Saved courses — courses your team has added appear here with auto-fill of par and yardages.
- Course search — search the Golf Course API by name to find and auto-fill any course.
- Manual entry — type any course name if it isn't in the catalog or search results.
- Date — defaults to today; change it to log a past round.
- Round type — Practice, Qualifier, or Tournament.
- Holes played — 18 holes (default) or 9 holes.
- Logging mode — During round (hole by hole) or After round (all scores at once).
Step 2 — Scoring
During round: A large display shows the current hole. Use − and + to set your score. Record per-hole stats (Fairway, GIR, Putts) and tap forward/back to navigate holes. Tap Finish Round on the last hole.
After round: A scrollable scorecard shows all holes. Each row has FW✓/✗, GIR✓/✗, and a putts stepper. The Round Stats panel auto-computes totals from hole entries — no double-entry. Tap Save Round when done.
If a game plan exists for the selected course, a Plan button appears in the scorecard header.
Viewing Past Rounds
Tap any round in your history to open the full detail view: hole-by-hole scores, per-hole stat chips, score breakdown, shot stats, hole notes, and mental check-in data.
Head-to-Head Matches
Tap the Matches sub-tab to manage match-play rounds. Tap New Match to set up a match with an opponent, course, and date.
14. Practice — Drill Sessions
The Practice tab opens the Drill Sessions screen. Log your own sessions here and manage team practice content.
Practice Plans
Tap the Plans pill in the Practice header (or the Practice Plans tile in the Coach Hub).
Creating a Practice Plan:
- Tap New Plan and give it a name.
- Add sections — each has a name, time allocation (minutes), and optional coaching note.
- Reorder sections with the drag handle; remove with ✕.
- Tap Save Plan.
Assigning a Practice Plan: Open any saved plan and tap Assign. Select one or more players and tap Confirm.
Drills
Tap the Drills pill in the Practice header.
Creating a Drill:
- Tap New Drill.
- Enter a name, category (Putting, Short Game, Approach, Off the Tee, Mental, Fitness, or Other), and description.
- Optionally add a target metric (e.g., "Make 8 of 10 from 6 feet").
- Tap Save Drill.
Assigning Drills: Open any drill and tap Assign. Select players and tap Confirm.
15. Team Updates / Feed
Team announcements are embedded in the Team Feed section at the bottom of the Team tab.
- Tap Post in the Team Feed header to compose a new announcement.
- Tap View all to see the full feed history.
- Unread updates are marked with a colored dot.
- To delete an announcement, open it and scroll to the bottom for the delete option.
Players receive a push notification when a new announcement is posted (if notifications are enabled). The 3 most recent posts are also previewed on the player's Performance Board.
16. Settings
Accessible by tapping your avatar (profile photo or initials) in the top corner of any page. Settings shows your profile, team codes, team logo, and handicap index.
Team Codes
Under the Team section you will find two codes:
| Code | Share with |
|---|---|
| Player Code | Players joining your roster |
| Staff Code | Assistant coaches joining your staff |
Tap Copy next to either code to copy it to your clipboard.
Coaching Staff
The Coaching Staff section (visible to head coaches only) lists all current assistant coaches on your team. To remove an assistant coach, tap the trash icon next to their name and confirm. Removed coaches immediately lose access to your team data.
Subscription
The Subscription section is visible to the head coach only — assistant coaches are always free and do not have a billing section.
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Pro Trial | 30-day free trial — no charge until the trial ends |
| Pro — Monthly | Active subscription at $79/month |
| Pro — Annual | Active subscription at $749/year (saves $199 vs. monthly) |
| Trial Expired | Trial has ended; upgrade to continue using coaching features |
Tap Manage Billing (active subscribers) or the upgrade buttons (trial/no plan) to access the billing portal or start a checkout session.
Course Catalog
Under Settings → Courses, manage the courses your team uses most often. Search for a course and save it — it then appears in the Saved courses list every time anyone on your team starts a new round. Saved courses auto-fill per-hole par, yardage, and stroke index. You can also add game plans to a course — strategy notes for each hole.
Push Notifications
Push notifications require the app to be installed on your home screen and iOS 16.4+ (or any modern Android).
- Open Settings (tap your avatar).
- Scroll to Notifications.
- Tap Enable.
- When your device asks for permission, tap Allow.
If the button shows Blocked, go to your device's Settings app → Notifications → BirdieLab and re-enable it there.
Security
Scroll to Security to change your password. You must enter your current password first. New password: minimum 8 characters, at least one uppercase letter, at least one number.
Pull-to-Refresh
On pages that show live data (Performance Board, Team Leaderboard, Team Feed, Roster), pull down from the top of the screen to refresh. A green spinner appears while the refresh is in progress.