Guides
Charity golf tournament software
A charity outing needs registration, payments, and live scoring on one page — not a tournament-scoring tool with a donate button bolted on. Puttfor has no setup fee; live scoring ships with the event page; the platform keeps 4% + $0.40 on store purchases and team gifts. That is the commercial stack for a committee that runs one scramble a year.
This guide is for the development director or outing chair comparing charity golf tournament software (and outing software) before the course deposit clears. It is not a feature dump and it does not invent field sizes or dollars raised.
What an outing needs that pure scoring tools skip
Tournament-scoring products are built for pairings, handicaps, and a leaderboard. A charity outing still needs those scores. It also needs:
- A public registration path for foursomes and waitlists
- Checkout for entry, mulligans, and team gifts without a second Venmo chase
- A host who connects payouts, so the course is not stuck as merchant of record
- Guests who can chip in without creating an account
- Live scoring that is already on the page when the shotgun starts
Puttfor’s product scope is registration, payments, and live scoring together. Guests can chip in without an account. The host connects Stripe; the course is not the merchant of record. (puttfor.com/how-it-works, puttfor.com/for-courses, puttfor.com/pricing, retrieved 2026-09-14)
If the tool only scores and you still collect checks in a spreadsheet, you bought half the job.
The fee line that belongs in the budget
Price the software line before you print shirts.
Puttfor (charity outing): no setup fee; 4% + $0.40 on store purchases and team gifts; live scoring included with the page. Friends leagues are a separate $12/golfer/season product (up to 12 weeks / 24 players) and do not replace the outing page. (puttfor.com/pricing, retrieved 2026-09-14)
Public event-SKU anchors (same retrieval week):
| Product | Published price (outing / scoring) | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Event Caddy Pro | $299 / tournament (Free $0; Elite $999; Custom URL +$30 on Free) | eventcaddy.com/pricing, 2026-09-14 |
| GolfStatus Live Scoring Only | $299 / event when not processing via the event website (Tech Sponsorship $899) | golfstatus.com/cost-structure, 2026-09-14 |
| Perfect Golf Event Birdie | $347 / event (Eagle $647 / event) | perfectgolfevent.com/plans-pricing, 2026-09-14 |
| LiveTourney Single Event | $199 / event (Live Tourney $2,700/yr; Pro $3,900/yr; includes live scoring, registration, payments) | livetourney.com/pricing, 2026-09-14 |
| BirdEase STANDARD | $299 / event (+ site building $498; payments 3.9%, host as merchant) | birdeasepro.com/buy-now, earlier approved fetch |
For contrast on high-end scoring add-ons: Perfect Golf Event’s Ace plan at $1,297 still pairs live scoring with Golf Genius on that published ladder. (perfectgolfevent.com/plans-pricing, earlier approved)
Honest read: the $199–$347 band is real money in a small nonprofit budget if you have not sold title yet. A no-setup page with included live scoring and a published 4% + $0.40 cut when money moves is a different shape — you are not paying a tournament SKU before the first foursome registers.
Event Caddy’s Free tier is $0, but live scoring sits on Pro and above on their public matrix; Custom URL is +$30 on Free. (eventcaddy.com/pricing, 2026-09-14)
Registration and day-of are the same list
The failure mode is a Google Form, a shared sheet of checks, and a laptop in the clubhouse that is not the same list the marshal has on hole 1.
One event page should be the registration list, the gift path, and the live board. Guests who only want to chip in should not need a full account. Puttfor supports that guest path. (puttfor.com, retrieved 2026-09-14)
Live scoring is not a separate “scoring-only” invoice if it already ships with the page. GolfStatus’s published Live Scoring Only SKU is $299 when you are not processing funds through their event website — useful if you only need scores, expensive if you still need registration elsewhere. (golfstatus.com/cost-structure, 2026-09-14)
Who owns the money
The course should not become merchant of record for your scramble because you borrowed their terminal. On Puttfor, the host connects Stripe; transfers go to the event’s connected account after the platform application fee. (puttfor.com/pricing, puttfor.com/for-courses, 2026-09-14)
BirdEase’s published payments path puts the host as merchant at 3.9% when using their payments product — different MoR framing than a course-as-merchant accident. (birdeasepro.com, earlier approved)
Deductibility depends on the fair market value the golfer receives; your finance lead or counsel should set the language on your receipts. Stop there.
What ranking pages leave out
On a 2026-09-14 light SERP refresh for charity golf tournament / outing software queries, the top hosts were names like Event Caddy, BirdEase, Perfect Golf Event, LiveTourney, and GolfStatus — not a claim about volume, only about who was visible. This page exists to put the fee math and the registration-plus-scoring job in one place without a soft sell.
If you already run a recurring friends league on the side, that is a separate seat product ($12/golfer/season on Puttfor). Do not price your charity outing as a league. (puttfor.com/pricing, 2026-09-14)
Next step
Create the outing page and connect payouts when you are ready: Start your event. For the operator walkthrough without a sales call, read How it works. If you are shopping by job title rather than fee SKU, see golf outing software for development directors. For the side-by-side fee-SKU comparison against published event SKUs, see charity golf tournament software comparison. For committees searching by the registration path — one public page for signup, payments, and the day-of board — see golf outing registration software.