Privacy Policy

1. Who we are

CIAGA is operated by James Ware, a sole trader established in the United Kingdom (“we”, “us”, “our”). We are the data controller for the personal data described in this policy.

You can contact us about privacy or this policy at privacy@ciagagolf.com (a postal address for service is available on request).

2. Scope

This policy covers the CIAGA web app and marketing website. We process personal data in accordance with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.

3. The personal data we collect

Account & profile

• Your email address and a password (managed by our authentication provider — we never see your password in plain text).
• Your display name and, optionally, a profile photo (avatar).
• Your gender, where you provide it — used only to apply the correct World Handicap System allowance.

Golf & competition data

• Your rounds, hole-by-hole scores and statistics.
• Your handicap index and its history over time.
• Your membership of groups/societies, competition entries, standings and results.
• Society bookkeeping entries — amounts you are recorded as owing or being owed within a group (for example green fees or prize money). CIAGA is a record-keeping tool only: it does not take payments, hold funds or move money. See our Terms of Use.
• Fantasy predictions and the associated virtual points ledger. These points have no monetary value and cannot be exchanged for money or prizes.

Social & user-generated content

• Posts, comments, reactions, mentions and any images you upload to the feed.
• Who you follow and who follows you.
• Reports you submit about content.

Calendar & availability

• Availability and unavailability you record, including any recurring patterns and the "circles" you organise with.

Device & technical data

• If you enable push notifications, a push subscription for your device (a browser-issued endpoint and keys) and your browser's user-agent string.
• Approximate device location — only at the moment you use the "nearby courses" search, to find courses near you. We do not store your personal location.
• Essential cookies and local storage needed to keep you signed in and run the app. See our Cookie Policy.

4. Where your data comes from

Most data comes directly from you or is generated as you use CIAGA. In some cases another member may add you to the app before you join — for example by adding you to a round or inviting you — creating a "managed profile" that holds your name and, if provided, your email address so we can invite you and attribute your golf results.

5. How and why we use your data (and our lawful bases)

Where we rely on legitimate interests, you have the right to object (see section 10). Where we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time without affecting earlier processing.

6. Who we share it with

Your golf and social activity is, by design, visible to other members of the groups you join (for example on leaderboards, the feed and the points-based standings). We do not sell your personal data or use it for advertising.

We use the following trusted third parties ("sub-processors") to run the service. They process personal data only on our instructions:

We may also disclose data where required by law, or to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

7. International transfers

Some of our providers are based in, or transfer data to, countries outside the UK (including the United States). Where that happens we rely on appropriate safeguards recognised under UK law — such as the UK International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum, or a UK adequacy decision — to protect your data.

8. How long we keep it

We keep your personal data for as long as you have an account, and afterwards only as long as needed for the purposes described here or to meet legal obligations. Because CIAGA records shared competitions, some data is retained after you leave — see the next section.

9. What happens when you delete your account

You can delete your account at any time from your profile screen, or by emailing us. Our approach is to store the minimum information possible while keeping shared records intact for the other members who rely on them. When you delete your account:

• We permanently delete your sign-in account and email address, your profile photo, your device push subscriptions, your calendar/availability data, your follows, invitations you sent, your notifications, and any reports you filed.
• We keep the records that are shared with other members — your scores, handicap history, group standings, society bookkeeping entries, fantasy predictions, and the posts, comments and reactions you shared in a group — because deleting them would damage other people's rounds, leaderboards and shared history.
• On those retained records we shorten your name to an abbreviated form (for example, "James Ware" becomes "J.Ware") and detach the records from your account. Deleting whole rounds, removing you from other members' scorecards, or erasing shared feed cards would break those shared records, so we do not do that automatically.

Because a shortened form of your name is retained, this is data minimisation rather than complete anonymisation. We retain these records on the basis of our and other members' legitimate interests in the integrity of shared rounds, leaderboards, seasons and who-owed-what records. If you would like us to go further in a particular case, contact us at privacy@ciagagolf.com and we will consider your request.

10. Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to:

• be informed about how we use your data (this policy);
• access a copy of your data;
• rectify inaccurate or incomplete data;
• erase your data (subject to section 9);
• restrict or object to certain processing;
• data portability — receive your data in a machine-readable format.

You can exercise the main rights yourself in the app: use Download my data and Delete account on your profile screen. For anything else, email privacy@ciagagolf.com. We will respond within one month. There is normally no charge.

11. Cookies

We use only strictly-necessary cookies and local storage. Full details are in our Cookie Policy.

12. Children

CIAGA is not intended for children. You must be at least 18 years old to hold an account. If you believe a child has provided us with personal data, contact us and we will remove it.

13. Security

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your data, including encrypted transport, access controls and a managed authentication provider. No online service can be completely secure, but we work to protect your data and will notify you and the ICO of a serious breach where the law requires.

14. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will update the "last updated" date above and, for significant changes, let you know in the app.

15. Complaints

If you have a concern, please contact us first at privacy@ciagagolf.com. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK supervisory authority, at https://ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.