Where the money comes from — and goes
A typical society day has money flowing in several directions at once:
- Entry fee — everyone pays in; it covers golf, food and the prize fund.
- The prize fund — pays out to the day's winners, and often a nearest-the-pin and longest-drive.
- Side games — skins, twos and sweeps that players opt into for a small stake.
- The charity pot — many societies round up or add a small levy for a nominated cause.
Individually each is simple. Together, across a dozen or more players, they turn into a tangle nobody wants to unpick at 6pm.
Step one: give every player one balance
The trick is to stop thinking about each pot separately. For each player, add up everything they put in (entry fee + every side-game stake) and everything they won (prizes + skins + twos). Subtract one from the other and each person ends the day as a single number: a net payer or a net receiver.
Every pound paid in is a pound paid out somewhere. If you add up all the net-receiver amounts and all the net-payer amounts, they should cancel exactly. If they don't, a stake or a prize has been missed — a useful built-in check.
Step two: net it down to the fewest transfers
Now the clever bit. Rather than having everyone pay everyone — which is dozens of tiny transfers — you match the biggest net payer to the biggest net receiver, move money until one of them is settled, and repeat. With ten players you can usually clear the entire day in a handful of transfers instead of thirty. Fewer payments means fewer "did you ever send me that £4?" messages next week.
Step three: keep a record
Whatever you do, write it down: who paid whom, how much, and what the prize fund and charity pot now stand at. A society's money is trust money, and a transparent record — visible to members, not just the treasurer — is what keeps that trust. It also makes the year-end accounts a five-minute job instead of an archaeology dig.
How Caddro does it automatically
Caddro Society tracks every entry fee, side game and prize as you run the day, then settle-up nets it all down to the fewest transfers and shows each member exactly who they pay and how much — with a plain-English AI recap you can post straight to the group chat. Behind it sits a transparent society ledger with a monthly view and Excel export, so the prize fund and charity pot are always on show. No envelope, no spreadsheet, no chasing.
Square the day in one tap.
Settle-up nets every fee, sweep and prize down to the fewest transfers — with a ledger the whole club can see.
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