Terms of use
Rate My Divots
Last updated: 6 September 2026
Welcome to Rate My Divots. These terms set out the rules for using our website and app. By using the service, you agree to them. If you don't agree, please don't use the service.
1. Who we are
Rate My Divots is operated by Robert Hollinshead, operating as Rate My Divots (sole trader) ("we", "us", "our").
You can contact us at hello@ratemydivots.com.
2. What the service is
Rate My Divots provides:
- A Divot Conditions tool — a daily rating of ground conditions at supported golf courses, generated from publicly available weather, soil moisture, soil temperature and soil texture data
- A beta sign-up for early access to future features
- [Future] community features — including the ability to post content, vote, and comment
The Divot Conditions tool currently covers courses in England and Wales only.
3. This is an early-stage product
Rate My Divots is in active development. That means:
- Features may change, break, or be removed without notice
- The service may be unavailable at times
- Data may be reset during development
- We may end the beta programme, or the service entirely, at any time
We'll try to give notice where we reasonably can, but we can't guarantee it.
4. The divot rating is an estimate, not advice
Please read this section.
The Divot Conditions rating is a bit of fun built on modelled data. It is an estimate based on third-party weather and soil datasets, not a measurement of the actual ground you're standing on.
Specifically:
- We do not inspect, visit, or monitor any golf course
- Ratings are derived from modelled regional data, which may be inaccurate, delayed, or wrong
- Conditions vary enormously across a single course — between fairway and rough, sun and shade, drained and undrained ground
- A rating is not a statement about whether a course is open, playable, or safe
You must not rely on the rating for decisions about travel, safety, whether to play, or how to play. Always follow the instructions of the course, its greenkeeping staff, and its local rules.
Course policies on divots vary. Some courses restrict practice swings, mats-only periods, or divot-taking in certain conditions. It is your responsibility to know and follow the rules of the course you're playing. Nothing on Rate My Divots authorises you to damage a golf course, and we accept no responsibility if you do.
Always replace or fill your divots.
5. Your account and sign-up details
If you sign up for beta access:
- Give us accurate information
- Don't sign up on someone else's behalf without their permission
- Keep any access credentials we give you to yourself
- Tell us promptly if you think someone else has access to your account
We may refuse, suspend, or remove access at our discretion, particularly where we think these terms have been breached.
6. Acceptable use
When using Rate My Divots, you must not:
- Break any applicable law
- Post or transmit content that is unlawful, defamatory, harassing, hateful, threatening, obscene, or that infringes someone else's rights
- Impersonate anyone else
- Upload content containing personal data about other people without their consent
- Attempt to gain unauthorised access to the service or its underlying systems
- Scrape, spider, or systematically extract data from the service without our written permission
- Use the service to send spam or unsolicited messages
- Interfere with the service's operation, or attempt to overload it
- Use the service to build a competing product
We may remove content and suspend access where we consider these rules to have been broken. We are not obliged to give reasons.
7. Content you submit
This section applies once community features launch.
You keep ownership of anything you post. By posting, you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store, reproduce, adapt, and display that content for the purpose of operating and promoting Rate My Divots, including on our social media channels.
You confirm that:
- You own the content, or have the rights to post it
- The content doesn't infringe anyone else's rights
- Anyone identifiable in the content has agreed to it being posted
We may remove any content at our discretion. We don't pre-screen content, and we're not responsible for content posted by users — but we'll act on reports. To report content, contact hello@ratemydivots.com.
You can delete your own content at any time. Copies may persist in backups for a period after deletion.
8. Our intellectual property
The Rate My Divots name, logo, branding, design, copy, and the divot rating methodology are ours (or licensed to us). You may not copy, reproduce, or use them without our written permission.
You may use the service for your own personal, non-commercial purposes. That's it.
9. Third-party data and links
Our ratings use data from third-party sources, including Open-Meteo and Cranfield University's Soilscapes dataset. We don't control these sources, don't guarantee their accuracy, and aren't responsible for them.
The service may link to third-party websites. We're not responsible for their content or practices.
10. No warranty
The service is provided "as is" and "as available". To the fullest extent permitted by law, we exclude all warranties, whether express or implied, including that the service will be accurate, uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or fit for any particular purpose.
11. Our liability
Nothing in these terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be excluded.
Subject to that, and to the fullest extent permitted by law:
- We are not liable for any indirect or consequential loss
- We are not liable for loss of profits, business, goodwill, opportunity, or data
- We are not liable for any loss arising from your reliance on a divot rating
- We are not liable for damage to any golf course, or for any dispute between you and a golf club
- We are not liable for content posted by other users
- Our total liability to you, for all claims combined, will not exceed £100 or the amount you have paid us in the preceding twelve months, whichever is greater
If you're using the service as a consumer, this doesn't affect your statutory rights.
12. Indemnity
If you use the service in breach of these terms and that causes us loss — including legal costs and third-party claims — you agree to reimburse us for it.
13. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms as the product develops. We'll update the date at the top. Significant changes will be flagged on the site or by email. Continuing to use the service after a change means you accept the updated terms.
14. Ending your use
You can stop using the service at any time and ask us to delete your account by emailing hello@ratemydivots.com.
We may suspend or terminate your access at any time, with or without notice, particularly if you breach these terms.
Sections 8, 10, 11, 12 and 15 survive termination.
15. General
Governing law. These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction. If you're a consumer resident elsewhere in the UK or in the EU, you keep the benefit of any mandatory protections under your local law.
Severability. If any part of these terms is found unenforceable, the rest continues to apply.
No waiver. If we don't enforce a term, that doesn't mean we've given up the right to do so later.
Entire agreement. These terms, together with our Privacy Policy, are the whole agreement between us.
Third parties. No one other than you and us has any rights under these terms.