SmartHole
Privacy policy
Last updated 12 November 2026
The short version
- You can play the free nine without giving us anything about yourself.
- We only ask for your email if you want a free back-nine code or a sign-in link. If you pay, the payment company passes us the email you gave them.
- We never see or store your card details.
- We don't use advertising or tracking cookies, and we don't sell your information.
- You can delete everything we hold about you from the start screen, at any time.
Who we are
Smart Hole is the quiz game at smarthole.golf. Smart Hole decides how your information is used, which makes it the "data controller" under UK data protection law. For anything about your information, email privacy@smarthole.golf.
What we store, and why
| What | When | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A player record: a random player number and a secret key kept on your device | When you first tee off | To give each player one free nine a day and keep your round if the page reloads |
| Your rounds: the answers you give, your shots and your scores | As you play | To run the game and work out your score |
| A leaderboard name that you choose | When you post an 18-hole score | To show your score on the public leaderboard. Anyone can see this name and score, so don't use your real name unless you're happy for it to be seen |
| Your email address | When you ask for a free code or a sign-in link, or when you pay | To send the code, link or payment confirmation, to limit free codes to one a week for each address, and to let you sign in on another device |
| A record of each payment: the amount, the date and the payment company's reference | When you pay | To unlock what you bought, handle refunds and keep the accounts we are required to keep |
| A scrambled version of your internet address (we don't keep the address itself) | When you ask for a code or link, or make repeated requests | To stop abuse, such as flooding the game with requests. Deleted after about two days |
We don't ask for your real name, age, location or anything else.
What's kept on your device
Smart Hole doesn't set cookies. It uses your browser's storage on your own device to remember your player key, your view settings, the names you typed for a game with friends, and which questions you've seen this week. This is needed for the game to work and isn't used to track you. Clearing your browser's site data removes it.
Emails we send
We email you only when you've asked for something: a free code, a sign-in link, or a confirmation that a payment arrived.
News and offers emails are off unless you turn them on under "Email settings and account" on the start screen. You can turn them off again there, or with the unsubscribe link in any news email.
Companies that help us run Smart Hole
We share only what each one needs to do its job:
- Stripe takes payments. You enter your card details on Stripe's page, not ours. Stripe tells us whether the payment succeeded and the email address you gave. See Stripe's privacy policy.
- Resend delivers our emails, so it handles your email address and the message.
- Vercel hosts the website and, like any web host, briefly processes your internet address and browser details to deliver pages and keep the service secure.
- Neon runs the database where player records and scores are stored.
- Google Fonts and Cloudflare (cdnjs) supply the fonts and the 3D graphics code. Your browser fetches these directly from them, so they see your internet address when it does.
Some of these companies store or process information outside the UK, including in the United States. Where they do, they rely on safeguards recognised by UK law, such as the UK–US data bridge or standard contractual clauses.
We don't sell your information or share it with advertisers.
Our legal reasons for using your information
- To provide the game you asked for (contract): your player record, rounds, scores, codes, sign-in links and purchases.
- Our legitimate interests in keeping the game fair and secure: the one-code-a-week limit, request limits, and removing cheating scores.
- Your consent: news and offers emails. You can withdraw it at any time.
- Legal obligation: keeping payment records for tax and accounting.
How long we keep it
- Your player record, rounds and scores stay until you delete your account.
- Sign-in links expire after 20 minutes. Free codes last for the week they were issued.
- The scrambled internet address used to limit requests is deleted after about two days.
- Payment records held by Stripe are kept for as long as the law requires, usually six years.
Deleting your information
On the start screen, open "Email settings and account" and choose "Delete my account". This permanently removes your player record, email address, rounds, scores, codes and any unused back nines or rounds from our database. It can't be undone. Records of payments stay with Stripe, as the law requires.
If you can't get into your account, email privacy@smarthole.golf from the address you used and we'll delete it for you.
Your rights
Under UK data protection law you can ask us to:
- give you a copy of the information we hold about you;
- correct it if it's wrong;
- delete it;
- stop or limit how we use it, including where we rely on legitimate interests;
- give it to you in a form you can take elsewhere.
Email privacy@smarthole.golf and we'll reply within one month. If you're unhappy with how we've handled your information, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk.
Children
Smart Hole isn't aimed at children under 13, and we don't knowingly collect their information. If you're under 18, ask a parent or guardian before giving an email address or paying.
Changes to this policy
If we change how we use your information, we'll update this page and the date at the top. If the change is significant and we have your email address, we'll let you know.