United States Golf Association and its affiliates, including the United States Golf Association Foundation (collectively, “USGA”, “we”, “us” or “our”) understands and respects the importance of the privacy and protection of your personal data. This General Privacy Policy (“Privacy Policy”) describes how the USGA obtains, uses, shares and protects your personal data, what privacy choices you may have, and what privacy rights you may have under applicable privacy laws.
This Privacy Policy applies to our websites, mobile apps, digital platforms or other online or mobile services (e.g., WiFi network access) (“Sites”); any form (whether paper or digital) we use to collect information from you; or any other services provided by USGA, which either link to or refer to this Privacy Policy, including any data collected offline from you (collectively, the “Services”).
USGA is a non-profit organization based in the United States, and therefore, some data privacy or data protection laws may not apply or may only partially apply to us. USGA reserves the right, but not the obligation, to take data privacy measures that exceed our legal obligations. In doing so, USGA does not voluntarily submit to the jurisdiction of any law to which we are not otherwise subject to or would otherwise not be applicable.
If you are a U.S. resident, please see the U.S. State Privacy Supplement for more information about your privacy rights under state privacy laws, which may vary depending on your state of residence.
By using any of the Services, you acknowledge that you have read and agree to this Privacy Policy.
Table of Contents
3. How We Disclose Personal Data
6. Third Party Sites and Features
9. Changes to this Privacy Policy
10. Contact Us
a. Personal Data We Collect Directly From You
The types of personal data we may collect include:
- Contact Information, such as name; email address; mailing address, government ID, phone number, and date of birth;
- User Credentials, such as username, user ID, password, password hints and other information used to create an account and authenticate users for online Services;
- Demographic Information, such as age, gender, citizenship or citizenship status, ethnicity;
- Payment Information, such as credit card information, banking information, and billing address;
- Health Information, such as medical conditions or diagnoses, health and fitness information, medical history, prescriptions, treatments, or other necessary and relevant medical information in connection with participation in a USGA Championship or USGA team;
- Location information, such as general location information and precise geolocation data;
- Commercial information, such as products or services purchased, obtained or considered, events attended, or other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies;
- Golfer Background information, such as your golf history and background, including your club affiliation or tournament participation;
- Photographs or Videos you provide to us or images that we capture by cameras or readers on or near our events, including our USGA Championships;
- Biometric Information, such as photographs you provide to us when using our ticketing services to attend a USGA Championship; and/or
- Interests and preferences, including inferences, such as information about your favorite players, clubs or courses, your home city and state, or your communication preferences. In addition to what you provide directly to us, we infer your interests and preferences from other data we collect, such as the content and advertisements you interact with while using our Services, purchasing products, or when attending a USGA event.
We collect information about you when you provide information to us directly, including when you interact with or provide information through our Services. This includes when you:
- Register for or create an account, including mobile app accounts;
- Submit forms or information to us;
- Sign-up for or agree to participate in USGA programs, events, or activities;
- Purchase, order, or subscribe to any products or services or otherwise transact with us;
- Enter or participate in games, sweepstakes, contests, or experiences, including onsite during USGA events or Championships;
- Correspond directly with us;
- Post a review, opinion, comment, or other user-generated content on our Sites;
- Participate in surveys, research, questionnaires or polls; and/or
- Attend USGA events or Championships.
b. Personal Data We Automatically Collect
We collect or receive information about you when you access or use our Services. We collect some of this information automatically using cookies, web beacons, pixels and other similar technologies. We may also have third parties collect information this way, such as ad networks, web analytics companies, and social networking platforms. These technologies help us to:
- Remember your information so you don’t have to reenter your information;
- Track and understand how you use and interact with our Services;
- Present you with information or advertisements that's tailored to your interests, including USGA content presented on another website;
- Tailor the Services to your preferences;
- Measuring the effectiveness and usability of our Sites, Services, communications, content and advertising;
- Authenticate your identity and protect against fraud;
- Provide our products and services;
- Integrate our Services with third party social media apps or websites; and
- Provide other services and features that are available only through the use of these technologies.
We may use these automated technologies through our Sites and online Services to collect information about your device, browsing actions, usage patterns, and location, such as: your device IP address, location information, unique device identifiers, device type and model, device characteristics and settings, browser settings and characteristics, operating system type and version, carriers, and wireless connections used to access the Services, your browser ID, your browser software; certain device identifiers that may be unique to your device; your Internet service provider and domain name, language and country preferences, software installed on the device, usage statistics, error reports, referring emails and web addresses, and other device details. We also may obtain information about your interactions with our Sites or online Services, including advertisements, such as the pages or portions of the Sites you view or visit, links you click, programs or features of our Sites or online Services you access or use, content you download, products or services you view or purchase, emails you open, content you engage with, referring or exit URLs, dates and times of usage, frequency and duration of your interactions, session information, clickstream and page-scroll data, and other information about your interactions with our Sites and online Services.
We may also collect your device’s location information, including geolocation. Your device’s operating system or web browser may provide you with a notification when our Sites attempt to collect your location. Please note that if you decline to allow our online Services to collect your geolocation, you may not be able to use all the features through our online Services.
Your browser may inform you how to be notified about certain types of automated technologies and how to restrict or disable them. Please note that you may not be able to enjoy all of the features of our online Services if you disable or restrict these automated technologies. For mobile devices, you may be able to manage how your device and browser disclose certain device data by adjusting the privacy and security settings on your device.
For information about the cookies we use and how to manage your preferences, including how to opt-out, you can visit our Cookies Preference Center located within the Your Privacy Choices link in the footer of the usga.org website or the website you are visiting, or visit Your Choices and Rights Section of this Privacy Policy to learn more.
c. Personal Data We Obtain from Third Party Sources
We also collect or receive information about you from third-party sources, such as:
- Business partners who we work with to provide our Services. For example, we have engaged Fanatics Retail Group North and its affiliates to operate USGAshop.com and CardsDirect to operate USGAcards.com;
- Other golf organizations, golf associations or golf clubs, to the extent such information is relevant to our Services;
- Vendors or service providers;
- Publicly available or commercially available sources, which may be provided by third-party vendors or business partners; and
- Social media companies. If you choose to connect with social media services while using our online Services, we may receive information about you.
We may combine any of the information we have collected or received about you in different ways, including to develop inferences about you, such your preferences, playing ability, interest in donating, interest in using other products or services, personalize content, communications and advertising based on your interests.
We use personal data for the following business purposes:
a. Operate our business. We use personal data to operate our business, such as providing, tailoring and improving our products and services for you and other users. For example, we use the personal data to:
- Create accounts or memberships for use of our products or services;
- Process registrations or applications for use of our products and services;
- Process transactions and deliver products and services;
- Better understand your needs and preferences;
- Enhance and personalize your experiences when using our products and services;
- Properly host and manage USGA championships, teams, programs or other events;
- Create and maintain accurate golf records, rankings and statistics;
- Measure and analyze user engagement, activities, interests, preferences, and other measures to better understand users of our products and services and what interests them;
- Conduct internal and external research and analytics about our current or new products and services or other customers or users;
- Administer your participation in our contests, sweepstakes, interactive games or other promotions you sign up for;
- Compile, deidentify or aggregate personal data for business purposes; and
- Diagnose and fix problems with our Sites or products and services.
b. Communicate with you. We use personal data to communicate with you, including, for example:
- Respond to your request or inquiries;
- Provide technical or customer support for use of our products or services, including use of our automated chat features;
- Provide personalized news, updates and other types of communications; and
- Notify about your accounts, memberships, updates on products or services you use.
c. Marketing and advertising. We use personal data for marketing and advertising purposes, including our business partners and other parties who advertise on our Sites. For example, we use personal data to:
- Send you promotional messages, marketing communications and deliver advertisements about our products and services or third-party products and services, which may be tailored based on personal data we obtained about you, such as your preferences, demographic data, location data, usage data, interests or online activities;
- Send you newsletters; and
- Conduct internal and market research, identify usage trends, and determine appropriate marketing and advertising campaigns.
d. Security, compliance and enforcement. We use personal data for security, legal, regulatory, compliance, and enforcement purposes. For example, we use personal data to:
- Protect the security, safety and integrity of our users, customers, fans and products and services;
- Detect, prevent and investigate fraud, abuse and other potentially illegal or unauthorized activities in connection with our Sites or products and services. For example, we use a third party monitoring services to detect illegal betting activities in connection with our competitions;
- Resolve disputes or inquiries;
- Comply with legal and regulatory obligations; and
- Enforce our agreements, including our policies and terms of use, that govern your use of our products and services.
We may also use personal data in other ways we describe at the time of collection, or when we have otherwise obtained your consent.
We may aggregate, merge, or otherwise combine personal data for the uses described above.
This Privacy Policy does not apply to deidentified data. To the extent we process deidentified data, we will maintain and use such information in deidentified form and will not attempt to reidentify the information unless permitted by applicable law.
3. HOW WE DISCLOSE PERSONAL DATA
We disclose the personal data described herein for the following purposes:
a. Affiliates. We may disclose personal data with our affiliates, including the USGA Foundation, to provide, improve, or promote our products and services, and for other purposes described in this Privacy Policy.
b. Service Providers. We disclose or provide access to personal data to certain service providers, vendors, consultants, and business partners to help us operate our business, provide our products and services, and otherwise perform certain functions on our behalf. For example, they host or manage our Sites, process personal data in connection with the Sites or our products and services, operate our services and products, and perform support services related to technology, communications, payment processing, advertising and marketing, analytics, audits, automated chat providers, fraud and security, content, contests and sweepstakes, and customer relations.
c. Business Partners to Perform Jointly Operated Services. We disclose personal data to business partners, such as golf clubs, golf associations and other golf organizations, to help us provide, manage and improve our products and services that we jointly manage or operate, including, but not limited to, certain programs, competitions, administration, tournament management, results, ratings and rankings or other events or services that you have signed up for or participate in.
d. Business Partners and Third Parties. We may disclose personal data to certain business partners for advertising and marketing purposes, including so that they can provide individuals with special offers, promotions, and other materials that may be of interest to them. We may also use third parties to serve advertisements through the Sites and on third-party platforms we operate. These third parties may set their own cookies or similar technologies to collect information about users’ online activities over time and across different websites, apps or online services. These disclosures may fall under legal definitions of “sale” or “sharing” personal data or processing of personal data for “targeted advertising” under state-specific laws. Please see the Your Choices and Rights section for additional information on the rights to opt out of these disclosures of personal data. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of any such business partners or third parties, which may use your information for their own purposes.
e. When You Choose to Interact With Business Partners or Third Parties. We may disclose personal data to business partners or third parties when you consent to receive communications, offers or marketing from them, when you sign up for their programs, products or services, or when you consent to us sharing your information in order for you to transact with them or use their products or services. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of any such business partners or third parties, which may use your information for their own purposes.
f. Legal and Compliance. We may disclosure personal data to third parties when we deem it necessary to comply with applicable law or respond to a valid legal process, such as court orders, subpoenas, document requests in connection with legal or government proceedings.
g. Change in Business Structure. We may disclose or transfer personal data to a third party in the event of a sale, merger, acquisition, reorganization or similar event, or in contemplation of such an event, where there is a change in our business structure or assets.
h. Safety and Security. We may disclose personal data to a third party to help prevent, detect, investigate, or take action against any illegal or unauthorized activities, suspected fraud or abuse, or other circumstances involving potential security or safety issues involving any person, entity, property, Sites, and our products and services, including the rights of any person or entity. This includes verification, compliance, and enforcement of any law, regulation, this Privacy Policy and any of our terms of service or use.
We may also disclose personal data for any other purpose or with any other entity we describe at the time of collection, or when we have otherwise obtained your consent.
We may disclose aggregated and anonymized or deidentified data to third parties so long as such information cannot be used to identify an individual.
You may have certain right and choices regarding how USGA collects, uses, discloses and otherwise processes your personal data, including the following:
a. Data Subject Rights. To the extent that the state in which you live has a data protection law that requires USGA to offer some or all of the following rights to you, you may have the following privacy rights, subject to some limitations or exemptions as required or allowed by state law:
- To request access to your personal data, including, where applicable, the right to obtain a copy of your personal data, and to request other information about our personal data processing practices;
- To request correction of your personal data;
- To request deletion of your personal data;
- To opt-out of use of your personal data for purposes of targeted advertising, sale of your personal data, or certain types of profiling (as the terms “targeted advertising”, “sale”, and “profiling” may be defined under certain state laws); and
- To appeal a denial of any data subject request.
If you are a U.S. resident in a state with a comprehensive privacy law that applies to the USGA, please see the U.S. State Privacy Supplement for more information about your privacy rights, which rights apply to you, and how to exercise them.
We share certain personal data with our business partners, who may provide you with information about their products and services. Some states may consider this a “sale” under their respective privacy laws. You can opt-out of this by submitting a request and following the instructions using this Data Subject Request form.
b. Communication Choices. You can use the following options to opt out of certain communications we send you:
- Emails. You can opt out of receiving promotional emails from us by clicking the “unsubscribe” link in the footer or bottom of the promotional email you receive from us. Please understand that these preferences do not apply to transactional emails, and we will still send you transactional emails such as information regarding your accounts, memberships, activities, transactions or communications with us.
- Push Notifications. If you wish to stop receiving push notifications through a USGA app, you can opt-out by changing the settings within the app and/or your device.
- Text/SMS Messages. You can opt out from receiving promotional texts or SMS messages by replying “STOP” to any messages you receive from us.
c. Cookies Choices. You can use the following options to opt out of the collection of cookies by us and third parties:
- Cookies Preference Center. As described in the Personal Data We Automatically Collect section of this Privacy Policy, USGA, our vendors and service providers, and third parties use several common online tracking technologies, including cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies, to provide you with certain features and services. You have the ability to choose how we use cookies and other tracking technologies by using the options available within our USGA Cookies Preference Center which you can access by clicking on the "Your Privacy Choices" link in the footer of usga.org or the website you are visiting. Depending on your jurisdiction, you can use the Cookies Preference Center choices to exercise right to opt out of cookie-based “sale” or “sharing” of personal data or to opt of our processing of “targeted advertising”. Please understand that your choices are browser-specific, and you must make your choices on each browser and device that you use. Clearing your cookies at any time may undo your preferences. Please note, however, that without certain cookies, you may not be able to take full advantage of all the features, products or services of our Sites.
- Browser Controls. You also may opt out of certain web-based cookies from being downloaded on your device by selecting the appropriate settings on your web browser. Most web browsers will tell you how to stop accepting new cookies, how to be notified when you receive new cookies and how to disable existing cookies. Please note, however, that without cookies you may not be able to take full advantage of all the features, products or services of our Sites.
- Interest-Based Advertising Choices. Where allowed by law, we use your personal data to provide you with targeted advertisements or marketing communications we believe may be of interest to you. In some jurisdictions, you may have the right to opt out of these types of targeted advertisements. You can manage your choices regarding this type of interest-based advertising by clicking the Your Privacy Choices link located in the footer of the usga.org or other USGA website you are visiting. USGA also engages third-party advertisers to provide interest-based advertising on our website, as well as other third-party websites in order to display advertising that is relevant to you. These third parties may collect information about your use of our services over time and that information may be combined with information collected on different websites and online services. These third-party advertisers may be participants in the Network Advertising Initiative and/or the Self-Regulatory Program for Online Behavioral Advertising, which allow users to opt out of ad targeting from participating companies. To learn more about interest-based advertising, or to opt out of having your web browsing information used by certain third-party advertisers for behavioral advertising purposes, go to: www.aboutads.info/choices or https://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/.
Choices you make are generally device-specific and browser-specific, which means that you must opt out of each web browser on each device you use. If you opt out, you may still see ads from USGA, but the ads will be less relevant to you and your interests.
d. Global Privacy Control and Do Not Track Signals. Certain web browsers and other programs may transmit an “opt-out” signal, also called a Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal (collectively “GPC Signals”), to websites with which the browser communicates. In most cases you will need to change your web browser’s settings or add an application to your web browser to enable your browser to send a GPC Signal. Our websites will recognize GPC Signals for website users differently, depending on the location of the user when they access our website. For users that access our website from U.S. states that have laws requiring that USGA recognize GPC Signals, we will recognize and apply the GPC Signal to inactivate all of the cookies for that website, except for cookies that are necessary for the website to operate (“Strictly Necessary Cookies”). Additionally, if you are accessing our websites from one of these states, you can determine if your browser GPC Signal has been recognized by clicking on the Your Privacy Choices link located in the footer of the usga.org or website you are visiting, and a short message at the top of the preference center will appear in indicating your GPC Signal has been received. Please note, the GPC Signal is browser-specific, and you will need to use the GPC Signal for each browser you use to access certain USGA websites. If you clear your cookies in your browser after using the GPC, you will need to use the GPC Signal again for us to process your opt out for that browser.
Some web browsers may transmit other “do not track” (“DNT”) signals or similar features. As of the date of this Privacy Policy, not all browsers offer a DNT option and DNT signals are not yet uniform. For this reason, USGA Sites do not respond to all DNT signals.
e. Accounts. You can edit or remove personal data in your user account of our Sites by signing into your account and adjusting the account settings, or you can delete your account by following the instructions within the account. Please note, however, if you choose not to provide personal data that is necessary for us to provide certain features of the Sites, your use of the Sites may not include those features.
f. Interactive Features. To the extent we offer ant public or group forums on our Sites, such as newsfeeds, blogs, message boards or similar tools (“Interactive Features”), the post or comments you make may be public and viewed by others. You should use care before positing information about yourself, including personal data, as there is no expectation or confidentiality in the content you submit to Interactive Features over the Sites. Except when required to do so by applicable law, we assume no obligation to remove information, including personal data, that you post on our Sites through the Interactive Features and your disclosure of any personal data is at your own risk.
g. Location Information. You can choose not to disclose certain location data by adjusting the settings on your device. Please note, however, by choosing not to disclose location data, you may not be able to access or use certain location-based or location-enabled Sites or products and services.
h. Publication of Information. As a condition of participating in certain programs, such as qualifiers, championships, teams, tournaments, and other programs or events, you acknowledge and agree that certain personal data, which varies based on program or event type, but may include name, participant names, team roster, pairing sheets, competition results, golf club affiliation, rankings, or other data points, may be displayed and/or published on our Sites or through our Services, on third party sites who help to administer the event, or through any other system that the USGA or a third party employs to store and display similar information. This information is publicly searchable. The publication of this information is an essential requirement of certain programs and events, such as championship/tournament administration and management, results and rankings. If you do not agree to the sharing and publishing of this type of information, you should immediately stop using our Services and contact the USGA as set forth in this Privacy Policy.
i. Third Party Services. You can choose to limit the data that third-party services (for example, social media platforms) disclose to us using the options provided to you by the applicable third party (for example, the options a third party social media platform provides when you connect your social media account with our Sites). You can also disconnect your use of the Sites from a third party service using the options provided to users of the applicable third party service. Please note, however, that if you disconnect your use of our Sites from the third party service, that will not delete the personal data we may have previously collected.
We have implemented and will maintain technical, administrative, and physical measures that are reasonably designed to help protect your personal data from unauthorized processing consistent with legal obligations and industry practices. However, while we strive to protect personal data, no security measures are perfect or impenetrable and we cannot guarantee that all personal data or communications will be free from unauthorized access, transfer or destruction from third parties. In addition, it is your responsibility to safeguard any passwords, ID numbers, or similar individual information associated with your use of the Services.
6. THIRD PARTY SITES AND FEATURES
Our Sites or Services may contain links to or integrations with other websites, platforms or services (for example, social media platforms or golf apps) that USGA does not operate or control. These services and third party features operate independently from us and we do not control their technologies or privacy practices. To the extent we provide you with links to third party services, these are provided as a convenience to you and are not intended as an endorsement or referral to the linked services. This Privacy Policy does not apply to those third parties. The privacy practices of third parties, including details on the information they may collect about you, are subject to the privacy policies of such third parties, which we encourage you to review. We are not responsible for the information practices of those third parties.
Our Sites are not directed at or intended for use by children under the age of 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children under the age of 13 without parent or legal guardian consent, except as permitted by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) or other applicable law. If personal data is collected relating to children under the age of 13, any request for data is directed to and collected from the parent or legal guardian. If the USGA learns that we have collected personal data directly from a child under the age of 13 without parental or guardian consent, we will immediately delete the information.
Our Services are intended only for users located in the United States, unless otherwise indicated. By using the Services, you and acknowledge and agree that the Services are hosted in the United States and that personal data collected will be stored and processed in the United States. In addition, your information may also be transferred to the office and servers of our authorized third party service providers. By using the Services, you consent to such transfer and the application of the laws of the United States or other jurisdiction in which our authorized third parties process personal data, which may not be as protective or comprehensive as those that exist in the jurisdiction in which you reside.
9. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
Any changes in our Privacy Policy will be posted to this webpage so that you are aware of the information we collect and how we use it. We will notify you of any material changes to this Privacy Policy by posting on our websites a notification that the Privacy Policy has been revised and by updating the effective date of the Privacy Policy. By continuing to use our services or products after we post any of these changes, you accept the modified Privacy Policy. If you do not accept these changes, you should immediately stop using the services or products.
If you have any questions, comments or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us through the following options:
Email: privacy@usga.org
Call: 1-800-222-8742
Write: