A little help on every hole.

Course helpers are features on a 9Daily hole that rescue or speed up your ball: a portal near the drive landing zone, lily pads on a pond, a flock of sheep in the rough, ducks on the water, an eagle’s nest in a tree and punchbowl greens. From their launch day on, they appear on nearly every hole. Par 4 and longer holes always get one or two, par 3 holes often none or one.

The 9Daily course of the day comes from the date, and so do its helpers. Every golfer in the world plays the same helpers on the same holes. The rest of the course plays as before: wind, doglegs and water still decide most strokes.

Portal

A glowing ring in the drive landing zone, a bit off the line. If the ball lands in it, bounces into it or rolls into it, the ball comes out at a small ring 30 to 44 metres short of the flag and rolls a few metres toward the flag. At most two portals per day.

Lily pads

Large pads on a pond near the line of play. A ball that lands, bounces or rolls onto a pad stays dry, with no penalty stroke, and you play it from the pad like from the fairway. Water next to the pads is a penalty as usual.

Sheep

A flock grazing in the rough near the tree line, where wild drives end up, about 190 to 250 metres from the tee. If the ball stops in the rough or deep rough near the flock, a sheep trots over and kicks it back to the edge of the fairway.

Ducks

Ducks on a pond. If the ball splashes into the water near them, they swim over and push it back to the bank, with no penalty stroke.

Eagle’s nest

A tree near the line of play holds a nest. If the ball flies through that tree’s crown, the eagle catches it and drops it on the green inside the one-putt ring. At most two per day.

Punchbowl green

The green sits in a bowl. If the ball stops within about 14 metres of the green, and not in a bunker, it rolls on toward the flag and ends up less than half as far away.

On the map

Every helper is drawn on the hole: the glowing ring, the pads, the flock, the ducks, the nest in its tree and the bowl around the green.

The first time

The first time you meet a helper, 9Daily introduces it with a short card.

The ? help

Tap ? on a hole to see the helpers on that hole.

The 9Daily portal and the eagle’s nest reward a brave line: aim at the ring or through the crown with the nest, and a good shot skips most of the hole. Sheep, ducks and lily pads forgive a miss, so a wild drive or a ball over the water costs less than usual. A punchbowl green pulls a near miss closer to the flag, and the closer it ends up, the fewer putts you need: putting in 9Daily.

Tip: A portal is a target like any other: tap it to aim there.