Iron Muse Golf ("we," "us," or "our") operates the Iron Muse Academy mobile application and the website ironmusegolf.com. We are committed to protecting your privacy and being transparent about how we handle your data. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, and how you can control it.
1. Information We Collect
Account Information
When you create an account, we collect your name, email address, and password. If you sign in with Google or Apple, we receive your name and email from those services. We do not receive or store your Google or Apple password.
Profile Information
During onboarding, you may provide your location (city/state), skill level, playing availability, golf goals, and biggest concerns about getting started. You may also add a profile photo and cover photo. This information helps us personalize your experience and connect you with relevant content and community members.
Golf Data
As you use the app, we collect data you create or provide, including swing videos uploaded for AI analysis, shot-trace videos and the ball-flight points you mark on them, round scores logged through the GPS companion, shots you track and the clubs you record for them, your club distances, courses you visit, trophies and milestones you achieve, and progress toward your goals.
Community Content
Content you post to the community — feed posts, photos and videos, comments, event listings and event photos, and messages to other members — is collected and displayed according to the visibility you choose. Uploaded images and text are automatically screened by AI for safety before or shortly after posting.
Voice Data
If you use voice features (Ask Muse voice input or the Voice Caddie), short audio recordings of your spoken questions are captured and sent to our speech-to-text provider to be transcribed, then discarded from the transcription service per its policy. Transcripts are handled like chat messages.
Usage Data
We collect information about how you interact with the app, including pages viewed, features used, session duration, and app performance data. This helps us understand what's working and what we need to improve.
Payment Information
If you subscribe to Premium, your payment is processed by Stripe (web), Apple (iOS App Store), or Google (Google Play Store). We do not store your credit card number, bank account details, or other financial account information on our servers.
2. How We Use Your Information
We use your information to provide, maintain, and improve the Iron Muse Academy experience. Specifically:
- Deliver and personalize the app experience based on your skill level and goals
- Analyze your swing videos and provide AI coaching feedback
- Create shot-trace videos, assist ball-flight tracking, and improve our tracking technology
- Provide GPS yardages, club recommendations based on your real club distances, and course information during rounds
- Match you with golf partners based on location, skill level, and availability
- Track your progress, streaks, and trophies over time
- Select which partner-brand gear recommendations and sponsored posts appear in your feed (see the note below)
- Send you notifications about matches, milestones, community events, and app updates
- Process your Premium subscription payments
- Keep the community safe through AI-assisted content moderation
- Respond to your questions and support requests
- Analyze usage patterns to improve features and fix issues
We do not sell your personal information to third parties. We do not share your data with data brokers, and we do not use third-party advertising networks or cross-app tracking.
About sponsored content: your feed may include clearly labeled sponsored posts and gear recommendations from our partner brands. These are selected inside our own systems using your in-app activity (for example, your practice focus). Your personal data is never shared with the brands — they only ever receive aggregate statistics such as total views and clicks.
3. Third-Party Services
We work with a small number of trusted service providers that process data on our behalf to operate the app. These fall into the following categories: payment processing (Apple, Google, and Stripe, depending on where you subscribe), cloud hosting and media storage, artificial intelligence processing that powers app features, mapping and course data, weather data, product analytics, push notifications, and email delivery.
These providers receive only the data needed to perform their function, are bound by their own privacy and security obligations, and are not permitted to use your data for their own purposes. We do not sell your personal information to anyone. A current list of the specific providers we use is available on request at info@ironmusegolf.com.
4. Location Data
Iron Muse Academy requests access to your device's location for these purposes:
- Finding nearby courses: When you use the "Play a Round" feature, we use your approximate location to show golf courses near you. This data is sent to Google Places to return relevant results.
- GPS companion during rounds: When you're actively playing a round, we use your precise location to display distances to the pin, provide club recommendations, track your shots, and show your position on the course.
- Local weather and wind: Your approximate location is used to fetch current weather and wind conditions so Muse can factor them into advice.
You can deny location access at any time through your device settings. Without location access, you can still search for courses by name and use most app features — the GPS yardage feature will be limited.
We do not sell or share your location data with advertisers. Location data is used only to provide the features described above.
5. AI & Data Processing
Iron Muse Academy uses artificial intelligence to power several features. Here's how your data is used in each:
AI Swing Analysis
When you upload a swing video, it is analyzed using automated technology to measure your swing against objective checkpoints, and AI is used to write your feedback in plain language. Your swing scores come from the measured checkpoints — not from an AI's opinion.
Ask Muse & Voice Caddie (AI Coach)
When you chat or speak with Muse, your messages and relevant context (such as your skill level, current hole, your real club distances, and weather conditions) are sent to our AI provider to generate coaching responses. Voice questions are transcribed by our speech-to-text provider. Chat history is stored on our servers to maintain conversation continuity.
Shot Tracing
When you create a shot trace, your video clip is uploaded to our servers and processed — including by AI where you use AI-assisted features — to create your trace. Trace video clips are automatically deleted from our servers within about 7 days of processing. Content you create in this feature, such as video frames and the points you mark, may be retained and used solely to develop and improve Iron Muse's own features; it is never sold or shared for advertising, and it is deleted when you delete your account.
GPS Club Recommendations
During a round, club suggestions use your distance to the target, wind conditions, elevation changes, and your personal club distances — including averages computed from shots you've tracked. AI-written advice is generated through our AI provider in real time.
Content Safety
Photos, videos, and text posted to the community — including profile and event photos — are screened by AI for safety. Content that violates our guidelines may be blocked, hidden, or flagged for review.
6. Data Retention & Deletion
We retain your personal data for as long as your account is active or as needed to provide you with the service. Some data expires sooner on its own: shot-trace video clips are automatically deleted within about 7 days of processing.
Account Deletion
You can delete your account at any time from the Profile screen in the app (Account Settings > Delete Account). When you delete your account:
- Your personal information (name, email, profile data, photos) is permanently removed within 30 days
- Your swing videos, shot-trace videos, and trace training frames are permanently deleted
- Your chat history with Muse is permanently deleted
- Your round scores, tracked shots, club data, and progress data are permanently deleted
- Your connections, posts, and messages with other users are removed
Anonymized, aggregated data that cannot be linked back to you (such as average scores at a course or overall feature usage statistics) may be retained for analytical purposes.
Subscription Cancellation vs. Account Deletion
Cancelling your Premium subscription does not delete your account or data. You will retain your free-tier access and all your data. To fully remove your data, you must delete your account.
7. Data Security
We take reasonable measures to protect your personal information, including:
- All data transmitted between your device and our servers is encrypted using HTTPS/TLS
- Authentication tokens are protected on your device, with biometric credentials stored in platform-native encrypted storage
- Passwords are hashed using industry-standard algorithms and are never stored in plain text
- API endpoints that access personal data require authentication
- Administrative access is protected with separate authentication and rate limiting
While we strive to protect your data, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is 100% secure. We cannot guarantee absolute security, but we are committed to following industry best practices.
8. Children's Privacy
Iron Muse Academy is not intended for children under 13 years of age. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 13, we will take steps to delete that information as quickly as possible.
If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at info@ironmusegolf.com.
9. Your Rights
Depending on your location, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:
- Access: Request a copy of the personal data we hold about you
- Correction: Request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete data
- Deletion: Request that we delete your personal data (you can also do this directly through the app)
- Opt-out: Opt out of marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe link in our emails or adjusting your notification settings in the app
- Data portability: Request your data in a commonly used, machine-readable format
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at info@ironmusegolf.com. We will respond to your request within 30 days.
California Residents (CCPA)
If you are a California resident, you have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act, including the right to know what personal information we collect and share, and the right to request deletion. We do not sell personal information as defined by the CCPA.
10. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices, services, or legal requirements. When we make significant changes, we will notify you through the app, by email, or by posting a prominent notice on our website. The "Last Updated" date at the top of this page indicates when the policy was most recently revised.
Your continued use of Iron Muse Academy after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.