This Privacy Policy explains how Hyroglf collects, uses, and shares information we receive from you through your use of the Hyroglf website. It is essential to understand that, by using Hyroglf, you consent to the collection, transfer, processing, storage, disclosure, and use of your information as described in this Privacy Policy. That means that reading this Policy carefully is important.

1. What This Privacy Policy Covers
2. What This Privacy Policy Does Not Cover
3. Types of Information We Receive From You, How We Collect It, & How We Use It
4. When May We Share Your Information?
5. Protection
6. Important Information
   

1. What This Privacy Policy Covers

This Privacy Policy applies to our collection and handling of information about you that we receive as a result of your use of the Hyroglf website. This Policy also applies to information that we receive from our partners or other third parties. For the sake of clarity, this Privacy Policy covers, regardless of language:

• Our website, Hyroglf, including user pages, discussion pages, and noticeboards.
• Emails, SMS, and notifications from us or sent to us from you.

2. What This Privacy Policy Does Not Cover
   

This Privacy Policy only covers the way the Hyroglf collects and handles information. Third parties who might receive information when you use the Hyroglf website may include:

• Service providers whom we may use to help provide our services to you. If you are curious about any third-party provider’s privacy practices, you should refer directly to their privacy policy.
• Third-party data-collecting tools that are placed on the Hyroglf website by third parties. Sometimes, third parties may place a data-collecting tool, such as a script, gadget, tracking pixel, or share button, on the Hyroglf Site without our knowledge. This Policy does not cover how third parties handle the information they receive as a result of such a tool. If you come across such a third-party tool, and you believe it violates this Policy, you can remove the tool yourself, or report it to info[at]hyroglf.com so we can investigate.

3. Types of Information We Receive From You, How We Collect It, & How We Use It
   

Your Public Contributions

When you make a contribution to the Hyroglf website, you are creating a permanent, public record of every piece of content added, removed, or altered by you. The page history will show when your contribution or deletion was made, as well as your username. We may use your public contributions, either aggregated with the public contributions of others or individually, to create new features or data-related products for you or to learn more about how the Hyroglf Site is used.

Unless this Policy says otherwise, you should assume that information that you actively contribute to the Hyroglf Site, including personal information, is publicly visible and can be found by search engines. Like most things on the Internet, anything you share may be copied and redistributed throughout the Internet by other people. Please do not contribute any information that you are uncomfortable making permanently public, like revealing your real name or location in your contributions.

You should be aware that specific data made public by you or aggregated data that is made public by us can be used by anyone for analysis and to infer information about users, such as which country a user is from, political affiliation, and gender.

Account Information & Registration

You are not required to create an account to read content on the Hyroglf Site.  However, you will have to create an account to contribute content to the Hyroglf Site.

If you want to create a standard account, in most cases you will have to provide only an e-mail address, username, and a password. Your username will be publicly visible, so please be careful about using your real name as your username. Your password is only used to verify that the account is yours. Your IP address is also automatically submitted to us, and we record it temporarily to help prevent abuse. No other personal information is required: no name, no date of birth, no credit card information.

Once created, user accounts cannot be removed entirely. This is because your public contributions must be associated with their author (you!). So make sure you pick a name that you will be comfortable with for years to come.

To gain a better understanding of the demographics of our users, to localize our services, and to learn how we can improve our services, we may ask you for more demographic information, such as gender or age, about yourself. We will tell you if such information is intended to be public or private, so that you can make an informed decision about whether you want to provide us with that information. Providing such information is always completely optional. If you don’t want to, you don’t have to—it’s as simple as that.

Information Related to Your Use of the Hyroglf Site

We want to make the Hyroglf Site better for you by learning more about how you use them. Examples of this might include how often you visit the Hyroglf Site, what you like, what you find helpful, how you get to the Hyroglf Site, and whether you would use a helpful feature more if we explained it differently. We also want this Policy and our practices to reflect our community’s values. For this reason, we keep information related to your use of the Hyroglf Site confidential, except as provided in this Policy.

Information We Receive Automatically

Because of how browsers work and similar to other major websites, we receive some information automatically when you visit the Hyroglf Site. This information includes the type of device you are using (possibly including unique device identification numbers, for some beta versions of our mobile applications), the type and version of your browser, your browser’s language preference, the type and version of your device’s operating system, in some cases the name of your internet service provider or mobile carrier, the website that referred you to the Hyroglf Site, which pages you request and visit, and the date and time of each request you make to the Hyroglf Site.

We use this information to enhance your experience with the Hyroglf Site. For example, we use this information to administer the site, provide greater security, and fight vandalism;, customize content and set language preferences, test features to see what works, and improve performance; understand how users interact with the Hyroglf Site, track and study use of various features, gain understanding about the demographics of the Hyroglf Site, and analyze trends.

Information We Collect

We actively collect some types of information with a variety of commonly-used technologies. These generally include tracking pixels, JavaScript, and a variety of “locally stored data” technologies, such as cookies and local storage. We realize that some of these technologies do not have the best reputation in town and can be used for less-than-noble purposes. So we want to be as clear as we can about why we use these methods and the type of information we collect with them.

Depending on which technology we use, locally stored data can be anything from text, pictures, and whole articles (as we explain further below) to personal information (like your IP address) and information about your use of the Hyroglf Site (like your username or the time of your visit).

We use this information to make your experience with the Hyroglf Site safer and better, to gain a greater understanding of user preferences and their interaction with the Hyroglf Site, and to generally improve our services.

Locally stored data, JavaScript, and tracking pixels help us do things like:

• Provide you with a personalized experience, such as using cookies to know your language preference, to remember the user preferences you set so we can provide you with the customized look and feel that you want.
• Deliver more relevant content to you faster. For example, we may use local storage to store your most recently read posts directly on your device, so they can be retrieved quickly. Also, we may use cookies to learn about the topics searched so that we can optimize the search results we deliver to you.
• Understand how you use the Hyroglf Site, so that we know what works and what is useful. For example, we might use cookies to learn about the list of posts you added to your favorites so that we can recommend similar articles that you may be interested in.
• Understand how you use the Hyroglf Site across different devices, so that we can make Hyroglf more efficient and effective for you.
• Make the Hyroglf Site more convenient to use, such as by using cookies to maintain your session when you log in or to remember your username in the login field.

We believe this data collection helps improve your user experience, but you may remove or disable some or all locally stored data through your browser settings, depending on your browser. While locally stored data may not be necessary to use our site, some features may not function properly if you disable locally stored data.

Email Addresses

You must provide an email address at the time of registration for a user account. If you do so, your email address is kept confidential, except as provided in this Policy. We do not sell, rent, or use your email address to advertise third-party products or services to you.

We use your email address to let you know about things that are happening with Hyroglf, such as telling you important information about your account and letting you know if something is changing about the Hyroglf Site or policies. Please note that if you email us, we may keep your message, email address, and any other information you provide us, so that we can process and respond to your request.

We will never ask for your password by email (but may send you a temporary password via email if you have requested a password reset). If you ever receive such an email, please let us know by sending it to info@hyroglf.com so we can investigate the source of the email.

Optional Surveys & Feedback

Participating in optional surveys or providing feedback helps us make the Hyroglf Site better. Because every survey and request for feedback may be used for various purposes, we will tell you, at the time we give you the survey or request for feedback, how we plan on using your answers and any personal information you provide. If you don’t feel comfortable with how we plan on using the survey or feedback results, you are not obligated to take the survey or give feedback.

Metadata

Sometimes, we may automatically receive location data from your device. For example, if you want to upload a photo via mobile device, we may receive metadata, such as the place and time you took the photo, automatically from your device. Please be aware that, unlike location information collected using GPS signals described above, the default setting on your mobile device typically includes the metadata in your photo or video upload to the Hyroglf Site. If you do not want metadata sent to us and made public at the time of your upload, please change your settings on your device.

IP Addresses

Finally, when you visit the Hyroglf Site, we automatically receive the IP address of the device (or your proxy server) you are using to access the Internet, which could be used to infer your geographical location. We keep IP addresses confidential, except as provided in this Policy. If you are visiting the Hyroglf Site with your mobile device, we may use your IP address to provide anonymized or aggregated information to service providers regarding the volume of usage in certain areas. We use IP addresses for research and analytics; to better personalize content, notices, and settings for you; and to fight spam, identity theft, malware, and other kinds of abuse.

4. When May We Share Your Information?

With Your Permission

We may share your information for a particular purpose, if you agree.

For Legal Reasons

We may access, preserve, or disclose your personal information if we reasonably believe it necessary to satisfy a valid and legally enforceable warrant, subpoena, court order, law or regulation, or other judicial or administrative order. However, if we believe that a particular request for disclosure of a user’s information is legally invalid or an abuse of the legal system and the affected user does not intend to oppose the disclosure themselves, we will try our best to fight it. We are committed to notifying you via email at least ten (10) calendar days, when possible, before we disclose your personal information in response to a legal demand. However, we may only provide notice if we are not legally restrained from contacting you and there is no credible threat to life or limb that is created or increased by disclosing the request.

Nothing in this Privacy Policy is intended to limit any legal objections or defenses you may have to a third party’s request (whether it be civil, criminal, or governmental) to disclose your information. We recommend seeking the advice of legal counsel immediately if such a request is made involving you.

If the Organization is Transferred

In the extremely unlikely event that ownership of all or substantially all of Hyroglf changes, or we go through a reorganization (such as a merger, consolidation, or acquisition), we will continue to keep your personal information confidential, except as provided in this Policy, and provide notice to you via the Hyroglf Site and an e-mail notification at least thirty (30) calendar days before any personal information is transferred or becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

To Protect You, Ourselves & Others

We may disclose your personal information if we believe that it’s reasonably necessary to prevent imminent and serious bodily harm or death to a person, or to protect our organization, employees, contractors, users, or the public. We may also disclose your personal information if we reasonably believe it necessary to detect, prevent, or otherwise assess and address potential spam, malware, fraud, abuse, unlawful activity, and security or technical concerns.

To Our Service Providers

Sometimes we use third-party service providers or contractors who help run or improve the Hyroglf Site for you and other users. We may give access to your personal information to these providers or contractors as needed to perform their services for us or to use their tools and services. We put requirements, such as confidentiality agreements, in place to help ensure that these service providers treat your information consistently with, and no less protective of your privacy than, the principles of this Policy.

Information You Make Public

Any information you post publicly on the Hyroglf Site is just that – public. For example, if you put your mailing address in a public post, that is public, and not protected by this Policy. Please think carefully about your desired level of anonymity before you disclose personal information in a post or elsewhere on the Hyroglf Site.

5. Protection
   

How Do We Protect Your Data?

We strive to protect your information from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. We use a variety of physical and technical measures, policies, and procedures (such as access control procedures, network firewalls, and physical security) designed to protect our systems and your personal information. Unfortunately, there’s no such thing as completely secure data transmission or storage, so we can’t guarantee that our security will not be breached (by technical measures or through violation of our policies and procedures).

How Long Do We Keep Your Data?

Once we receive personal information from you, we keep it for the shortest possible time that is consistent with the maintenance, understanding, and improvement of the Hyroglf Site, and our obligations under applicable U.S. law. Non-personal information may be retained indefinitely.

Please remember that certain information is retained and displayed indefinitely, such as any public contributions to the Hyroglf Site.

6. Important Information
   

Your use of the Hyroglf Site constitutes acceptance of this Privacy Policy. For the protection of the Hyroglf LLC and other users, if you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, you should not use the Hyroglf Site.

Where is Hyroglf & What Does That Mean for Me?

Hyroglf is a private entity based in the state of  Maryland, USA, with servers and data centers located in the U.S. If you decide to use the Hyroglf Site, whether from inside or outside of the U.S., you consent to the collection, transfer, storage, processing, disclosure, and other uses of your information in the U.S. as described in this Privacy Policy. You also consent to the transfer of your information by us from the U.S. to other countries, which may have different or less stringent data protection laws than your country, in connection with providing services to you.

Changes to This Privacy Policy

Because things change over time and we want to ensure our Privacy Policy accurately reflects our practices and the law, it may be necessary to modify this Privacy Policy from time to time.

We ask that you please review the most up-to-date version of our Privacy Policy. Your continued use of the Hyroglf Site after this Privacy Policy becomes effective constitutes acceptance of this Privacy Policy on your part. Your continued use of the Hyroglf Site after any subsequent version of this Privacy Policy becomes effective, following notice as outlined above, constitutes acceptance of that version of the Privacy Policy on your part.