Question

For some weird reason golferStats is not storing info correctly…

I cut out a bunch of stuff in this code to the bare basics why is is still not working?

Problem: The last NSLOG returns nil when it should return a huge array…

NSMutableDictionary *golferStats = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];
golferStats = [userDefaults objectForKey:@"golferStats"];

[golferStats setObject:golferTwoIconCounter forKey:golferName]; //golferName is k

[userDefaults setObject:golferStats forKey:@"golferStats"];
[userDefaults synchronize];
NSLog(@"SAVED SCORE CARD");
NSLog(@"%@",[golferStats objectForKey:@"k"]);

Answer 1

NSMutableDictionary *golferStats = [[NSMutableDictionary alloc] init];

golferStats = [userDefaults objectForKey:@"golferStats"];

…

[golferStats release];

You first create an NSDictionary and then you assign over top of it, thus leaking memory and presumably getting nil back from user defaults. setObject:forKey: in the nil dictionary is a no-op, and then you are setting it back into the user defaults.

EDIT:

Try checking if there is a dictionary first:

NSDictionary *golferStats = [userDefaults objectForKey:@"golferStats"];
if (golferStats == nil) {
    golferStates = [NSDictionary dictionary]; // this will not leak
}
...