9 Apple Watch Golf Apps That Will Lower Your Scores

Most golf apps today offer an Apple Watch app, where you can get GPS distances and track your scores and basic stats for free. These basic features are pretty universal – give or take a couple – in the free version of today’s golf apps. Having GPS distances and a scorecard on your wrist alone can replace expensive laser rangefinders and golf-specific GPS watches. However, there’s a whole nother world of golf stats and data aimed at helping you shoot lower scores just a premium subscription away. 

This is where things get interesting. While pretty much all golf apps are built on the same foundation of basic GPS distances and score tracking, each is outfitted with vastly different accessories that make them unique.

Hello Birdie, for example, is all-in on giving you a customized game plan before each round based on your game, your goals, and your risk tolerance. 18 Birdies, meanwhile, has an AI Swing Coach to give you the keys to improving your swing based on a quick video. 

These are pretty cool add-ons, but one of our favorite features of any golf app is Golfshot’s ability to display your tempo, rhythm, hand speed, transition, and swing path just from taking a swing wearing an Apple Watch.

To help you decide which Apple Watch golf app has the features you need at the price you want, here is our complete breakdown of the nine best Apple Watch golf apps.

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Whether you use the free version, or the premium version, 18Birdies offers everything you need from your golf app. Sync it with your Apple Watch to get GPS distances all over the golf course and track your score, and all the side games your group can dream up.

Upgrade to the premium version and get club recommendations for every shot based on your past performance, distance, slope, and current weather conditions. After your round, dive into your Strokes Gained stats to figure out where you can improve to drop the most strokes.

One of the coolest features 18Birdies offers is its AI Swing Coach. Just record a video of your golf swing – you don’t even need to be hitting a ball – and upload it to the AI Coach. You’ll get a breakdown of how you can improve your swing, along with drills, to build a better golf swing.

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We’ve all bemoaned our short game at the 19th hole, calculating what we would have shot if that one facet was sharp, then scoured the internet for tips and drills to make it better for next time.

SwingU hears us, and makes this whole process simpler. Premium members get a “#1 Game Improvement Priority” based on performance after each round, with drills that will sharpen that part of your game right in the app.

SwingU doesn’t just improve your game between rounds. With green-reading maps from StrackaLine built into the app for more than 13,000 courses, you can nail your speed and read on every green, a great in-round benefit.

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With premium features for only $29.99 per year, Golf Pad GPS is the best-value Apple Watch golf app in our book. The affordable premium subscription gets you all the well-known goodies – strokes gained stats, plays like yardages and club recommendations. One of our favorite features, and frankly one that more apps should offer, is strokes gained by shot. 

With Golf Pad, you can actually look at a map of every shot you hit, and see whether each shot helped or hurt you. 

One caveat with Golf Pad is that smartwatch sync is actually a premium feature. Therefore, you can’t use the free version of the app and sync it with your Apple Watch. 

*All distances except plays-like are free on phone app; Smartwatch sync is a premium feature

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Golfshot offers one of the coolest features of any Apple Watch golf app. 

It’s called Swing ID, and it uses your Apple Watch to track your tempo, rhythm, hand speed, backswing length, transition and swing path, all with one swing of the club.

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While it offers all the bells and whistles you can expect from a premium golf app, Hello Birdie is the only one to give you a detailed game-plan before your round even begins. That’s right, you tell the app about your current game, goals and risk tolerance, and Hello Birdie spits out a complete game plan of every shot on every hole to shoot your target score.

Actually, it spits out three plans. An aggressive plan that gives you the best chance of making the lowest possible score on a hole, a normal plan that steers away from the biggest possible numbers, and a safe plan that completely minimizes the risk of disaster. Of course, you still have to hit the shots.

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The Grint is a solution to both golf problems you’ve long loathed, and those you didn’t know you had. 

For example, it offers a feature to round out your foursome by inviting friends you’ve connected with on the app, specific people you invite, or any local app users. No more stressing about a random fourth or ending up with three people fighting over your final two spots.

You can also upload a photo of your scorecard to The Grint, and it will magically appear as a digital scorecard in the app. Other cool features include live leaderboards with multiple groups, and even Ryder Cup-style scoring.

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Hole 19 checks all the boxes you need a golf app to do. In addition to pairing with Apple Watch, Premium subscribers get club recommendations, premium maps, stats and distances from every club, overall stats, and no ads.

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Arccos is more than a golf app, it’s an entire system designed to give you the information you need to improve your golf game. It starts with sensors that attach to each club and pair with either your phone or the Arccos Link, and it all culminates in the Arccos Caddie app.

While you play, the app tracks every shot you hit, allowing you to focus on your game. On your wrist, you get club recommendations, plays-like yardages, and distances to hazards, doglegs and layups. After your round, Arccos breaks down how every facet of your game compares to players of any handicap.

If you’re used to testing the waters with a free trial, Arccos may not be for you. The Arccos bundle, which includes sensors for every club, plus the Link and one free year of the Arccos Caddie app, will set you back $250, and after that first year, your annual subscription is $155.

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The GHIN mobile app is probably not the first Apple Watch golf app we’d recommend for players looking for club recommendations and game-improving insights and into their game. Players who want an efficient way to track their rounds and post their scores to their official handicap, however, may find that the premium edition of the GHIN mobile app is just what the doctor ordered.

GPS distances on your wrist, score and stat tracking, and easy score posting are all at the forefront of the GHIN app. Premium subscribers also enjoy putt break maps on 14,000 courses and get the benefit of tracking their club distances.

GHIN also packs the convenience factor. If you keep an official handicap, you should already have the GHIN app on your phone. From there, upgrading is easy and doesn’t require you to use multiple apps every time you play a round of golf.

Don’t get us wrong, there’s something satisfyingly traditional about using nothing more than a 3-inch pencil and 5x8 scorecard to track our 18-hole trek. But with the heaps of data and tools available with today’s golf apps, you’re leaving strokes on the table if you choose not to adapt.

Whether it’s AI Swing Coach, strokes gained stats, or your Swing ID, today’s best golf apps can help your game.