Performance Golf App & SwingFix AI Review

Before we check out the Performance Golf app itself, I want to touch on the company’s reputation. Look up Performance Golf on the Better Business Bureau’s website and you’ll notice a trend. Customer after customer complained about purchasing a product from Performance Golf, only to later find monthly subscription charges adding up to around $350 per year.

From what I can tell, most products purchased from Performance Golf include a two-week trial membership to Scratch Club, which auto-renews at $29 per month after that trial period. The problem is that people don’t realize their purchase includes this subscription – if you don’t navigate to every tab on the product description, you won’t see this information – or that they must proactively cancel it to avoid monthly charges.

An unsavory business strategy to say the least, and one Performance Golf seems committed to. For what it’s worth, Performance Golf has a B+ rating with the BBB, and all of the complaints I reviewed were resolved with a refund, although I did not read all 528 complaints. 

As it relates to this specific product, that Scratch Club subscription is part of the $199 annual fee you pay for the app, so if it's your intention to purchase the Scratch Club membership I don’t think (but you should definitely verify) you’ll find hidden charges.

SwingFix AI is only part of the Performance Golf app, and in my experience, it’s pretty darn good.

Navigating the process of recording swings couldn’t be easier, and once you get there the app prompts you to record five swings instead of just one. After five swings, the app quickly uploads and analyzes your swings, and within a minute, you’ve got accurate feedback on your swing.

Once it evaluates your swing, the app identifies five flaws, ranking them in order of priority. 

After the app identifies your swing flaws, it’s time to fix them. Again, doing this is super easy in the app. Each flaw has a “Fix Issue” button that’s clear as day. Tap that and you’re taken to a page that describes exactly what the flaw is, the target parameters, and how far outside those parameters your swing falls. From there, you’re one tap away from video lessons that prescribe drills targeted at that specific issue.

After you’ve worked through the drills and feel confident you can make swings within the target parameters for that flaw, you can re-record swings. If you make five swings in a row within the acceptable range, you’ll move that flaw to the Fixed Flaws column.

It’s all very easy to use, and I found the flaws that SwingFix AI found to be accurate. I can’t say for certain these are the biggest flaws in my swing, and I can’t say for certain they’re not. I’m sure the app is somewhat limited in what types of swing characteristics it can evaluate – it looks for 17different issues with your swing –  and from my experience, it seems to be more on the technical side. Things like spine axial rotation (my top flaw, who knew?), pelvic rotation, and shoulder sway popped up in my list of flaws. Fixing these issues – which I’m still working on – would result in a better looking golf swing, no doubt, and I’d be willing to bet if you overcome your flaws, you’d add a welcomed dose of consistency to your ball striking.

After using the Performance Golf app for a few weeks, I began having troubles with it, and eventually none of the training videos would load, and certain buttons within the app weren't tappable/clickable anymore. I contacted Performance Golf support and got a response quickly, within 24 hours.

The response was not only prompt, but it gave me the help that I needed, which was that I needed to update my iOS. Once I did that, everything worked smoothly again.

SwingFix AI is easy to use and it does a good job of identifying flaws in your swing, and prescribing drills to fix them. However, there are some limitations.

First of all, it’s specifically a full-swing analyzer. If you need help with your putting or short game, you won’t find it here, although there is help for those areas in other places within the Performance Golf app, which I’ll get to shortly.

It’s also heavy on the technical side. Yes, the parameters prescribed for each flaw are based on the ranges of great players, but if you’re already a good ball-striker with a solid swing and you want to hone a shot shape or trajectory, or improving your swing isn’t your goal, I don’t think this is your fix.

Indeed, the Performance Golf app is much more than just the SwingFix AI, although for many players, that might be the hook that pulls you in.

Full access to the app is $199 per year, and that gets you access to tons of training content that for the most part, is targeted to your game. For example, when you input scores and stats from your rounds in the My Game tab, the app learns which areas of your game can make the biggest impact on your scores if you improve them, then prescribes trainings focused on those areas.

Beyond those prescribed training courses, you have access to the entire library of trainings in the Training tab. There are over 100 trainings in there, and each is a series of several videos describing drills and concepts of specific areas of the game. I’ve done a few of these, including an entire putting series which proved to be beneficial, and a series on swing sequence, and have found them to be engaging, easy to follow, and helpful.

The app also includes Performances Golf’s Scratch Club, which prescribes scratch benchmarks in six areas of the game. When you submit scorecards, your performance is measured against those benchmarks and the app prescribes training to help you get there as quickly as possible.

I don’t know about you, but most of the apps I use are free, so $199 per year for the Performance Golf app sounds startling at first. But compare that to what you would spend on golf improvement alternatively. For that much, you could get 2-4 half-hour lessons with a professional, at least where I live.

Between those two options, I have a hard time guessing which I think would lead to lower scores over the course of the golf season. nI do believe the Performance Golf app would keep you engaged longer and has the ability to impact every area of your game more than an abbreviated series of lessons can.

So who would I recommend the Performance Golf app for? Overall I think it’s a quality product. The app is really user-friendly, the trainings are quality (and from well-known instructors, I should add), it prioritizes your areas of improvement, and it can help you build a better golf swing. 

It’s probably not perfect, but it’s probably a lot better than you would do on your own. With that said, if you have the time and motivation to use the app regularly throughout the year, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.