Best Golf App For Apple Watch 2023

Wearable technology has exploded in the last five years. Their compact, comfortable design allows us to keep on top of our lives without carrying our phones.

This is handy on the golf course, where our mobile devices can prove distracting.

In this post, I look for the best golf app for the apple watch in 2022. I have included a range of free, premium, and mid-priced apps, the pack a variety of technology.

From recording your distance to keeping score and measuring yardage, let’s see what they have to offer.

Intro To Golf Apps On Apple Watch

Golf apps are a convenient way for players to track their scores and receive distance measurements and club recommendations.

All of this is possible without lugging around a rangefinder or your mobile device. Download the app on your watch, set it up, and hit the links.

What Are We Looking For In A Quality App

  • GPS Measurements

The core reason for golfers using apps is for distance measurements. A quality golf app will possess this capability and offer yardage to hazards and the green.

  • Scorecard

Another feature that golfers expect from applications is score tracking. It is a convenient way to record your strokes on each hole without searching for your pencil and scorecard.

  • Statistics

Statistics give us insight into our strengths and weaknesses. Quality golf apps help you record GIR, FIR, putts per hole, and penalties to help you identify the strengths and weaknesses in your game.

  • Club Recommendations

A final feature that is helpful to casual golfers is club recommendation. This removes the guesswork from club selection and helps you improve your distance control from tee to green.

  • Pro Tips

Apple Golf App Vs Golf Specific Watch

An Apple Watch gives you more selection, enabling you to change to another product when you are unhappy.

However, a golf-specific watch is a costly endeavor. Plus, it limits you to features of that company’s software. My advice is to keep your options open.

AT A GLANCE

THE TOP 3

18 Birdies Golf GPS

Best Choice

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Tag Heuer Golf App

Best Premium

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GolfLogix Golf App

Best Budget

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#1 – 18 Birdies Golf GPS – Best Choice

3 Selling Points

  • Blind Shot Compass
  • It tells you which side of the fairway is safer to play to
  • Live weather map

Overview & Key Features

18 Birdies provides a robust offering of features ranging from GPS distance, club recommendations, and a live weather map.

In addition, advanced statistics allow you to analyze your performance post-round. While the tee shot planner guides you to the best side of the fairway.

Furthermore, the app provides a blind shot compass to help you aim correctly when the pin is out of sight. Finally, a live weather map keeps you on top of conditions and factors them into your shot.

Subscription Costs

18 Birdies offers three tiers of subscription. Those looking to test it out before making a long-term commitment can drop $7.99 per week. However, they reward loyalty and long-term commitments. The monthly fee is $19.99, while a 12-month subscription sets you back $99.

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Provides club recommendations
  • Tee shot planner
  • Live weather map
  • Blind shot compass
  • Advanced shot statistics

Cons

  • The weekly subscription does not include a free trial.

Rating: 96/100

#2 – Tag Heuer Golf app – Best Premium

3 Selling Points

  • 2D and 3D mapping technology
  • Up-to-date maps on 40,000
  • Shot tracking measurement

Overview & Key Features

The Tag Heuer Golf app offers 2D and 3D mapping technology, with data on 40,000 golf courses worldwide. In addition, it measures your shots to determine your average distance with each golf club. Lastly, it tracks your progress through the scorecard and statistics feature.

Subscription Costs

You will need to upgrade to the Premium package to enjoy the phenomenal 2D and 3D mapping technology. The monthly fee is $6.99. However, if you commit to one year, you will pay $40, which is $3.33 per month.

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • 2D and 3D mapping
  • Scorecard functionality
  • It measures shot distance
  • Provides club recommendations
  • Contains data on 40,000 golf courses

Cons

  • It is light in features for a paid app.

Rating: 85/100

#3 – GolfLogix – Best Budget

3 Selling Points

  • GPS distances
  • Putting break assistance
  • Set the pin position for each hole that day

Overview & Key Features

GolfLogix presents GPS distances for accurate measurements to your target. In addition, the putt line feature offers insight into the break of the green. Furthermore, it is equipped to track your score and shot distance for club recommendations.

Lastly, the app enables you to set the pin for each hole on that day for increased accuracy on approach.

Subscription Costs

GolfLogix offers two subscription tiers; monthly and annually. The monthly fee costs $9.99, but an annual subscription is $49.99. That works out to $4.17 per month, more than half the cost of a standard monthly fee.

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • GPS distance measurements
  • Putt line gives you insight into the break of the green
  • It tracks your shot distance
  • Records your score
  • Enables you to set the pin position for that day, increasing the accuracy of your measurement.

Cons

  • The monthly fee is significantly higher than purchasing annually, which almost pushes you to go for the latter.

Rating: 93/100

#4 – SwingU – Best Free

3 Selling Points

  • Digital scorecard
  • GPS distances
  • Wind speed and elevation measurement

Overview & Key Features

SwingU measures your yardage to a specific target from tee to green. This allows you to plan your hole from the tee, knowing how far you will have for your approach shot. Furthermore, the app enables you to keep score and record your distances for club recommendations.

The free version only offers basic yardage and scorecard functionality. However, the premium and plus editions include wind and elevation measurements for plays like distances. Plus, they provide tips and lessons from top 100 instructors. Lastly, the app possesses green-reading maps and analyzes your strokes gained performance.

Subscription Costs

SwingU offers users three levels of membership, the first being the free package. It provides elementary distance measurement and score tracking functionality.

The middle tier is the Plus package which runs you $29.99. It includes plays like distance, shot tracking, and club recommendations.

Finally, the Premium tier includes all the offerings of the Plus package. However, it includes green-reading maps, strokes gained analysis and access to over 600-lessons and drills. This package costs $59.99 per year.

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • It provides plays like distance for increased accuracy
  • Scorecard tracking capability
  • Club recommendations
  • 600 lessons to improve your game
  • Green reading maps

Cons

  • The free version is limited in its offering
  • The Plus package does not include green-reading maps or access to lesson plans.

Rating: 91/100

#5. – Hole19

3 Selling Points

  • GPS data for 42,000 golf courses
  • Score tracker
  • Affordable

Overview & Key Features

At $2.99, Hole19 is an affordable app that provides yardage data for 42,000 golf courses globally. Furthermore, it allows you to record your score and track your performance throughout your round. Plus, it contains a live leaderboard feature to see how your buddy’s behind in a different group are playing.

Subscription Costs

Hole19 is an affordable app that has a specific fee for wearables. It costs you $2.99 for a monthly subscription. That enables the freedom to tap out when you no longer require the app and relieves you from a long-term commitment.

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Affordable monthly subscription
  • You can record your score
  • The live leaderboard feature allows you to keep tabs on your buddy’s score
  • It provides performance insights to help you track your development
  • Offers reliable yardages to your target

Cons

  • The wearables app does not offer club recommendations
  • You do not have access to overall statistics
  • Premium maps are not available on wearable devices

Rating: 88/100

#6. – V1 Game

3 Selling Points

  • Analyzes your swing
  • Receive lessons from a Pro instructor
  • The free version is as good as the paid option

Overview & Key Features

The V1 Golf Swing Analyzer app is totally different from the other golf apps on the market. Most of the products we have reviewed offer GPS measurements and shot tracking. This app dedicates itself to swing analysis and improvement. It boasts an abundance of coaches on its platform.

The downside is that this app is not suited to an apple watch or any wearable device. That is because you need access to a camera to capture your swing. Therefore, it functions best on a mobile phone or iPad.

Subscription Costs

The free version of the V1 app gives you access to numerous features also found in the Pro version. However, the Pro version gives you more control over your analysis and video storage. You can pay as you go every month for a fee of $9.99.

Conversely, you could go all-in for 12 months and fork out $59.99, which works out to effectively $5 per month.

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Analyzes your swing
  • Gives you access to golf coaches
  • Receive video lessons when it is convenient for you
  • Excellent for game improvement

Cons

  • It functions best on a mobile device or iPad

Rating: 86/100

#7. – TheGrint

3 Selling Points

  • Free app
  • GPS measurements
  • Tracks your score

Overview & Key Features

The Grint is a free application that provides golfers with distance measurements from tee to green. Plus, it possesses scorecard functionality to keep your score during your round. That means no need to grab a paper scorecard and search frantically for a pencil in casual rounds.

Another fun feature of The Grint is the scorecard upload service. Snap a picture of your official scorecard and share it with your buddies. They cannot refute an official scorecard with the signatures of all parties.

Finally, the app provides detailed statistics and analysis, such as greens and fairways in regulation. This data gives you insight into your game and the areas that require drastic improvement.

Subscription Costs

Despite its impressive features, The Grint is complementary to golfers. That is right, it costs nothing to enjoy the statistics, distance measurement, and scorecard feature.

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • The app is free
  • Analyzes your performance
  • Scorecard tracker
  • Monitor your scores relative to your handicap
  • Provides GPS distances

Cons

  • For a free app, there is very little else you could ask for.

Rating: 92/100

#8. – Golf Pad

3 Selling Points

  • GPS rangefinder
  • Scoring app
  • Free

Overview & Key Features

Golf Pad is a free multi-purpose app. Its star feature is its rangefinder functionality which provides accurate measurements to hazards and the green. As it stands, the app includes information from 40,000 golf courses.

Furthermore, it tracks the distance of your shots, giving you insight into your average yardage with each club. Plus, the app records and analyzes other statistics such as greens and fairways regulation, putts, and penalties.

The app also possesses scorecard functionality to help you track your group’s strokes on each hole. This is a convenient option for casual rounds.

Subscription Costs

Most features are free on the mobile app, but you will need to upgrade to operate it on your Apple Watch. $20.99 is the annual fee for Golf Pad’s features on your wearable device.

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Provides accurate yardage measurements
  • Tracks the distance of your shots to provide club recommendations
  • Offers insight into your performance on each hole
  • Track the score of your group
  • Helps you identify the weak areas of your game, from tee to green

Cons

  • You need to pay an annual subscription fee to run the features on your watch.

Rating: 85/100

#9. – Golfshot

3 Selling Points

  • Ample features in the free version
  • Real-time distances for 40,000 golf courses
  • Search and book tee times from the app

Overview & Key Features

Golfshot is a distance measuring app equipped with scorecard functionality and auto-shot tracking. The measuring feature provides real-time yardages on over 40,000 golf courses, while the scorecard helps you track strokes, putts, GIR, and FIR.

In addition, the app provides 3D hole and course flyovers to help you plan each hole from the tee box.

Subscription Costs

Golfshot offers three forms of subscription. The first is their free offering. It includes measurements to the center of the green, scoring functionality, and shot tracking. Their Pro package runs you $49.99 per year and offers real-time club recommendations and dynamic 3D hole flyovers.

Finally, their Golf Plan subscription offers everything from the Pro package and coaching tips and drills. This option is priced at $69.98 for 12 months.

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Distances for 40,000 golf courses
  • Autoshot tracking
  • Records your strokes
  • Tracks FIR, GIR, and putts per hole
  • Enables you to search and book tee times from the app

Cons

  • The free version only provides distances to the middle of the green.

Rating: 84/100

#10. – Golf GPS ++

3 Selling Points

  • Auto tracks the distances to the front, middle, and back of the green
  • Built-in swing and putting stroke analyzer
  • Scorecard functionality

Overview & Key Features

Golf GPS ++ offers yardage measurements to the front, middle, and back of the green on over 35,000 golf courses. Like most golf apps, it possesses score tracking functionality, enabling you to record your strokes on every hole.

What sets the Golf GPS ++ apart from its competitors is its swing and putting stroke analyzer. It detects your tempo and highlights the angle of your clubface on your backswing, downswing, and upswing.

Subscription Costs

.There are two ways to go about your subscription fees. The most affordable option long-term is coughing up $29.99 for a 12-month plan. Alternatively, you could pay $6.99 every month. However, this makes no sense in the long run, as it is almost three times more than an annual membership.

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Auto tracks distance to the front, middle, and back of the green
  • Tracks your swing tempo
  • Displays the angle of your clubface from takeaway through impact
  • Scorecard functionality
  • You can record FIR, GIR, and putts per hole

Cons

  • The GPS accuracy is marginally inaccurate. However, it is not catastrophic for the average golfer.

Rating: 83/100

Conclusion

Those are your best golf apps for the Apple watch in 2022. There are multiple apps with free subscriptions and trials to get you started. That suits golfers looking to shop around before pulling the trigger or those on a budget.

Most free apps offer basic functions such as yardage to the green and elementary score tracking. However, premium packages offer detailed score tracking, club recommendations, and coaching tips.

Once you identify your ideal app, I suggest purchasing an annual subscription as it drastically reduces your monthly cost. Those currently seeking an app should test 18Birdies and take it from there.