Golf has come a long way over the past 10 years and so has the technology in and around golf. So It was only a matter of time until technology found its way into golf.
In this article, we look at the best golf scorecard apps on the market today. Tested by real golfers on a real golf course.
We don’t hold back on any punches, if it’s crap then we’ll tell you.
The Test Conditions
March 12th – 18th Heworth Golf club in York, North Yorkshire.
4 Ball over 18 holes – Players varied in golf skills, and also more importantly for this test, technology skills. i.e: Being able to use a mobile phone and internet.
Played over a week, we all downloaded one app each for every 18 holes we played and took notes on how the app performed. We managed to compare 6 apps in total which were chosen from a list of 15 before we started the review. These were narrowed down from online reviews into the best golf scorecard apps available online.
The Golf App Testers
Myself: 15 Handicapper – Good with Technology & Internet, not so good at driving over 200 Yards
Chris: 15 Handicapper – Average phone skills – Bad eyesight and likes a beer or three, four, five
Tom: 8 Handicapper – Good golfer – Always on his phone – talks a lot of sh*t
Phil: 9 Handicapper – Hates phones – Loves beer and has more luck than any man I’ve ever known.
Weather conditions: Th course was VERY wet but no clouds or bad conditions so internet signals should be fine.
Price ranges: All apps are FREE but some have premium add ons- All downloaded from App store & Google play
We will give you our findings and opinions on each one and choose a winner at the end of this post.
The Best Golf Apps
Here are the best golf apps we tested. Listed in no particular order but we will tell you our favorite at the end of this post.
SWING BY SWING
Swing by swing – We found this app very easy to install. We had no issues downloading it at the course on all phones. It took less than 1 minute to install and all we did was type our Name and email address and confirmed this in an email and we were all good to go. You don’t even need to add your email address if you don’t want to but we wanted to see if we got any other features for doing so. You don’t.. They just want you to purchase extras.
The app has many features other than the basic scorecard function, like wind speed and green slopes ETC but we found just using the basic scorecard function was enough for us.
You can get bogged down in all the functions and forget, you’re there to play and enjoy yourself and not slow anyone up. So we stuck to just the basic function on all these apps.
FEATURES:
* GPS rangefinder that works on every course in the world with distance to the center of the green and every obstacle on the course
* Digital scorecard that easily tracks your score & putts and automatically advances from hole-to-hole
* Free handicap after posting scores for three rounds
* On-the-course gaming including stroke play and skins gaming
* Tee time booking with our integrated partner, TeeOff by PGA Tour, with NO booking fees
* Personalized online account to enter past scores, share with your friends, and view recent scores, your path around the course, stats, graphs, uploaded photos and more
OUR THOUGHTS
The best part of this app was the handicap system, you can even enter Stableford points for easy calculations in tournaments and competitions. Beginners can sometime struggle to understand the basic scoring system in golf. This app takes all the pressure away from you of working out how your game is progressing. Just enter your total number of shot and let the app work it out for you.
Sit in the clubhouse after you round and the app will tell you all the stats you need to know.
Our rating 4.8 Out of 5 GET THIS APP HERE!
mScorecard
mScorecard – This app was easy to set up and download and took apx 1 minute to download to our phone. It was easy to start the round and add all our details.
The only issue we had was the index of some of the holes was incorrect, I think the hole may have changed the stroke index and the app hadn’t updated. It would have been better if we could have entered our own index for the hole.
The GPS seemed to work fine and we had no issues with lost signals or anything like that.
Features
* Track strokes and putts along with fairway hits, greens in regulation, up-and-downs, sand saves and penalties for up to five players per round. Enter scores and shot details in a matter of seconds per hole.
* Store full game histories and advanced round statistics on your phone along with an unlimited number of courses, players, and rounds. Or post them on our server for detailed analysis.
* Use GPS to view your distance to the green at all times.
* Calculate and track your handicap index automatically based on played rounds. mScorecard™ supports multiple handicap systems in different countries.
* Analyze rounds and statistics to manage and improve your game.
* Wager and play popular side games, including Skins, Nassau, Match Play, Stroke Play, Stableford, Greenies, Longest Drive, Birdies, Eagles.
* Share scorecards and stats with your friends via e-mail and Facebook
Our Thoughts
The best part of this app is the tracking of your rounds, over the course of a year you can see your handicap change from week to week and see if you have improved or not.
The graphics are good but not as modern looking as some of the over apps.
Our rating 4.5 out of 5 Get this app here!
18 Birdies
18 Birdie scorecard app– We love this app, the free option has all the basic functions listed below. However, the app offers you the chance to upgrade to the premium features which we feel are well worth the money. The app took a minute to load and set up was easy.
You can track the distance ( gapping ) for all your clubs. This is such a good benefit to have.
Features
– GPS+ RANGEFINDER: Find your distance from anywhere on the course
– DIGITAL SCORECARD: No more paper scorecards to keep track of
– STATS & ROUND HISTORY: Track your stats in a few taps and view all your past rounds
– SIDE GAMES: Easily track your bets with Points and our free game of the month
– REWARD YOURSELF: Earn chances to win trips and prizes just for playing golf
– QUALITY GOLF CONTENT: Stay up-to-date with the latest golf instruction, news, entertainment and more from the most trusted sources in golf
– STAY CONNECTED: Share your rounds with friends and compete on leaderboards
18BIRDIES PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP FEATURES
– ADVANCED GPS: Get elevation, temperature, humidity and wind data
– LIVE WEATHER MAP: Get a detailed doppler radar view of the weather at the course and surrounding area
– CADDY+ CLUB RECOMMENDATIONS: Personalized distance and club recommendations for every shot
– CADDY+ SHOT TRACKING & HISTORY: Track and view your shots based on distance, shot shape, quality, and power
– ADVANCED STATS: Analyze your golf game with new charts and custom filters
– GAMEBETS: Unlock full access to our growing library of side games
– GROUP OUTINGS: Host a single or multi-round tournament on one course or virtually on any course in the 18Birdies database
– PARTNER DISCOUNTS: Unlock exclusive discounts and deals with your membership
– PREMIUM LESSON PLANS: Gain instant access to our full catalog of Premium video lessons, taught by top-tier golf instructors.
Our thoughts
This app has the best graphics out of all the apps we tested, we loved the detail GPS screens. It was very accurate and offered lots of information to help you select the right club and shot.
We would highly recommend the premium version.
Our rating 4.7 – 5 Get this app here!
EzyGolf
When we downloaded this app we thought WOW it looks very simple and neat. The app unfortunately didn’t live up to its nice looks. It is simply too basic and you can only use it to track your scores for 2 players.
You might as well just write your scores down on a paper scorecard. No information or GPS tracking.
Features
*Easy start – save your course while playing & enter par as you go (this option allows you to play up to 9 holes)
*Up to 2 player scoring
*Double digit scoring (Press and hold on the scorecard to enter a double-digit score)
*Create one 9 hole course
*9 hole scoring
*9 holes displayed at once
*Easily add players
*Play the amount of holes choose the 9 holes
*Add one course
*Start at any hole you like
*Pause and continue your game
*Up to three prev rounds saved
Our thoughts
This would be perfect for children or your players who just want to record their scores and nothing else.
Our rating 3.9 out of 5 Get this app here!
Golfwith
Golfwith – We loved this app!
It looks really modern and was easy to install. It took less than a minute to install and within seconds we were up and running. The best part was the audio instructions, it tells you how far you have left in on the next shot. Amazing.
60,000 courses installed and more are being added weekly.
Golfwith: GOLF GPS, meet the new tracking and audio guidance device, the Smart Marker.
With Smart Marker, you don’t need any other handheld device.
You can hear the remaining shot distance with audio guidance, and input your shot tracking data with just a single click.
With Golfwith GOLF GPS, you can get additional below services via your smartphone.
– Golfwith Smart Marker device support
– Auto Hole recognition
– Over 60,000 + worldwide course information
– The distance information from your current location to the green
– Golf Shot tracking & history
– Customer support within 48 hours
Our thoughts
This is a really good app and it’s been downloaded over 100,000 times. We liked all the information it gave you and the GPS tracking for each hole was spot on. The feedback and score at the end of the round were perfect. Very easy to read, clear and perfect for tracking your progress throughout the golfing season.
Our rating 4.9 out of 5 Get this app here!
Golf GPS Rangefinder
Golf GPS Rangefinder – NOT A SCORECARD recording app. To be honest, we downloaded it by mistake, but we thought we’d try it out. We were really surprised how accurate this GPS Rangefinder was. With plenty of courses already installed, we had no issues finding Heworth golf club. It took minutes to download and set up. The graphics and GPS were impressive. Very similar to other apps but this one seemed to hold our battery life much better. Some of the others drained our phones quicker.
1. Full & fast GPS rangefinder feature with minimum battery consumption.
2. GPS Accuracy meets/exceeds any other app or expensive device.
3. Show hole by hole satellite map with info like hole no, par, distance.
4. Set a target and get the distance between you and target, and between target and green.
5. Course mapping feature right on your fingertip. You can move your tee or flag position, and you can even remap the whole course if it is outdated.
6. Automatically zoom to optimal level when you move a significant distance.
7. Drag your target to plan your shot, to see how far your shot will be and what will remain.
8. Provide a simple GPS view with three circles showing 100, 150, and 200 yards.
9. Thousands of mapped courses available to be downloaded.
10. Search courses around you or search by name, city, state, country.
11. Save your downloaded courses to your phone so that you don’t have to download them again.
Our thoughts
This is a GPS rangefinder, you simply tap the screen and drag the marker where you want to hit the shot and it will tell you the yardage. It’s like having a very detailed course planner.
The GPS seemed to work fine for us with no issues. However, you still need to record your scores somehow.
Our rating 4.2 out of 5 Get this app here!
The Best Overall Golf Scorecard App We Found
After a week of using these Golf scorecard apps which one did we love and keep downloaded and which did we delete?
The winner for us was the GOLFWITH app! Here’s why we loved it.
- Easy to set up
- Add lots of features
- Voice guides you on your next shots
- Very accurate GPS
- Did kill our battery on our phones
- Had 60k courses build in already
- Found our course within seconds
- Responsiveness
- Shot tracking history
You can find this app on the Google app store and we have kept it on our phone because of the above reasons.
We hope you found this article Best golf scorecard apps helpful and we hope you use the information you record on these apps to improve your game. Learning from your mistakes is vital for improving your game. Honest information is key and you cant get away from your scores if you use these apps.
Good luck and play well.
