Golf Apps for Apple Watch | Your Digital Caddie on the Course

Arccos is the official game tracker of the PGA TOUR. The app's power is unlocked by pairing its Smart Sensors (sold separately) to your clubs.

This is essential for the full Apple Watch integration, as it allows the watch to automatically detect every shot you hit, no phone in pocket required (but remember to keep your phone within Bluetooth range).

What impressed us most was the on-course data. The A.I. Rangefinder provides the ‘Plays Like’ distance, while A.I. Caddie Advice analyzes your personal history to recommend the exact club to hit.

After your round, the app delivers a tour-level Strokes Gained Analytics report, breaking down your performance versus a target handicap across all five facets of the game: Driving, Approach, Short Game, Bunkers, and Putting. This data-driven system moves you from guessing to knowing exactly what to practice.

Golfshot is a powerhouse app and is trusted by 5 million golfers worldwide. From our research, its core strength is providing real-time GPS distances to the front, center, and back of every green, plus all hazards and targets, on over 45,000 courses worldwide.

Though the free version converts your watch to a powerful GPS, the real magic begins when you upgrade to Golfshot Pro. This upgrade unlocks a suite of tour-level tools. You get detailed Green Maps with heatmaps to read breaks, 3D flyovers of every hole, and Golfscape AR.

The Golfscape AR uses your phone's camera to show a stunning augmented-reality view of the course. Along with all this, the app features Auto Shot Tracking (AST) that uses just your watch to automatically log every shot.

The Golfshot app gives you a detailed post-round analysis that pinpoints exactly what part of your game is costing you strokes.

TheGrint is built to be the central hub for your entire golf life, combining on-course tools with deep post-round analysis. Its Apple Watch app is compatible with Series 4 and higher.

This is the best Golf app for Apple Watch that works as a powerful companion, giving you GPS distances, score tracking, and shot tracking right on your wrist.

The app provides robust GPS maps for over 40,000 courses and (with Pro) detailed Green Maps for over 25,000 courses. Its paid plan also unlocks 50+ performance stats and Insights & Targets, TheGrint's version of strokes gained, to benchmark your game.

For your regular group, it handles all the complex calculations for 11 game formats (like Skins, Vegas, and Wolf) with live leaderboards. It even offers a Scorecard Picture Service, just snap a photo of your physical card, and TheGrint transcribes it for you.

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18Birdies has built its platform around four core pillars: Play, Track, Practice, and Compete. Its most impressive feature is the comprehensive Digital Caddy. It delivers accurate distances and crucial advice that accounts for wind speed, elevation, temperature, and rain, removing guesswork from your club selection.

The app then automatically tracks your score and stats for immediate post-round analysis. For game improvement, you gain access to the revolutionary AI Swing Analyzer, which provides personalized coaching and specific drills based on your swing video.

Finally, the app allows you to track the results of up to 10 popular games with friends, including Match Play, Nassau, and Targets. It also lets you benchmark your performance against other golfers at the courses you play.

This integration of automatic tracking, competition, and AI-powered personalized coaching makes 18Birdies the definitive digital caddy for every aspect of your game.

Hole19 is a favorite of millions of golfers and offers great value for both free and premium versions. The free version is one of the most robust available, providing accurate GPS distances to the front, back, and center of the green on over 42,000 courses, plus a comprehensive digital scorecard.

This scorecard tracks your score, putts, and fairways hit. What we found most impressive, however, is the Pro upgrade for Apple Watch. Beyond the game-changing Maps on Watch, it unlocks a full suite of caddie features.

The app features ‘Plays Like’ distances (factoring in elevation), Club Recommendations based on your personal data, and a Handicap Calculator to track your improvement.

Hole19 gives you the freedom to start for free, but its Pro upgrade, starting at $6.99, delivers a level of strategic, visual data on your watch that genuinely changes how you manage the course.

SwingU is a complete game-improvement platform that scales with your needs. The app’s strength is its robust Digital Caddy, which is fully compatible with Apple Watch. The Plus tier, priced at $59.99,  provides ‘Plays Like’ Distances.

This accounts for wind and elevation, as well as Green-reading Maps for over 20,000 courses. You can also opt for the app’s pro tier starting at $14.99. It offers a comprehensive analysis of your game.

It doesn't just give you stats; it uses Strokes Gained to compare your performance to a target handicap. SwingU identifies the single biggest area you need to work on, and then serves you a custom drill library to fix it.

This system truly transforms your Apple Watch from a simple GPS into a data-driven personal coach. With SwingU, you're no longer just guessing what to practice; it provides an objective, data-driven plan. With a strong plan from elite instructors, you can ensure that every range session has a purpose.

Golf Pad is a powerful, easy-to-use app that scales with your game. Its free version is robust, offering an accurate GPS rangefinder, a PGA-quality digital scorecard for four, and high-resolution aerial maps.

What we found most essential for Apple Watch users, however, is the Premium upgrade. This upgrade unlocks the full potential of your watch, including Plays Like distances that adjust for elevation and weather.

It also offers a detailed Green Maps with contours, and smart Club Recommendations based on your performance. It also activates a simple one-tap Shot Tracker and provides detailed Strokes Gained analysis after your round.

Golf Pad is the ultimate companion for the minimalist golfer, delivering a complete, data-rich caddie experience without ever forcing you to carry your phone.

This app brings a premium, tour-level experience directly to your Apple Watch. It is primarily designed as the perfect companion for the TAG Heuer Connected watch, but its Apple Watch integration is also exceptionally powerful.

Your watch becomes your caddie, serving up interactive 2D course maps on your wrist, along with precise GPS distances to greens and hazards. What we found most impressive is that you can track your score (for up to 4 players).

You can also measure your shot distance with impressive accuracy, all directly from your watch without needing to pull out your phone. The premium version unlocks even more, including real-time club recommendations and pro-level stats to help you improve.

This app successfully combines the sophisticated visuals of a luxury brand with the high-performance data that most golfers demand.

This app is the gold standard for swing analysis and is built for serious practice. You can record your swing in HD and use its advanced video tools to analyze it in slow-motion and frame-by-frame.

The app’s most impressive feature is its Compare and Overlay tool, which lets you view your swing side-by-side against a massive library of Model Swings from over 400 pros, including Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods, to see exactly where your technique differs.

The Apple Watch integration allows you to review these swing videos and drills right on your wrist. This creates a powerful, continuous feedback loop between you, your swing, and your instructor, making it the best app for golfers who are truly dedicated to improving their mechanics.

GolfLogix was the first to introduce golf GPS and has evolved into a powerful 3D caddie. It provides full-color 3D maps of each hole, GPS distances, and green heat maps right on your wrist.

What impressed us most was the app's immersive visual planning. Before you even tee off, you can use 3D Virtual Flyovers to see your ball's flight path using your personal club distances. This allows you to visualize and strategize every shot with total confidence.

Once on the green, the Putt Line feature provides the optimal aim point and elevation change, taking the guesswork out of reading breaks.

This powerful combination of 3D visualization for long shots and precise line-reading for putts makes it a complete tee-to-green strategic tool.

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