I‘ve had my iPhone for a few months now, enough time to try out way too many golf apps……and I’ve had some mixed experiences (I wrote about my thoughts on the iSwing app a few weeks ago).
There are literally hundreds (possibly thousands) of golf apps for the iPhone, and many of them are fresh off the developer’s desk and potentially not as stable as they should be. It can therefore be a bit hit and miss in finding quality apps that do what they claim.
So……here are 5 quality golf apps that actually deliver:
1. Golfshot GPS
There are plenty of GPS enabled golf apps on the market these days, but this one leads the pack. The stats tracking and rich charting really set it apart from the others
2. iGolf Rules
A bit pricey, but very practical. It can take time to to find the correct ruling in our little rules book, so we often don’t bother. This app makes it much easier and quicker to make the right, and it’s much more fun to use too
3. Let’s Golf
I’m not really into online games, but I actually enjoyed this one….for awhile. If you’re into games, then try this one – it’s one of the leading iPhone games
4. PGA Tour
This one is great. Get live scoring from the PGA, Nationwide and Champions Tour, as well as player bios, videos (highlights, etc) and tournament schedule. I used it on the way to work the other day to check live scores as the AT&T Pro-Am reached its climax
5. My Golf Swing
I’ve only just started using this one, so can’t attest to whether it will improve your game, but love the idea. This application is aimed at developing a consistent swing tempo. You can even model your tempo on the pros, including Tiger, Vijay, and Sergio
**You can also check out my recent article about the new Mobitee GPS assistant
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
I recently picked up the Golf Swing at http://www.ianalyzesports.com and the app is pretty awesome – just a lot of features i myself wouldn’t use
Golf swingplane is my favourite, has the best functionality of any of the swing trainers I have tried. Have used it for a while now.
Just point your phone in the direction of the flag and hit calculate. Using your GPS location, Golf Wind uses a custom alorithm to provide accurate current wind direction and speed. Using this data, Golf Wind calculates the effects of wind and shows an animation of how the ball will move in flight. Head wind? Need an extra club? This tool will help you to answer these questions. Golf Wind is the perfect training tool for learning how to play the wind. A great buy for $.99!
With Golf Wind, you don’t need to select a club or distance as our testing has shown us the effects of the wind over distance for the average golfer do not vary due to the relative ball flight trajectories and associated hang times. While it may seem logical that effects would be greater on a driver vs. 7 iron due to distance, we have found the average hang times are within 1.5 seconds of each other and the difference is compensated for in the launch angle trajectory and associated spin rates. A lower launch angle will tend to have less spin and therefore wind will have less effect.
As any golfer knows, the effects of wind are different based on your natural ball flight spin. With a left to right cross wind, the ball will move more for a right handed golfer with a natural fade vs a straight hitter. This is why we have built in the ability to calibrate the wind calculation for a completely custom accurate calculation. It is simple to do, and the app will save this custom calibration and apply it to future calculations.
Golf Wind also displays the current temperature and humidity helping you even more in your shot and club selection process.
My favorite is Golf Clicker Lite http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/golf-clicker-lite/id419322389?mt=8
Really great free app for when you just need to keep a tally of your score. Has a cool shake function as well
My new favorite golf app is not GPS but a realtime scoring application. Its called keepscores. http://Www.keepscores.com
Our golf club has been using this app for a couple of weeks now and i am just amazed by it. Thanks to our tournament organizer for finding this app. It supports skins and wagers, with realtime leaderboard. You know where you stand at any point of the game. I highly recommend it.
If any app can lower your scores it’s Practice Pro Golf. Used it once and loved it. Simple idea that works.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/practice-pro-golf/id443573832?mt=8&ls=1
EZ Scorecard is the easiest electronic scorecard I found in App Store. Can take players photos in scorecard. Super easy to input scores.
http://ezscorecard.i-m-apps.com/
my favorite is the ‘golf ball finder’ they have now done a version with courses on it and gps. never loose another ball with it unless it lands in the lake. http://www.iphonegamesapps.co.uk