Ask Siri
With AirPods in and the phone locked, Yardstick answers out loud.
“Yardstick yardage.”
Hole 7: 142 to the middle, 131 front, 155 back.
Golf GPS and stats for iPhone and Apple Watch
Every yardage. Every stat. No ads.
All of it free, including the detailed stats the big golf apps charge $59.99 to $99.99 a year for.
- 13,977 courses in the US and Canada
- Nothing to unlock
- No account
Side by side
What you get without paying.
Yardstick against the free version of the five best-known golf apps, from each company’s own free-and-paid comparison.
| Free | Yardstick | 18Birdies | SwingU | Golfshot | Hole19 | TheGrint |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front, middle and back of the green | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | centre only | ✓ | ✓ |
| Water and bunker carries | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | Premium | ✓ |
| Apple Watch: green and hazards | ✓ | green only | ✓ | centre only | green only | green only |
| Scorecard and basic stats | ✓ | ✓ | score and putts | ✓ | scorecard only | ✓ |
| Advanced stats | ✓ | limited | ✗ | limited | ✗ | limited |
| No ads | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| No account needed | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Plays-like and strokes gained | ✗ | paid | paid | strokes gained paid | paid | not offered |
| Price to unlock everything they charge for above | $0 | $99.99/yr | $99.99/yr | $79.99/yr | $99.99/yr | $59.99/yr |
Basic stats are fairways, greens and putts. Advanced stats are tee and approach misses, scrambling, sand saves, chips, by par, per course and what to work on. A free tier that has only some of them reads “limited”. Yardstick’s front, back and carries show wherever the green is mapped, about 9 in 10 US courses; Canadian courses show the middle for now.
Sources for every cell
Competitor free tiers as published by each company, checked 16 October 2026: 18Birdies, SwingU, Golfshot, Hole19, TheGrint, and each app’s help center and App Store page. Prices are each company’s cheapest annual plan in US dollars. If something here is out of date, tell us at hello@yardstick.golf and we’ll fix it.
Front, middle and back of the green
- Yardstick: Wherever the green is mapped: about 9 in 10 US courses. Canadian courses show the middle for now; a dash marks an unmapped green.
- 18Birdies: 18Birdies help, What's included with Premium: free “GPS distances to the front, center, and back of the green” (help.18birdies.com/article/661).
- SwingU: SwingU, What is SwingU?: free “distances to the front, middle, and back of every green” (swingu.com/blog/what-is-swingu).
- Golfshot: Golfshot Free vs Pro: Free has “Distances to the center of green”; front/center/back is Pro (golfshot.com/golfshot-free-vs-pro).
- Hole19: Hole19 App Store free features: “front, center, and back of the green” (apps.apple.com/us/app/id794462227).
- TheGrint: TheGrint GPS: front, center and back distances free (thegrint.com/features/gps).
Water and bunker carries
- Yardstick: The nearest water and bunkers on the next shot, wherever the green is mapped.
- 18Birdies: 18Birdies App Store free features: “Distances to greens, hazards, layups, carries” (apps.apple.com/us/app/id892700751).
- SwingU: SwingU plan table: “Distances to Greens & Hazards” included in Basic (free) (swingu.com).
- Golfshot: Golfshot App Store: “Pro Membership unlocks: … hazard and target distances” (apps.apple.com/us/app/id622851626).
- Hole19: Hole19 help: Distance to Hazards “allows Premium members to see the distance … to nearby bunkers and water hazards” (help.hole19golf.com/hc/en-us/articles/23243760853788). Its App Store free list says “every hazard”; the two disagree.
- TheGrint: TheGrint: free GPS lets you “know your distances to the pin, hazards, and landing zones” (thegrint.com).
Apple Watch: green and hazards
- Yardstick: Front, middle, back and the hazards ahead on the wrist, from the watch's own GPS. Apple Watch Series 6 or SE (2nd generation) or later; the round starts on the iPhone.
- 18Birdies: 18Birdies help: the watch shows “front, middle, and back distances”; Map View “Premium membership required” (help.18birdies.com/article/273, /732).
- SwingU: SwingU: free tier gives “Full GPS distances and scoring on your wrist”; its App Store watch screenshots show a Hazards screen (swingu.com/blog/what-is-swingu).
- Golfshot: Golfshot help: the free watch shows “GPS distances to the center of the green” (shotzoom.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000942773).
- Hole19: Hole19 help: free watch GPS distances; “Distance to Hazards is currently not available on the Apple Watch” (help.hole19golf.com/hc/en-us/articles/16533598017180, /360016205019).
- TheGrint: TheGrint: “GPS distances on the watch are free”; the GPS Aerial Map is Pro (thegrint.com/features/apple-watch).
Scorecard and basic stats
- Yardstick: Score, fairways, greens and putts, and the stats from them.
- 18Birdies: 18Birdies: Scoring and Stats Tracking free; “Basic Course & Round Stats” (18birdies.com/premium; help 661).
- SwingU: SwingU App Store: the free scorecard “tracks score and putts”; Plus adds “driver accuracy, bunker play, penalties”.
- Golfshot: Golfshot Free vs Pro: Free “Statistics for Fairway, GIR, Recovery, Putting, Pars, Scoring and Club”.
- Hole19: Hole19: free scorecard records putts, fairways and GIR; “Club & Overall Stats” are Premium (App Store; help 26051600319516).
- TheGrint: TheGrint Membership table, Free: “Scoring & Basic Stats: Unlimited” (thegrint.com).
Advanced stats
- Yardstick: Tee club, tee and approach misses, approach distance, first-putt distance, scrambling, sand saves, chips, penalties; by par, per course, what to work on.
- 18Birdies: 18Birdies: basic round stats free; “Advanced Stats: … charts, filters, and comparisons” Premium (App Store; help 661).
- SwingU: SwingU plan table: “Enhanced Scorecard & Stats” Plus/Pro; “#1 improvement priority” Pro (swingu.com; App Store).
- Golfshot: Golfshot Free vs Pro: core stats free; “Detailed round review stats” Pro.
- Hole19: Hole19 help: Performance Trends (scrambling, sand saves, scores by par) “is available on the Intelligence plan” (help 27329466583068).
- TheGrint: TheGrint: “Free members see the headline numbers in each stats module. Pro unlocks the full detail” (thegrint.com/features/stats).
No ads
- Yardstick: No ad SDK in the app.
- 18Birdies: 18Birdies' US App Store listing carries no Advertising flag (its feed shows 18Birdies' own promotions, help 564).
- SwingU: SwingU App Store: “Contains Advertising”; “No Ads In-App” is a Plus/Pro feature (swingu.com).
- Golfshot: Golfshot App Store: “Contains Advertising”; Pro unlocks an “ad-free experience”.
- Hole19: Hole19 help: “Ad-free mode is only available with Premium or Intelligence” (help 360015546153).
- TheGrint: TheGrint App Store listing: “Contains: Advertising” (apps.apple.com/us/app/id532085262).
No account needed
- Yardstick: No account or sign-in.
- 18Birdies: 18Birdies help: “Do I need an account to use 18Birdies? Yes.” (help.18birdies.com/article/15).
- SwingU: SwingU help: “Why do I need to create an account to use SwingU?” (help.swingbyswing.com/article/55).
- Golfshot: Golfshot terms: “To use the Service, you must register for an account” (golfshot.com/terms-of-service).
- Hole19: Hole19 help, How to create an account: open the app, sign up, then continue with the free version (help 11409509921820).
- TheGrint: TheGrint privacy policy: registering you as a user “is necessary”; the free tier is a “Free account” (thegrint.com/about_us/privacy_policy).
Plays-like and strokes gained
- Yardstick: Yardstick has neither.
- 18Birdies: 18Birdies App Store Premium tools: “PLAYS-LIKE DISTANCES … STROKES GAINED”.
- SwingU: SwingU: “Plays Like” is Plus; strokes gained is “available to SwingU Pro subscribers” (App Store; help 477).
- Golfshot: Golfshot help: “Auto Strokes Gained is a Pro and Champions feature set!” (14796554012951). No plays-like distance appears in Golfshot's tier table or Pro list.
- Hole19: Hole19 help: “Plays Like is a Premium feature”; strokes gained “available with the Intelligence subscription” (13500825142684, 28901742653084).
- TheGrint: TheGrint: GPS “does not give plays-like… distances”; “TheGrint does not offer Strokes Gained” (thegrint.com/features/gps, /features/stats).
Every yardage
Front, middle, back and the carries. On your phone and your wrist.
Front, middle and back
Straight from where you stand, on a satellite photo of the hole, wherever the green is mapped. That's about 9 in 10 US courses; Canadian courses show the middle for now.
Water and bunkers
The nearest water and bunkers on your next shot are labelled on the map with what it takes to reach them and to carry them.
Touch to measure
Drag a target anywhere to see how far it is and what it leaves you, with a circle for your usual miss.
On your Apple Watch
Raise your wrist for front, middle and back and the hazards ahead, measured by the watch’s own GPS. The round is saved to Health as a golf workout.
Screenshot neededTouch to measureRound screen with a target dragged into the fairway: yards to it, yards it leaves, the 30-yard miss circle.
Screenshot neededWatch glanceFront, middle and back on the wrist, with the hazards ahead.
Every stat
Basic or advanced. All of it free.
Keep just the score, or track as much as you like. Stats that other golf apps put behind a subscription are all here.
Basic
Score a routine hole in two taps, with fairways, greens and putts.
Advanced
Tee club, where the approach missed and from how far, first-putt distance, scrambling, sand saves, chips and penalties.
What it tells you
Where your strokes go, what to work on, how you play each par and each course, every figure beside your own usual.
Honest numbers
A stat appears only when your rounds can back it up. The handicap is an unofficial estimate, labelled as one.
Screenshot neededStatsWhere your strokes go, beside your usual, and What to work on.
No ads
No ads. No account. Nothing to unlock.
No banners on the hole, no pop-ups between holes, no upgrade screens. Open the app at the course and play. There’s nothing to sign up for.
Why it’s free
Free isn’t a trial here. It’s how the app is built.
- 1
We map every course ourselves
Our own system maps the courses, so we don’t rent course data from anyone and pass that bill on to you.
- 2
It runs on your iPhone
Your yardages, scores and stats are worked out on the phone in your pocket, not on our servers. So your rounds and your location never reach us.
- =
So nothing is behind a paywall
Every yardage, on your phone and your wrist. Every stat. No subscription, no trial, nothing to unlock.
How it measures
Are the maps right?
92%
That measures the map. Your phone’s GPS adds a few yards of its own.
- The middle
- From where you’re standing to the centre of the green, in a straight line.
- Front and back
- The near and far edges of the green, on the line from you to its centre. Where a green isn’t mapped yet you’ll see a dash, never a guess.
- Carries
- How far to reach a water hazard or bunker, and how far to clear it.
- No signal
- Yardages are worked out on your iPhone, so they work without signal. The satellite photo needs a connection; when it can’t load, the yardage stays live.
- When a hole looks wrong
- Tell us the course and the hole. Reports from golfers are how the maps get better.
And the rest
The small things that make a round easier.
On the Lock Screen
The hole and its yardage sit on your Lock Screen and in the Dynamic Island all round. The Play golf control on the Action button opens straight to your round.
Fly the hole
Tap the hole’s name to fly it tee to green in 3D, with the carries on the way, then drop back into your round.
Score in two taps
A routine hole is two taps and you’re walking to the next tee. Got one wrong? Fix any round, any time.
Send the card
Share the round’s scorecard to your group, with a sentence about how it went.
I’m Aydin. I play most of my golf with the same few friends, and every app we tried wanted a subscription for things that aren’t hard. A front and back yardage is a distance formula. A hazard carry is a line crossing a shape. What those subscriptions really pay for is a rented course database.
So I mapped the courses myself, all 13,977 of them, and built the app my group wanted: every yardage, every stat, no ads. Since we don’t rent the data, there’s nothing to charge you for.
Yours
Your rounds stay on your iPhone.
No account, no tracking. The app runs on your phone, so your rounds and your location have nowhere else to go.
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Yardstick’s privacy label on the App Store, written by Apple’s rules.
Before you play
Is your course here?
13,302 courses across all 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico, and 675 in all ten provinces of Canada. When you’re at one, the app opens on it.
Every yardage. Every stat. No ads.
Free on the App Store. For iPhone, and Apple Watch if you wear one.