The 18Birdies app is one you may have heard of before - it has over 200,000 five-star reviews on the Apple App Store and more than 2 million active monthly users so it must be pretty good, right? I took it for a few spins around Royal County Down to see what all the fuss was about.
To answer that question in brief - yes, it is indeed pretty good. I've tested a number of the best golf gps devices over the last year, including a number of the best golf watches, none of which come close to the detail on offer from this free app.
The best part is its high-quality satellite imagery that gives you a bird’s-eye view of each hole as you play. A movable cursor can then give you accurate yardages to any part of the hole you'd like, be that bunkers, hazards, or even just parts of the fairway or rough. With over 43,000 pre-loaded courses, chances are your local club will be included.
Although I had a couple of blips in terms of yardages on a few holes, especially on the Annesley Links at Royal County Down, they were sometimes off by up to 20 yards, which I noticed quickly. I never had the same problem on the same hole the following day for example but I also think my little corner of Northern Ireland is less friendly to GPS devices compared to others I have played.
As mentioned, this is a free app. Often with things that are free, the features are heavily limited in an attempt to force users to purchase the premium version or membership but I can't say the same here. The free version gives you customizable yardages (mentioned above), plus a scorecard with automatic handicap calculation and stat tracking, community features with friend connections, live scoring and social tools — great for large groups and clubs.
The premium version gives you even more - for $19.99 per month, $99.99 per year, or $7.99 per week you get access to features like an AI Swing Analyzer, club tracking and recommendations, strokes gained analysis and 3D green maps. The strokes gained analysis were my favorite, uncovering for me I tend to miss left more than right with my approach shots and giving me an area of my game to work on at the range next week....
The club selections, once adjusted to how far you hit each club, factor in conditions to help you refine your approach shots further. However, take the wind with a pinch of salt - during one of my rounds the wind blew on the front nine before disappearing on the back but the app still factored it in due to an inaccurate weather forecast. Use it as a guide but also factor what you feel out there as you stand and analyze the conditions before your shot.
I got the most enjoyment out of using this app during a round with a buddy at Concra Wood Golf Club in County Monaghan, one of the very rare occasions I would ride a buggy during rounds. In a 2v2 match, myself and partner were glued to the app as we navigated a course we were only semi-familiar with. During competition rounds at Royal County Down I used the app less for two main reasons - I'm not a big fan of looking at my phone or smartwatch during rounds and my knowledge of my home course meant I didn't necessarily need to use all the features of the app as it would slow down our pace of play.
This gives me two main conclusions in this regard - this app is much better if you play golf whilst riding a cart and can place your phone on a mount or if you are playing a course you don't typically play and need a bit of help plotting yourself around.
To conclude, it isn't difficult to see why this app has proven so popular. It's not the perfect fit for me as a player who doesn't like looking at screens on the golf course, but that is very much a me problem. However, if I'm in a position where I'm playing a course for the first time and/or riding in a cart, this app will be open for the full 18 holes. The user experience is top notch and when you consider how much is available without even paying for the premium membership, it's a no-brainer for any golfer to give it a try.
