50 Words Or Less
The Shot Scope Apple Watch app is loaded with features like green maps and shot tracking. Lots of value with no ongoing subscription fees. Using shot tracking requires work during your round, but depending on how much you value the data, it can be worth it.
Introduction
When it comes to rangefinders, GPS devices, and shot tracking devices, there’s a balance of what is helpful in shooting better scores vs. what is too much technology and information to manage during a round of golf. I’ve rotated back and forth on bringing a rangefinder to the course or just using a basic Apple Watch with GPS to tell me distances. Many factors go into that decision but the holy grail has always been how can you get it all: GPS hole maps, GPS distances, shot + scores tracking, course strategy, club suggestions, and post round game improvement statistics.
Asking a single app to do all this on your wrist is asking a lot, but the My Shot Scope Apple Watch app makes the case that it is possible to have it all on a device you already own. With arguably the deepest feature set compared to competitors and an affordable lifetime price (no subscription fees), its case is a compelling one.
Set Up & Ease Of Use
Many devices in the Shot Scope ecosystem require virtually no setup and are ‘plug and play’. The My Shot Scope Apple Watch app is the same in that you just download it, launch the software to your Apple Watch, and you can tee off immediately. You’ll be able to look down at your wrist and get great GPS distances front/middle/back, green heat maps, and hole maps right away. The watch software utilizes the same Shot Scope database of over 36,000+ golf courses.
In order to get the full benefits of the My Shot Scope Apple Watch app, you need to set up an account and map your bag. Once you have created your bag, the app will make club recommendations for your shots. Over time, it will get smarter based on your previous rounds with the suggestions of what clubs to hit for specific distances. You could call this essentially a virtual caddy on your wrist. I found where it’s really helpful is those situations of being in between clubs when you don’t remember if your 8 iron really carries 135 or 145. The database of shots it remembers won’t let you lie to yourself about exactly how far you hit it.
Shot Tracking
For shot tracking, there is no additional hardware you need on your golf clubs. The tracking process is all done by interacting with your watch as you play. When you step up to hit a shot, there is a tagging icon/button you press to select your club. That’s it. You are required to do this for each shot so the Shot Scope Apple Watch app tags exactly where you hit your shots on the course.
When your ball is on the green, the watch automatically goes into a new mode that does require you to tag each of your putts. You might be wondering why it’s worth this effort. This GPS data is what allows you to see things like the total of feet of putts you are making in a round, your approach shot proximity data (on green, missed greens, misses left vs. misses right of green), and other advanced statistics captured in the Shot Scope MyStrategy software.
For some people, that’s too much technology interfering with the flow of a golf round. It took me two rounds to get comfortable, but when you see the data and Google Maps shot-by-shot, hole-by-hole, it feels worth the extra steps. Post-round, using the MyStrategy software, you can utilize Shot Scope’s platform to get strokes gained statistics and tips on how to shoot lower scores.
If you want touch-free shot tracking, check out the Shot Scope X5 HERE
GPS Features
When you step up to hit any shot, the main display on the Shot Scope Apple Watch app shows you front, middle, and back distances as well as a color layout of the entire hole. The GPS approach distance views are interactive – you can tap and hold to see different yardages and club suggestions based on where you want to hit the ball.
There are additional screens you can access when using the Apple Watch crown scroll. The first screen zooms in on the green to see distances, overlays showing your estimated distances for each club of where your ball would go, and you can tap to see the green contours/slopes. The second screen shows the distances to the front and back of each hazard. It’s impressive that all this data exists in the Shot Scope Apple Watch app.
Value
There are a lot of attractive features to the Shot Scope Apple Watch app, but the best part might be that paying $150 gets you a GPS golf watch for the rest of your lifetime. Even if you decide not to use the shot tracking features, if you are an Apple Watch owner, you will always have a GPS golf watch. Shot Scope has a chart illustrating the subscription fees of other competitors which total between $300 and $500 over 5 years.
If you’re not familiar, we have an entire review of the MyStrategy software [find it HERE] that’s included with a subscription to this App. These are advanced statistics you get when using MyStrategy to build your own training plans, pre-round strategy, and see post-round shot-by-shot plots on Google Maps. The feature of seeing your round visualized on Google Maps might not sound useful, but when you play a bucket-list course, it’s fun to have that recorded and accessible to relive the round and illustrate the story of exactly how you played.
Conclusion
If you already own an Apple Watch, the Shot Scope Apple Watch app is worth trying out. There is a free 3-round trial so you can make a decision even before purchasing. No hardware being installed on your clubs for shot tracking is very appealing. While there is a learning curve to the flow of using the app during your round, the data you get to shoot lower scores at the price point is a great value.
- Shot Scope Apple Watch App Review - October 12, 2026
