How ForeGoals compares with other golf apps
Most golf apps tell you how far it is and what you shot. ForeGoals tells you what keeps costing you strokes, and what to practice next.
Details for other apps were checked against their own listings in October 2026.
Pick the app for the job
These apps aren't really rivals. Each one is built around a different job, and plenty of golfers use two of them.
Side by side
| ForeGoals | GHIN | 18Birdies | TheGrint | Arccos | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it's for | Finding what's costing you strokes and what to practice next | Your official Handicap Index and score posting | GPS, scoring, side games and a social feed | Handicap, scorecard, GPS and games with friends | Automatic shot tracking and strokes gained |
| What you record | About 15 seconds a hole: first drive, first approach, first recovery, putts and score | Your score, with optional fairways, greens and putts | Your score; shots by hand, or detected automatically with Premium | Your score, plus fairways, greens, putts and penalties; shots by hand | Nothing by hand. Sensors on your clubs record each shot |
| Extra hardware | None | None | None | None | A sensor on every club |
| Asks why a shot went wrong | Yes: decision, direction control, distance control or strike quality | — | — | — | — |
| A plan before you tee off | Season goals and a target scoring mix for the round | — | Tee shot planner and course strategy with Premium | Target dispersion tool for shot planning | AI strategy |
| Stats | Strokes Lost by area, with the causes behind them | Score history, trends, fairways, greens and putts | Basic stats free; strokes gained with Premium | Fairways, greens, putts, penalties and 18+ stat modules | Strokes gained for every club |
| Turns rounds into practice | A practice plan ranked by where you lost strokes, with guided drills | — | Drill suggestions from swing video with Premium | — | — |
| AI | A coach that reads your round: outcomes, causes, goals and history | — | AI swing analyzer for video with Premium | — | AI strategy |
| Official Handicap Index | No. You enter your index and ForeGoals plans around it | Yes. It is the official app | Handicap tracking included | Links to your USGA Handicap Index | — |
| GPS yardages | No | Yes; front and back yardages and green maps are a paid upgrade | Yes, free | Yes, on 40,000+ courses | Yes |
| Side games and social | No | Matches and Challenges leaderboards | Side games, leagues, tournaments and a feed | Skins, Stableford, Match Play, Wolf, Vegas and more | — |
| Typical price | Free. The AI Coach and practice planning are $18 a year | Comes with a golf association membership, which varies; the GPS upgrade is about $50 | Free. Premium is roughly $70 to $100 a year | Free. Pro is roughly $40 to $60 a year | About $250 for sensors, then roughly $120 to $160 a year |
A dash, or an app left out of a card on a phone, means the app doesn't list a comparable feature. Prices are typical US ranges and change often, so check each app for current pricing.
What ForeGoals does differently
- It asks a different question. Not "how far is it?" or "what did I shoot?" but "what keeps wrecking my rounds, and what do I do about it?"
- It records why, not just what. Fairways, greens and putts tell you what happened. ForeGoals also asks whether a bad shot came from the decision, direction, distance or strike, so patterns show up across rounds.
- It takes about 15 seconds a hole. You track the first drive, first approach, first recovery and putts. No sensors, and no logging every club and distance.
- You start with a plan. Season goals and a target scoring mix for the round, so an opening bogey can still be exactly on plan.
- Rounds turn into practice. Strokes Lost ranks what to work on, and Forethoughts carry the lesson into your next round.
- The AI reads your round, not your swing. The coach works from the outcomes and causes you recorded, your goals and your history.
App by app
ForeGoals and GHIN
GHIN is the USGA's app for your official Handicap Index. You post scores there, and its latest version adds GPS, score history and stats such as fairways, greens and putts.
ForeGoals doesn't issue a handicap and isn't trying to. You enter your index, and ForeGoals uses it to set targets, then shows where the strokes went and why.
Use both: GHIN to keep your handicap, ForeGoals to lower it.
ForeGoals and 18Birdies
18Birdies is a broad on-course companion: free GPS yardages, a scorecard, side games, leagues and a social feed. Premium adds strokes gained, automatic shot detection and an AI analyzer for swing video.
ForeGoals has no GPS, games or feed. It is narrower on purpose: a round plan, a few outcomes per hole, the cause behind the bad ones, and a practice plan afterward.
Choose 18Birdies for yardages and games. Add ForeGoals when you want to know what to work on.
ForeGoals and TheGrint
TheGrint combines a handicap, scorecard, GPS on 40,000+ courses and games with friends such as Skins, Wolf and Vegas. It tracks fairways, greens, putts and penalties, with deeper stats in Pro.
Those stats describe results. ForeGoals adds the cause behind each miss and turns the pattern into a practice priority.
Choose TheGrint for handicap, GPS and games in one place. Add ForeGoals to find the habit behind the numbers.
ForeGoals and Arccos
Arccos puts a sensor on every club and records each shot automatically, which gives it true shot-level strokes gained and club distances. It is the most detailed option here, and the most expensive.
ForeGoals goes the other way: no hardware, a simplified Strokes Lost estimate instead of shot-level strokes gained, and your own read on why a shot went wrong, which sensors can't capture.
Choose Arccos if you want precise data on every shot. Choose ForeGoals if you want the answer without the hardware.
What ForeGoals doesn't do
If any of these matter most to you, one of the other apps is the better fit, on its own or alongside ForeGoals.
- GPS yardages, green maps or a rangefinder
- An official Handicap Index or score posting
- Side games, betting, leagues or a social feed
- Automatic shot tracking or club distances
- Swing video analysis
Common questions
Does ForeGoals replace GHIN?
No. GHIN is where your official Handicap Index lives and where you post scores. ForeGoals doesn't issue a handicap. You enter your index, and ForeGoals uses it to set realistic targets for your season and your round. Most golfers who use ForeGoals should keep GHIN and use both.
Does ForeGoals have GPS or a rangefinder?
No. ForeGoals doesn't show yardages. It can find courses near you to start a round, but on the course it is for tracking outcomes, not distances. If you want yardages, keep using your rangefinder, watch or GPS app alongside it.
Do I need sensors or a watch?
No. ForeGoals runs on your phone with nothing attached to your clubs. Most holes take about 15 seconds to record.
Is ForeGoals strokes gained?
Not exactly. Strokes gained measures every shot against a benchmark using its distance and lie. ForeGoals uses Strokes Lost, a simpler estimate built from a few key outcomes on each hole. It is less precise and far less work, and it is designed to tell you what to practice rather than to benchmark you against tour players.
Can I use ForeGoals with 18Birdies, TheGrint or Arccos?
Yes. They do different jobs. Use a GPS app for yardages and games, and ForeGoals to see what is costing you strokes and what to work on. The only overlap is keeping score in two places.
How much does ForeGoals cost compared with other golf apps?
Round tracking, Strokes Lost, statistics and your history are free. The AI Coach and practice planning cost $18 a year, or $3 a month. Paid tiers of the larger golf apps typically run from about $40 to $100 a year, and sensor systems cost more.
Find out what's costing you strokes.
Core ForeGoals is free. Track your next round and see where the strokes went.
GHIN and Handicap Index are registered trademarks of the United States Golf Association. 18Birdies, TheGrint and Arccos are trademarks of their respective owners. ForeGoals is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of them.