The United States Golf Association has unveiled the next iteration of the Golf Handicap and Information Network mobile app, featuring a comprehensive refresh of the design and innovative new features.
The updated user experience focuses on a more streamlined, easier to use navigation flow, while keeping the familiarity and main purpose of the app – score posting – front and center.
Upon updating the GHIN app, users will immediately see a cleaner, more intuitive and consistent design. The user’s Handicap Index takes center stage, with both starting a round and posting a score prominently featured as well.
Using the GHIN app as a playing companion includes a dramatically simpler setup, faster scoring and stat tracking and enriched course graphics.
“Organizationally, we’re committed to evolving GHIN, with a goal of becoming the best overall golf app on the market,” said Tom Padula, managing director, GHIN. “Leveraging both modern design principles and direct golfer feedback, this redesign marks a foundational step that paves the way for an exciting future. We can’t wait for GHIN users to update their app and be delighted with the new visual experience and expanded feature set.”
The new Stats section, a key development in the GHIN app, shows players how different aspects of their game and performance are trending over time. Born out of the popular GHIN Rewind, which annually shows users how they fared during a calendar year, Stats is designed to help golfers engage more deeply with their scores and stats through better data visualization, meaningful metrics and an improved layout on a year-round basis.
Key stats features include:
- New Stats Tab Navigation: Streamlined interface with dedicated subtabs to simplify discovery and highlight different aspects of your game.
- Overview: View key activity trends at a glance – rounds played, frequency and recent score patterns, while also adding relevant stats like birdies and three-putts per round.
- Scores: Modernized score history with cleaner visuals and sortable, interactive rounds.
- Handicap Index: A focused view on H.I. progress, including Differentials and milestones.
- Hole-by-Hole: Reimagined visualization of hole performance to spot patterns and opportunities.
- Advanced: New charts to track dispersion, putting performance and round trends.
- Courses: Course-specific insights including rounds played and average score per hole.
GHIN users in seasonal score-posting areas can now look forward to offseason play this year, with a forthcoming update that will allow players to save scores in the GHIN app for personal tracking, even if the area of the country they’re playing is not in an active score-posting window.
The Apple Watch experience has also been fully redesigned to mirror the updated look of the new mobile app and is now available for all users. General users can view yardage to the middle of greens, whereas Enhanced GPS users get distances to the front, middle and back of greens, as well as key yardages to hazards and layups. Players can now leave their phone in their pocket or bag and rely on the Apple Watch alone, with a cleaner interface built specifically for the smaller screen.
For public players, GHIN Challenges offers Allied Golf Associations (AGA) the ability to create interactive leaderboards at golf courses within their communities. Designed to connect more golfers with a Handicap Index, GHIN Challenges offer a fun way to encourage friendly competition and show players of differing abilities how they stack up against each other.
AGAs can set up a GHIN Challenge at any course within their jurisdiction, as long as it has a Course Rating and Slope Rating. This feature was designed with public golfers in mind, allowing those playing at daily-fee or municipal courses to use their Handicap Index to compete fairly on virtual leaderboards using their net scores.
GHIN Challenges are now active and available to all AGAs, which can begin to set up leaderboards at golf facilities in their respective regions. A total of 36 AGAs are already participating, with over 750 Challenges created and more than 30,000 golfers involved.
Presented by Sentry, the GHIN mobile app is fully integrated with the World Handicap System and the Rules of Golf, which the USGA oversees in its governance function, to ensure fair and equitable play for all golfers. Those interested in a Handicap Index can download the GHIN app and sign up.
The GHIN app also offers a 30-day free trial for golfers who want to track progress but don’t yet have a Handicap Index; however, those wanting to participate in Challenges need to have an official GHIN number. More than 3.6 million golfers in the US alone maintain a Handicap Index, representing a wide range of playing abilities.
The app redesign is being rolled out gradually to users over the next few weeks. GHIN.com is also scheduled to undergo a redesign in the coming months.
To download the GHIN app on iOS or Android, and for more information about the app and its features, visit www.GHIN.com.