The golf app for high handicappers
A 22 handicap gives up about 23 strokes a round to the tour average on the benchmark model, 15.0 of them in the long game and only 3.5 on the greens, and most of the recoverable ones are penalties, three putts and doubles. PinFlag prices every target before you swing so the penalty is a number you can see, logs each shot in two taps, and names the mistake that decided the card.
On the course
The number in front of you is the strokes gained of the target under the aim, with your dispersion drawn on the hole by Shot Cloud and the water priced with the penalty included. For a high handicapper that number is usually about the penalty: the line over the hazard reads its real cost next to the safe one, before the ball is in the air.
Logging is two taps with nothing to buy: the target, then where the ball finished, with the club and lie confirmed in one sheet. It works with no signal and any tap can be undone, so a bad hole costs strokes, never the record of them.
After the round
Score Killers totals the three-putts, two-chips, penalties and double bogeys that cost whole strokes, which for a 22 handicap is where the next five strokes live. A handicap level benchmark lens reprices every shot against a table for your scoring level, labeled Modeled, so a bogey golfer reads gains and losses on a bogey golfer’s scale rather than a tour player’s.
Where the strokes go
The benchmark model reads a 22 handicap as about 23 strokes over the tour average of 71, split on Broadie’s published shares. The putting green gets most of the practice and carries the smallest share.
Where a 22 handicap loses 23 strokes a round
| Category | Shots a round | Per shot | Per round | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off the tee and approach | 14 | 1.068 | 15.0 | 65% |
| Short game | 7 | 0.657 | 4.6 | 20% |
| Putting | 30 | 0.115 | 3.5 | 15% |
Modeled: Broadie’s published split applied to the strokes over the tour average of 71.
What it costs
Golfer is $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year with every feature included: the number before the swing, Shot Cloud, launch monitor import, two-tap logging, Insights and the benchmark lenses, with a 14-day trial on the annual plan through the App Store. Coach is $80 a month for the coach plus up to ten students and Facility $299 a month for a whole program. The strokes gained, handicap and club distance calculators on pinflag.io are free and need no account.
In PinFlag
Every number PinFlag shows high handicappers is strokes gained on Mark Broadie’s published PGA TOUR baselines, priced on the same published baselines in the app and on this site and labeled Measured or Estimated so you always know what stands behind it. On the benchmark model a 22 handicap sits 23 strokes a round from the tour average; PinFlag shows which shots.
Frequently asked questions
Which golf app is best for a high handicapper?
Do I need to understand strokes gained to use it?
Will it slow my round down?
What does it cost?
Related
Sources
- Mark Broadie, Columbia Business School (Wikidata entity)
- PGA TOUR statistics
- How PinFlag calculates strokes gained
Every figure on this page is computed from the published baselines, the same ones PinFlag prices your shots with. The scope of the figures: The handicap figures are the site’s benchmark model, Broadie’s published shares applied to the strokes over the tour average; every product claim describes the shipped iPhone app.
Get PinFlag for iPhone
PinFlag shows you this number on the course, for the shot in front of you, before you swing: any target priced with your own dispersion and the lie read from the course map, your real shots drawn on the hole, and two taps to log. Golfer is $14.99 a month or $99.99 a year, with a 14-day trial on the annual plan through the App Store.