Comparison

Golf Journal vs Journal 18

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Golf Journal

Track your golf performance with this app, logging rounds, practice sessions, scores, and media. Analyze your game with performance graphs and iCloud syncing. Ideal for golfers of all levels aiming to improve.

Highlights
  • Round diary and score tracking
  • Practice session documentation
  • Photo and video gallery
  • Performance graphs
  • iCloud syncing
Features
Read full description

Golf Journal is a golf diary for your rounds, your practice and your handicap. Log a round from its total in about 20 seconds, or hole by hole, and watch your handicap estimate move as you play. ROUNDS • Log the total, or score hole by hole: strokes, putts, fairways, greens in regulation and penalties. • Out and In totals, and a scorecard with your birdies, bogeys and doubles marked. • Notes, a feel rating, photos and videos for every round. • Scan a paper scorecard: take a photo and the hole scores are read on your iPhone for you to check. • Golf workouts recorded with the Workout app on Apple Watch show up ready to become rounds, with the date filled in. HANDICAP ESTIMATE • Uses the World Handicap System formula: the best 8 of your last 20 rounds, with nine-hole rounds paired. • See your trend, which rounds count, which one drops out next and what score would bring your estimate down. • Course handicap for each set of tees, net score and Stableford points. • Have an official Handicap Index from your club? Enter it and Golf Journal uses it for course handicap, net and Stableford. It's an estimate to follow your game, not an official Handicap Index. COURSES • Tees with course rating, slope, par and yardage, and a scorecard with par and stroke index for every hole. • Look up courses near you or by name. Course data comes from OpenStreetMap. • Your average and best score at each course. PRACTICE • Log practice sessions: range, putting, chipping, bunker, on course, lessons and more, with time, balls and notes. • Keep your swing cues and drills from one session to the next. • Start the practice timer and fill in the rest when you finish. • Turn a round's notes into a plan for your next session. INSIGHTS • How often you make birdie, par, bogey and worse, and how you score on par 3s, 4s and 5s. • Your hardest holes, your scoring by course and by month, and where your practice time goes. • Set a goal, such as breaking 90 or getting down to 15, and see how far off it you are. ON ALL YOUR DEVICES • iCloud sync between your devices. No account to create; your diary stays on your devices and in your iCloud. • Widgets for your handicap estimate and your last round. • Siri and Shortcuts: "Log round", "Log practice", "What's my handicap". • A reminder when you haven't logged a round for a while. • Yards or meters. GOLF JOURNAL PRO Golf Journal is free for up to 3 rounds, 3 practice sessions and 2 courses. Golf Journal Pro removes the limits and adds export: your rounds as a spreadsheet (CSV) and a printable season report (PDF). Pro is available as a subscription or a one-time purchase. Subscriptions renew automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Payment is charged to your Apple Account. Manage or cancel your subscription in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://www.mygolfjournal.app/posts/privacy

About

Journal 18

Transform your handwritten golf scorecards into detailed performance insights. This app uses AI to read your game data from photos or manual entry, revealing trends and areas for improvement. Track your rounds, drives, and approaches to lower your score.

Highlights
  • Digitize handwritten scorecards with AI
  • Track round history and scoring trends
  • Analyze drive patterns and approach proximity
  • Identify biggest opportunities for stroke reduction
  • Manual entry option for scores and stats
  • Compare performance to handicap benchmarks
Features
Read full description

You already keep the record. Journal18 reads it. Photograph your handwritten journal and Journal18 turns it into stats, trends, and a clear read on your game. Your journal stays on paper. Your insights live here. HOW IT WORKS 1. Snap a photo of your performance log, drives, and approaches pages after your round. 2. Journal18 reads the scores and stats with AI, then shows you everything it found. You review and confirm anything uncertain before it counts. 3. Every confirmed round builds your history, your trends, and your benchmarks. Prefer to type it in? Manual entry works too, hole by hole or as a quick summary. No photo required. WHAT YOU WILL SEE Round history. Every round saved with scores, stats, and notes, ready to revisit. Scoring trends. Watch your scoring move across rounds instead of guessing from memory. Drive patterns. Fairways hit, miss directions, and a landing board that shows where your tee shots actually finish. Approach proximity. How close you hit it from each distance range, and where the strokes are hiding. Benchmarks. See how your numbers compare to handicap benchmarks, so improvement has a target instead of a feeling. Your biggest opportunity. Journal18 calls out the one area costing you the most strokes, in plain words. BUILT FOR GOLFERS WHO WRITE IT DOWN Journal18 is made for players who keep a paper journal and want more from it. The app is calm and quick. No ads. No selling your data. Just your game, organized. FREE AND PREMIUM Creating an account is free, and your first round is included with core logging so you can see how it feels. Journal18 Premium unlocks the full experience: unlimited rounds, complete insights and trends, drive and approach trackers, and editing of completed rounds. PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTIONS Journal18 Premium is available as an auto-renewable subscription: - Premium Annual: $72 USD per year - Premium Monthly: $7 USD per month Prices may vary by region and are shown in the App Store before you subscribe. Payment is charged to your Apple Account at confirmation of purchase. Your subscription renews automatically unless it is cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. You can manage or cancel your subscription anytime in your App Store account settings. Terms of Use: https://www.journal18.com/pages/app-terms Privacy Policy: https://www.journal18.com/pages/app-privacy Questions or feedback? We read everything: info@journal18.com

Screenshots

Golf Journal4 screens
Journal 184 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Golf Journal at 4.8 against Journal 18's 3.6. Golf Journal also leads on ads (none vs shown). Journal 18's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 26.0). On price, ratings volume, update cadence and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Golf Journal sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month. Journal 18 asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Golf Journal holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 12 and 5 respectively.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Golf Journal versus Journal 18: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGolf JournalJournal 18
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (12 ratings) — better3.6 (5 ratings)
Positive reviews—0.0% of reviews
Number of ratings12 — better5
Update frequencyWeeklyWeekly
AdsNo — betterYes
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFreemiumFree with in-app purchases
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS26.015.1 — better
Further details — not scored
Size13 MB59 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGruffydd JohnstonTravis Zappia

Customer experience

Golf Journal

All ratings12 ratings
Positive91.7%
Neutral8.3%
Negative0.0%

Journal 18

All ratings5 ratings
Positive60.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative40.0%
Written reviews1 reviews
Positive0.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative100.0%

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Golf Journal

Subscriptions4
  • Pro7 Days trial$2.991 Month
  • Pro7 Days trial$4.991 Month
  • Pro7 Days trial$9.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Pro7 Days trial$19.991 Year
One-time1
  • Lifetime$49.99
None

Journal 18

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Golf Journal free?
Golf Journal is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Journal 18 free?
Journal 18 is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Golf Journal or Journal 18?
Golf Journal is rated higher. Golf Journal averages 4.8 out of 5 from 12 ratings, while Journal 18 averages 3.6 from 5 ratings.
Do Golf Journal or Journal 18 have ads?
Journal 18 shows ads; Golf Journal does not.
Which is updated more often, Golf Journal or Journal 18?
Golf Journal ships an update weekly, and Journal 18 weekly. Most recently, Golf Journal was updated on October 24, 2026 and Journal 18 on October 8, 2026.

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