Comparison

Journal 18 vs Strike Wedge Launch

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

Head to head
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

About

Strike Wedge Launch

Transform your iPhone into a golf launch monitor for wedge shots. Analyze ball speed, launch angle, and carry distance with slow-motion replays and detailed metrics. Compete in daily challenges and track your progress to improve your game.

Highlights
  • Measure ball speed, launch angle, and carry
  • Slow-motion replays with shot data
  • Track performance across different distances
  • Compete in daily global challenges
  • Create and join private challenges
  • Analyze swing mechanics with drawing tools
Read full description

Strike Wedge Launch turns your iPhone into a launch monitor for wedge play. Stand the phone in the holder or lean it against anything steady, put a ball down and hit. The camera films every shot at 240 frames a second and reads ball speed, launch angle and carry from the footage. Every shot comes back as a slow motion replay with its numbers. Use it three ways. MEASURE The Range. Hit as many shots as you like: the last ten flights side by side and the spread of your carries, with six metrics to choose from. Every shot is saved with its replay, so you can compare two swings, draw on them and share the clip. TEST The Testing Centre tells you where your wedge game sits. The Wedge Test rates you at six distances, short to long. Distance Caller calls a number and you hit it. Dial In: pick one distance and grind it, with a handicap for that distance after ten shots. Every rated shot feeds one number, your Strike Wedge handicap, on a golf-style scale, rated against published data. The You tab shows the handicap, how it has trended, and the distances you score best and worst at, so you know which shot to work on. COMPETE This is the part that changes practice. You can hit 50 yard shots all afternoon and feel nothing. Then the Daily Challenge hands you the same target as every other player in the world, three shots, one attempt today, and everything changes. You get nervous. You have to get ready. That is what a real round feels like, and it is hard to create on your own. The Daily Challenge, the 3 Hole Challenge, the Daily Flop Off and Best of Three each run on a shared daily clock, with boards for today and yesterday and a season Order of Merit. Every round ends with a clip to share. Leapfrog and Nearest the Pin round it out, and private challenges let you set your own target and field and invite anyone with a link. WHAT IS FREE Unlimited measured shots on the Range, with the replay, Compare and the Library. The Daily Challenge every day, with its global board, the season Order of Merit and your recap clip. Joining any private challenge you are invited to. STRIKE WEDGE FULL ACCESS The 3 Hole Challenge, the Daily Flop Off and Best of Three. Leapfrog and Nearest the Pin. The Testing Centre, with the Wedge Test, Distance Caller and Dial In. Creating your own private challenges. A wedge handicap built from your challenge shots. Strike Wedge owners get their first year included with their serial number. HONEST BY DESIGN Ball speed and launch come straight from the high speed video. Carry comes from a trajectory model fitted to radar data at wedge distances. Flush it and the numbers read true. Catch one thin and the read becomes a rough estimate, and the app says so. Built for the scoring shots from inside 150 yards, which is why it is accurate where scoring happens. WORKS ANYWHERE A net in the garage, the range, the back garden, a towel on the clothes line. The screen faces away while you hit, so a steady torch means ready and the voice reads your shot back. Shot analysis runs entirely on your phone and video stays on it unless you share a clip or put one on a board. Only the leaderboards, optional anonymous shot numbers and the subscription use the network. Built for iPhone by PGA professional Chris Rose and Toby Williams. SUBSCRIPTION Strike Wedge Full Access is $99.00 AUD a year after a 7 day free trial, auto renewing. Prices in other regions are set by Apple. Payment is charged to your Apple Account when the trial ends, or at confirmation of purchase if no trial applies. Any unused part of a free trial is forfeited when you buy a subscription. The subscription renews automatically unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period, and your account is charged for renewal within 24 hours before the period ends. Manage or cancel any time in your Apple Account settings. Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy policy: https://strikewedge.com/pages/app-privacy

Screenshots

Journal 184 screens
Strike Wedge Launch4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Strike Wedge Launch at 100% against Journal 18's 0%. Strike Wedge Launch also leads on rating (5.0 vs 3.6) and ads (none vs shown). Journal 18's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 17.0). 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. Strike Wedge Launch sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $59.00 per year. Journal 18 asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Strike Wedge Launch holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.6. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 5 and 3 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 0% of Journal 18's written reviews are positive against 100% of Strike Wedge Launch's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Journal 18 ships an update weekly, Strike Wedge Launch every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 8, 2026 and October 20, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Journal 18 versus Strike Wedge Launch: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterJournal 18Strike Wedge Launch
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.6 (5 ratings)5.0 (3 ratings) — better
Positive reviews0.0% of reviews100.0% of reviews — better
Number of ratings5 — better3
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 2 weeks
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS15.1 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size59 MB22 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperTravis ZappiaStrike wedge pty ltd

Customer experience

Journal 18

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

Strike Wedge Launch

All ratings3 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%
Written reviews6 reviews
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Journal 18

No in-app purchases

1 purchases

Strike Wedge Launch

Subscriptions1
  • Full Access7 Days trial$59.001 Year

Questions

Is Journal 18 free?
Journal 18 is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Strike Wedge Launch free?
Strike Wedge Launch is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Journal 18 or Strike Wedge Launch?
Strike Wedge Launch is rated higher. Journal 18 averages 3.6 out of 5 from 5 ratings, while Strike Wedge Launch averages 5.0 from 3 ratings.
Do Journal 18 or Strike Wedge Launch have ads?
Journal 18 shows ads; Strike Wedge Launch does not.
Which is updated more often, Journal 18 or Strike Wedge Launch?
Journal 18 ships an update weekly, and Strike Wedge Launch every 2 weeks. Most recently, Journal 18 was updated on October 8, 2026 and Strike Wedge Launch on October 20, 2026.

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