Golf shot counter on Apple Watch: strokes per hole

With the phone zipped in a bag on the trolley and the count on the wrist, the crown is the better input: with a glove on, a tap on the screen is easy to miss, while a crown click is not.

Free setup: one counter you reset every hole

On the iPhone, tap + on Counters > New Counter, name it Hole, keep the step size at 1 and tap Save. Leave Set a goal off.
Open Tally Counter on the iPhone once, then open it on the watch. You should see Hole in the Counters list.
Tap Hole. After each stroke, tap the screen or turn the crown one click forward. Penalty strokes are taps too.
Counted one too many? Tap the minus in the bottom bar or turn the crown one click back.
Holed out: read the number, then tap the round-arrow button and confirm Reset on Reset this counter?. The next hole starts at 0.

A reset is not written into History, but every stroke is, with the value after it. So each hole ends on the line just before the next "+1 to 1". And the day's header adds up every stroke and every correction, which is the round total.

My nine holes, as the app saw them

Strokes per hole and how they show in History
Hole	Strokes	Last line for that hole
1	5	+1 to 5
2	4	+1 to 4
3	6 (counted 7, then one click back)	-1 to 6
4	3	+1 to 3
5	5	+1 to 5
6	4	+1 to 4
7	7	+1 to 7
8	5	+1 to 5
9	4	+1 to 4
Total	43	Day header: +43

Total taps said 45, not 43: the extra stroke on hole 3 and the click that took it back are both entries. The front three holes came to 15.

With Pro: one counter per hole

If you want each hole's score sitting there without reading History, make Hole 1 to Hole 18 on the iPhone and tap through them on the watch. That is 18 counters, and the free version holds 3 (an ad gives one more until you close the app), so this setup needs Pro. The app does not add the 18 counters together; you sum them, or use the free one-counter method above, which sums for you.

What it is not

Not a scorecard: no par, no putts, no handicap, no players other than you.
No GPS, no distances, no swing or shot detection. It counts only what you tap.
No complication on the watch face, so you open the app each time.
Counters are created and renamed only on the iPhone.
One thing to watch for: History stamps a stroke with whatever time the iPhone picked it up, not the watch. Leave the phone in the cart out of signal and every tap still lands in the right order once it reconnects, just logged with the time it finally got through.

The watch app is free, there is no Pro check on it, and no ad shows while a counter is open. It is worth using for the crown click alone. For par, putts or a group scorecard, use a proper golf app.

Questions and answers

How do I count golf strokes on Apple Watch?

Open a counter in Tally Counter on the watch and tap the screen or turn the Digital Crown one click per stroke. Turn the crown back or tap minus to take one off, and reset before the next hole.

Is there a free golf stroke counter app for Apple Watch?

Tally Counter's watch app is free to use with up to 3 counters made on the iPhone. A single counter reset each hole is enough for a full round; one counter per hole needs Pro.

How do I count golf penalty strokes?

The rules of golf decide how many strokes a penalty costs; the app does not know them. Tap once for each penalty stroke you add, the same as a normal stroke.

Can it keep score for my whole group?

Not really. It is one count per counter with no player list or scorecard. You could make a counter per player within the limit, but tapping for others between shots gets messy fast.

Apple Watch tally counter: tap the screen or turn the Digital Crown · Tally Counter

How do I count golf shots on my Apple Watch?