How to Track a Round of Golf: Three Methods in golfity
golfity offers three different methods to enter your golf rounds: total score for quick entry, hole by hole for basic stats, or shot by shot for full strokes gained analysis.
Tracking your golf rounds is the foundation of game improvement. golfity offers three different input methods, each designed for different situations and goals. Choose the method that fits your needs for each round.
Starting a New Round
To begin tracking, open golfity and tap the “Play” button on the main screen. Search for your course by name or browse nearby options. Once selected, you can choose your tees and playing partners before starting.
Method 1: Total Score Entry
The fastest way to log a round. Use total score entry when:
- You forgot to track during the round
- You are entering historical scores
- You just want to maintain a scoring record
With this method, you enter your final score for 9 or 18 holes, plus optional stats like total putts and fairways hit. The data is limited, but your scores are tracked for handicap trends and sharing with friends.
What you get: Score history, handicap tracking, basic stats over time.
What you miss: Hole-by-hole breakdown, shot patterns, strokes gained analysis.
Method 2: Hole by Hole Tracking
The classic scorecard approach. Enter your score, putts, and other stats for each hole as you play or immediately after your round. This method balances detail with simplicity.
For each hole, you can record:
- Total strokes
- Number of putts
- Fairway hit or missed (par 4s and 5s)
- Green in regulation
- Penalty strokes
Hole by hole tracking reveals patterns in your scoring. You might discover you consistently struggle on par 3s, lose strokes on the back nine, or three-putt more often than you realized.
What you get: Hole-by-hole trends, putting stats, GIR percentage, fairway accuracy.
What you miss: Individual shot quality, detailed strokes gained breakdown.
Method 3: Shot by Shot Tracking
The most powerful option. Shot by shot tracking captures the distance and lie for every shot, enabling full strokes gained analysis. This is the method professional coaches use to analyze tour players.
For each shot, you record:
- Starting lie (tee, fairway, rough, sand, green)
- Distance to hole
- Ending lie and distance
golfity automatically calculates strokes gained for every shot, showing you exactly which parts of your game are costing or saving strokes.
What you get: Complete strokes gained breakdown, shot-by-shot analysis, club performance data, specific improvement recommendations.
What you miss: Nothing. This is the full picture.
How Shot by Shot Tracking Works
The process is straightforward. On the tee, enter your distance to the hole (usually provided by the course). After your shot lands, mark the new distance and lie. Repeat until you hole out.
During a round, most golfers spend 10-15 seconds per shot on data entry. With practice, it becomes automatic. The insights you gain far outweigh the small time investment.
After the round, golfity breaks down your performance by category:
- Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee
- Strokes Gained: Approach
- Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green
- Strokes Gained: Putting
You will see exactly where you are beating or trailing your benchmark, whether that is scratch golfers, 10-handicaps, or your own historical average.
Which Method Should You Choose?
Use total score when you are pressed for time or entering old rounds.
Use hole by hole for casual rounds when you want basic stats without extra effort.
Use shot by shot when you are serious about improvement and want to know precisely where your strokes are going.
The good news: you can mix methods freely. Track shot by shot during a practice round, then switch to hole by hole for a casual game with friends. Your data accumulates regardless of the input method you choose.
Next Steps
Ready to start tracking? Download golfity and play your next round with shot-by-shot tracking enabled. After just a few rounds, you will have enough data to identify your biggest opportunities for improvement.
For more on understanding your strokes gained data, read What is Strokes Gained? or try our strokes gained calculator to see how individual shots are measured.
