Who builds Yardage, and why

Most golf apps bury the one number you need under a scorecard, a stats tab, an ad, and a map you have to pinch. Yardage exists because we wanted the number and none of the rest. So that’s what it is: the distance to the center of the green, big, on the phone you already carry.

What we believe

• One number

  Yards to the center of the green. Pull it out, glance, hit. If a feature makes you look at the phone longer, it doesn’t go in.

• The middle, not the flag

  The flag moves every morning; the middle doesn’t. For most golfers on most shots, the center number is the one that picks the club. We say plainly where a laser rangefinder is the better tool.

• No clutter

  No scoring, no stats, no front and back, no club suggestions, no social feed. Not “not yet.” Not at all. The app is deliberately quiet.

• Nobody watching where you walk

  No account, no ads, no analytics SDKs, no route history. Location is used during a round, on the phone. The privacy policy lists every field the app can send.

• Honest limits

  Phone GPS is typically accurate to within about 5 meters (16 feet) under open sky, per GPS.gov, and worse under trees. The app says when its signal is poor instead of inventing a number. If your course isn’t mapped, it says that too.

How the course data works

Yardage ships with 14,987 courses across all 50 states, bundled inside the app so it works without a signal. Each course has the center of each green mapped; that’s the point the number is measured to. Course names, towns and hole counts come from third-party course data and may contain errors. The same catalog powers the course directory on this site and the Golf Course Census, which is what the numbers look like when you add them all up.

Maps have mistakes, and golfers find them faster than we do. That’s why the round screen has a “Green looks wrong?” button: hold to mark where the green really is, and a person checks the report before the map changes. Nothing changes automatically, and nothing is sent unless you hold the button.

Some courses aren’t mapped yet. When yours isn’t, the app tells you rather than showing a number for a green it doesn’t have. You can tell us the course and we’ll say what we can do. If you run a course, the same page has a badge you can put on your website once your course is mapped.

What we've decided not to build

• Distance to the pin. We don't know where today's pin is and won't pretend to.
• Front, back, hazards, lay-ups, plays-like numbers. The app doesn't interpret; it measures one thing.
• Scoring, stats, handicaps, club recommendations. Good apps exist for those. This isn't one.
• Android, Apple Watch, web. iPhone only; the download page has what you need.
• Tracking of any kind in the app. This website uses analytics like most websites; the app never will.

Contact

Everything goes to support@theyardageapp.com. A person reads it. Put Beta in the subject for beta feedback. Put "Press" in the subject for media and "Course" if you run a golf course. The support page has the quick fixes; the press kit has facts, screenshots and the icon; the FAQ has the rest. The product, in one page: Yardage.

Yardage is made by Give Yourself Three LLC. The privacy policy and terms are written to be read in one sitting.

Tips by email

Leave an email to get on the list for occasional short notes about playing to the middle, knowing your real carry, and not overthinking approach shots. No sales pitch, and none of it needs the app.