Teers vs GOLFR — Which golf course ranking app is right for you?

If you're trying to pick between Teers and GOLFR, the short version is this:

GOLFR is built around handicap-weighted authority. Better golfers' opinions count more in their community rankings. They've also added an editorial Top 500 USA list and per-state lists curated by their team.

Teers is built around your friends. Your rankings are yours. The interesting comparisons happen with the people you actually golf with — your buddies group, your home course crew, the guy who texted you about Streamsong last summer.

Both are in the same lane (rank the courses you've played, no in-round GPS or scorecard tracking). Both are free. Both are iOS-only right now. The difference is what they think makes a ranking trustworthy.

Quick comparison

| | Teers | GOLFR | |---|---|---| | Core mechanic | Rank by sentiment (Elite/Great/Alright/Bad), then refine | Head-to-head comparison, weighted by handicap | | Whose opinion counts | Your friends + you | Lower-handicap golfers' ratings count more | | Editorial layer | No — purely your list and your friends' lists | Yes — Top 500 USA + per-state Top 25s | | Friend discovery | Phone contact match + follow graph | Follow / invite | | Import existing rounds | Yes — 18 Birdies CSV/photo import | No | | Want-to-play list | Yes | Yes ("Bucket list") | | Map view | Yes — coverage and where friends are playing | Yes — global Recs map | | Pricing | Free | Free | | Platforms | iOS | iOS | | Launched | 2026 | Oct 2025 |

Where GOLFR is stronger

Editorial Top 500 / state lists. If you're an architecture nerd who wants a curated reference of "the courses that matter," GOLFR's expert-built lists give you that out of the box. Teers doesn't have an editorial layer — we believe your list is the list that matters, and your friends' lists are the lists worth comparing against.

Handicap-weighted aggregation. If you trust low-handicap players more than mid-handicappers, GOLFR's algorithm gives you that filter automatically.

Where Teers is stronger

Friend graph from day one. Teers matches your phone contacts to find people you actually know who're on the app. The whole point is comparing notes with your group, not with strangers ranked by handicap. We think "who said this" matters more than "what their index is."

18 Birdies import. If you've been tracking rounds in 18 Birdies for years, Teers can import your course history via CSV or photo OCR. You start with a populated list instead of a blank slate.

Smart re-ranking. Bumping a course up at the top of "Great" auto-promotes it into "Elite." We built the comparison flow around how golfers actually talk about courses — "yeah this one is better than that one, but not Elite-tier" — not pairwise tournaments.

Predicted score badges. When you look at a new course you haven't played, Teers shows what we think you'd rank it based on your taste and your friends' rankings. It's the "you'll probably like this" signal you wish your group chat could give you.

Shareable ranking cards. Every ranking generates a clean image you can drop into iMessage or Instagram. Your take on Pebble travels with you, not stuck inside the app.

Which one should you use?

Use GOLFR if: You want a curated Top 500 reference, you trust handicap-weighted authority, and you're cool building your list against an editorial baseline.

Use Teers if: You'd rather compare notes with your actual buddies than with strangers, you want to import your existing 18 Birdies rounds, and you care about a ranking that reflects your taste — not somebody else's algorithm.

There's room for both. The category is brand new and neither app has won — these are early days. If you're a "more is better" type, install both and see which one you keep opening.

Try Teers

Download Teers on the App Store — it's free, takes 30 seconds to set up, and your first ranking is one tap away.