The USGA is making some big moves for its GHIN app in 2026, so I recently paid golf’s governing body a visit at the absolutely stunning Winged Foot Golf Club to try out the new features, and I was absolutely blown away (by the course and the app).
To me, the coolest change is the new Rules AI feature, which is essentially like ChatGPT for golf rules. But there’s also a whole new layout coming to the app, along with a boatload of new features designed to make keeping score and entering your post-round results more streamlined.
Do the best golf apps like Arccos, 18Birdies, and GolfShot need to be worried about the GHIN app replacing them? Time will tell, but the USGA is moving in the right direction towards making its app more useful than just a way to input your scores for your handicap.
Rules AI is exactly what you want it to be
When I arrived at Winged Foot, I had already tried the beta of GHIN’s new layout and was impressed, but at the end of the day, it took its relatively barebones scoring app and brought it up to par with competitors like 18 Birdies, The Grint and the other big players in the space. And getting users who already pay for a subscription to those apps to switch will be an uphill climb, no matter how much the USGA shines up its interface.
“Our goal has always been to ensure the Rules are accessible and that golfers can find the information they need to play the game fairly, enjoyably and with confidence,” said USGA CEO Mike Whan.
“By combining our expansive historical data with modern AI technology, we are providing a bridge between tradition and innovation. Rules AI is designed to continue making the Rules of Golf easier to navigate and meet golfers where they are—on the course and on their mobile devices.”
But then they told me about Rules AI, and my entire perception of the situation changed. You mean to tell me that not only is the arbiter of golf rules building a more robust scorekeeping app, but the USGA is also making an AI you can ask rules questions to while on the course? That should put the other apps on notice.
Maybe I’m just an overly excited golfer and tech enthusiast who gets excited about something new.
That’s what I thought before I tried it. Once I actually asked it a rules question and received a perfect response that explained the rule and how to deal with the rule, I was truly sold.
I asked what if my ball lands on “Frankenstein’s fat foot” as an ode to Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore, but it didn’t like that question, saying it will only answer questions about golf. So I asked without the Happy reference and got a quick, rules-accurate answer.
The full answer is in the screenshot above, but the summary is that you can move the ball and where to move it depends on the situation.
Which means the rule in “Happy Gilmore” is inaccurate. But it’s also a movie, so I suppose it doesn’t need to follow the USGA rules to the letter.
App redesign
As mentioned, the actual reason we went to Winged Foot was to see the redesigned GHIN app, which is expected to be made available to the public in late summer of 2026.
It’s a lot more streamlined than the original app, with heat maps showing green slopes and improved distances to bunkers and other hazards on the course.
These features exist in other apps, but what makes their coming to GHIN exciting is that in 2025, 2.91 million people posted a score in GHIN. That means they’re already using the GHIN app to enter scores, so it seems logical that golfers could condense everything into a single app that does it all. And now that the GHIN app does it well, that could actually work.
Will it convince me to leave Arccos? Highly unlikely. After spending a round with it at Winged Foot, I like what it brings to the table, but for me, nothing will replace the insights and data Arccos offers with minimal effort on my part. Sure, GHIN lets you input how many putts you made and whether you hit the green in regulation or the fairway, but Arccos does that automatically.
Still, if you’re on the fence about which golf app to use and you use GHIN for handicap data, it might be worth switching to it for all your golf needs once the update is released.
And if nothing else, you’ll want to use the Rules AI feature if you plan to play any sort of competitive golf where rule questions may emerge.
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