Can you use Apple Watch for golf without your iPhone?

The short answer

The watch can find its own position without the phone: GPS is built into every Apple Watch. What decides whether you get yardages is the golf app. Some watch apps are built to run on their own, and some rely on the iPhone app for their data. Apple's developer documentation calls these independent and dependent watch apps: a dependent watch app "relies on the companion iOS app to function properly", while an independent one doesn't need it.

So the answer for any golf app is in that app's own description or help pages, not in the watch's specs. If it doesn't say, try it at home first (below).

What Apple Watch does without the iPhone

Apple's support page splits this by connection.

No iPhone, no Wi-Fi and no mobile signal (any model)

Track workouts, including Golf, which is one of the Workout app's workout types. Apple suggests calibrating the watch for better GPS accuracy in outdoor workouts without the iPhone.
Track Activity, heart rate and other health features.
Play music, podcasts and audiobooks downloaded to the watch.
Use Apple Pay, the clock, timers and stopwatch, Compass and Notes.

Apple doesn't list third-party apps here. Whether a golf app works in this state depends on whether it's independent, and on whether the course is already stored on the watch.

Cellular models, or any model on Wi-Fi

Apple Watch comes in GPS and GPS + Cellular versions. With an active mobile plan, a cellular watch stays connected away from your iPhone, so it can make calls, send messages, stream music and use Maps. On Wi-Fi, any model can do much the same, and Apple's user guide says you can use third-party apps that support Wi-Fi. Out on the course you're unlikely to be on Wi-Fi, so for golf it's the cellular model that matters.

Two limits from Apple's page are worth knowing:

On a cellular watch, SMS, MMS and notifications from third-party apps need the paired iPhone switched on and connected to Wi-Fi or mobile data, though it needn't be nearby.
In Low Power Mode, Wi-Fi and mobile data switch off while the iPhone isn't nearby, until you open an app that needs a connection.

How to check a golf app before the round

Read the app's description and help pages. Look for wording about using the watch without your iPhone, or a standalone watch app.
Try it at home. Put the iPhone in flight mode or switch it off, and on a GPS-only watch turn off Wi-Fi too. Open the golf app on the watch and start a round on your course. If you see the hole and a distance, it works; if it waits for the phone, it doesn't.
Load your course first. Even an independent app needs the course map from somewhere. Without a phone or mobile signal, it can only use what's already on the watch, so open the course with a connection before you go.
Check your scores come back. After the test, turn the iPhone back on and see that the round turns up there.

Should you take the phone anyway?

Leaving the phone at home is lighter, but with it in the bag the watch app has its iPhone app nearby, whatever kind it is. A common approach is to keep the phone in the bag on silent and use the watch for everything on the course. You also have the phone for the bigger hole map, and for emergencies.

If you'd like to study the course without a screen at all, our free course maps show every hole's length, green depth and the distance to reach and carry each bunker and water hazard, which you can print or save before you play. See also how to use Apple Watch for golf, and which watch suits golf: the SE or the Ultra.

See free hole-by-hole course maps

Related guides

Sources

Golf Scout's Apple Watch app shows green and hazard distances, keeps your score and marks each shot with the club you hit. Get Golf Scout on the App Store, free for iPhone and Apple Watch.