CaddieSense - AI golf caddie

Home view, course selection view, and tee selection view
Play view, recording your question, and advice from caddie
Sample questions, chat view, and the course map

Inspiration

Golfers often struggle with club selection and course strategy. Professionals rely on human caddies, but amateurs are left guessing. We wanted to build a digital caddie that feels natural, understands context, and gives instant, confident advice—just like having a pro by your side.

What it does

CaddieSense is an AI-powered golf caddie that provides real-time guidance during your round:

Chat interface: Ask natural questions like "What club should I use?" and get personalized recommendations
GPS integration: Automatically detects your location and distance to pins
Course mapping: Visual hole layouts with hazards, targets, and strategic insights
Personal profile: Tracks your club distances and handicap for tailored advice
Multi-language support: Available in English and Japanese
Account management: Secure user profiles with subscription tiers

How we built it

Frontend: Native iOS app (Swift + SwiftUI) with real-time GPS, interactive maps, and conversational UI
Backend: Next.js API routes deployed on Vercel with Firebase integration for user management
Data: Integration with Golf Intelligence API for comprehensive course data and hole information
AI pipeline:
- Chat-based LLM that reasons over location, distance, hole layout, hazards, and player profile
- Considers club distances, handicap, course conditions, and strategic positioning
- Provides confident recommendations with reasoning: ( \text{CaddieSense} = f(\text{GPS}, \text{Course Data}, \text{Player Profile}, \text{Chat Input}) \to \text{Club Recommendation}, \text{Strategy}, \text{Target Selection} )

Challenges we ran into

Real-time GPS accuracy for precise distance calculations on golf courses
Course data integration from multiple APIs while maintaining performance
Context-aware AI that understands golf strategy beyond just distances
User authentication flow with multiple sign-in options (Google, Apple, Anonymous)
Subscription management with RevenueCat integration
App Store compliance including proper account deletion workflows

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Built a production-ready iOS app with complete user lifecycle management
Integrated real course data from 40,000+ golf courses worldwide
Created intelligent chat interface that understands golf context and strategy
Implemented visual course maps with hazard detection and target recommendations
Added App Store-compliant features including account deletion and subscription management
Achieved sub-2 second response times for AI recommendations during live play