GPS watches (15)

This depends on your price point and what you’re looking for. If you’re a beginner but you’re wanting to improve your game considerably with precision metrics, then you’ll love the Garmin Approach S10. This Garmin golf watch is possibly the best golf watch for beginners, because it incorporates automatic course detection, accurate yardage to specific points on the green, and digital scoring. However, for serious players, the Garmin Approach S62 is a firm favourite amongst the semi-pros. As well as accurate distance information, this golf watch also points out hazards, assists in detecting your placed pins when in a blind spot, and the layout of the green for further accuracy. It records your shots, takes uphill or downhill shots into account, and even recommends which club to use based on past playing history. If you’re a serious golf player, you’ll want one of these golf watches.

If you’re a keen golf player, take the game seriously, and are constantly trying to improve your game, then golf GPS watches are absolutely worth it. Depending on the model of the watch, they can feedback data in real time, track it for future analysis, and map out the course for you at the touch of a button. There are many different ways you can use your golf GPS watch to improve your game, but it might just become your lifestyle best friend too. Depending on the model, your golf watch could track your heart rate, estimate blood oxygen levels, offer notifications from your SmartPhone, and even a contactless payment system.
Of course, even the less technical models that don’t offer these lifestyle customisations are still worth it. Your entry-level golf GPS watches still provide valuable game metrics to keep you performing at your optimum and always improving.

As recently as 2018, GPS golf devices weren’t allowed in major golf tournaments. Skip forwards a few years, and this rule has become so much more flexible. The USGA allows for two different stipulations in distance-measuring, the first being a stand-alone device like a GPS golf watch and the second a multi-functional device such as a tablet or smart device.
GPS golf watches are legal for the following: measure distances to your target, measure and record the distance of your shots, and record your swing to review after the round is played. What you can’t do is: measure the calculated distances for slopes, actively measure weather conditions, contact your coach mid-round, record and review a video or photo of a swing during the round, measure your swing with any built-in features, and use any club suggestion features. However, different tournaments may include more than these rules, or they may include less. If you’re entering into a tournament or competition and are wondering if golf watches with the above features are game-legal, we’d recommend speaking to the organisers.