Golf watches FAQ
What is the most accurate golf watch?
GPS golf watches won’t give you a distance to the pin, but the best golf watches can all claim to have a yardage discrepancy that’s no more than plus or minus 5 yards. Anyone who wants to get the distance to the back, front, middle and pin can combine a golf watch with GPS with a rangefinder. Since smartwatches often require accompanying golf apps for GPS yardage to work, that may reflect on GPS accuracy, depending on the app.
There are also certain watches, including models from Garmin and Shotscope, that offer pinpoint functionality, which gives you the distance you need to hit from wherever you’ve put your finger on the screen.
Are golf watches with GPS worth it?
As with any piece of tech, golf watches with GPS can be hugely beneficial to some players and a massive hindrance to others. “Not everyone likes to wear a watch when they’re hitting shots. It’s a convenience thing. As golfers, we all have these funny little quirks – some players play with a watch, some players don’t, and once they’re one or the other, they don’t normally change,” says golfer James Day.
For beginners, a golf watch can be a helpful tool. “The handy thing is to build a sense of how far you hit each club. It will certainly help with that – knowing how far you’ve got to go and how far you’ve hit your last shot, will help beginners build that association,” he says.
While James considers some features on golf watches with GPS like swing speed measurements “gimmicky,” he does note that “one of the advantages of the golf-specific watches is they’ve got a bigger face. It’s easier to see more details”.
Which golf watch has the best battery life?
Garmin’s S70 and S62 offer longer battery life in GPS mode than some other golf watch models, which makes them suitable for extended play. Smart watches with golf apps, like the Samsung Galaxy Watch Pro 5, are also known for impressive battery life. To save battery, most watches have lower-power mode features. Of the watches in this list, the majority have a long-lasting battery that won’t require any recharging for days when not in GPS mode.
Can a golf watch also track my fitness and performance?
Fitness tracker watches with golf apps, like the Google Pixel Watch 3 and Apple Watch Ultra 2, are useful for tracking a range of health and fitness needs in addition to measuring golf stats and providing tracking and GPS on the course. You can now find various golf-specific models offering robust fitness and health tracking, like Tag Heuer and Garmin.
