Garmin Approach S1 GPS Golf Watch, An Idea Who’s Time Has Come
garmin-approach-s1-gps-golf-watch
Garmin has finally seen the light with this wrist watch. The Garmin Approach S1 GPS Golf Watch gives you all the essential information you need to make the correct club selection without the hassle of fumbling for a separate device.
Why?
Because the device is attached to you in the form of a wrist watch. What a great idea. Glance down at your wrist period, no fumbling through your golf bag for the laser finder, no running back to the cart to check the GPS (If the course has one).
Duh, where have I been? I love to play golf and it is a lot of fun to play new courses. It is especially enjoyable when the new (for you) course you are playing has GPS in their carts so you will have some clue about distances. Over the years I have played around with many different range finding devices, from the simple $10 telescope with a line on the top of the inner glass to a fancy program for my palm pilot. I discovered with the palm that I needed my reading glasses to make use of the program. This became so much of a distraction that I stopped carrying it after the third round.
I never had the urge to buy the laser binoculars as one of the guys in my normal foursome already has a pair. I find it interesting to watch as I am standing next to a marked sprinkler head and watch as my partner struggles to hold the binoculars steady to get a reading and then tells me a couple of yards more than the head indicates. The bottom line is that all you need is a fair approximation of the distances. Assuming you have done your work on the range and know the distances that each of your clubs will carry then you will know which club to choose.
The Garmin Approach S1 GPS Golf Watch has three modes besides telling you the time. It will keep track of the total distance (odometer) that you have walked on the entire course. It will track the distance of your individual shots, so you can set it after you take your shot, walk to your ball and get the distance. Finally, it will give you a distance to the pin so you can make the best choice of an approach club. For your local course you probably already know that, but for an unfamiliar course this can be highly useful. (My first round on an unfamiliar course usually adds 4-6 strokes due to miscalculations)
If you are looking for a full-blown GPS lay-out with maps to the hazards, you will probably not like this device. It does not yield this kind of information. But if simple distance and convenience is important then this is the best choice I have seen. No more digging in your bag for the glasses or laser finder, no trips the cart to check the map (especially on a “cart path only” course). It comes with 14,000 courses pre-loaded, with more being added, so your course is probably already there. Plus you will not have any software subscriptions or extra fiddling. The only serious complaint that I have heard is the charge time, apparently it is only good for a single round before it needs to be recharged. (36 hole days are rare for me so this will not be a problem).
You can see the approach watch at the In The Hole Golf
Simply scroll to find your pre-loaded course.
You can see the entire line of GPS range finders on this page.