Entry level golf watch?

[Newbie15]

I'm a new golfer and I'm exploring my options for a golf watch. I think my needs are pretty basic. I would like to know:

 

1. Location and distance to green and hazards

2. Ability to keep track of what club I used and what distance it went

3. My score

 

I would pay a premium for a screen that's easy to read in direct sunlight with sun glasses on. I would also pay a premium for simplicity. I do not want to spend a lot of time swiping and tapping.

 

Anything connected to my phone is probably out. I'm already frustrated by connecting my phone to other devices.

 

Something used would be even better. This way if I hate it I haven't wasted much.

 

Any comments would be appreciated.

[kmay__]

I use the Garmin s20, I love it. Very simple to use, I don't enter club info while I play, but that is an option. I'll go through the shots later and add in the clubs I used if I remember and care to. I just use it for yardages, and when I walk off the green I hit the button on the side to input my score for the hole. Unfortunate you don't want to use the accompanying app for the smartphone because its pretty awesome as well. It plots all your shots based on the movement of the watch and your walking pattern. Occasionally it'll be a little wonky, but I'd say its 90% + accurate. 

 

So here's some screenshots from my phone of what it records, you can see on the par 5, I've gone back in after the round and inputted the clubs I used. It also keeps a handicap for you, and tracks your drives and approaches and lets you know your misses. You can also choose to enter in how many putts, penalties, ect you take on each hole. I prefer to just enter my score as I walk off the green so I'm not standing there fidgeting with it. Also my driver history here to show misses, distances, ect. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[968cab]

Where are you located? Shoot me a PM 

Edited July 27, 2021 by 968cab

[Stuart_G]

1 hour ago, kmay__ said:

I use the Garmin s20, I love it.

 

I agree it's a great option - but unfortunately it looks like garmin stopped producing it.   Although it hasn't been all that long so there may be some inventory left out there somewhere.   

 

The s12 is the new entry level and has everything except automatic shot tracking (on it's own).  s42 would be the lowest cost unit with the auto shot tracking.

 

Personally I stopped using the shot tracking on my s60 a long time ago.  Without the ability to manually add shots (on the course as your playing) I find a lot of the data isn't really very useful.

Edited July 27, 2021 by Stuart_G

[Itsjustagame]

Had the S20 which worked fine. Recently got the S40 which to me is worth the price difference. Lots of side buttons on the S20 and the current S12 take a while to learn how they function. The touch screen S40 is much easier to use on the course.

[cadoipi]

I have a S20, its simple, easy to read, and requires very minimal interaction.

 

My main complaint about it is that Garmin purposely locks functionality behind paywalls to make more money.

• Want to track the location of your approach shots or your putting? You need to buy CT10 for your wedges and putter (the software locks you out if you don't).  The CT10 are unnecessary for this, you would just need to press a button on your watch each time your make a putt or chip (so the system can record the GPS locations).
• Even if you buy the CT10 set, their system does not track the location of the pin (and making many of its putting and short game stats suspect).  Again this is unnecessary, all you would need to do is push a button on your watch when you are standing at the hole.
• Outside of golf (but illustrative of Garmin's business practices) there is no software functionality on the S20 for you to track a walk/run.  If you want that you need to buy a more expensive model.  However the S20 tracks the time and distance you walk during a round, so it obviously could also track a walk/run.

Edited July 27, 2021 by cadoipi

[JimmyC59]

5 hours ago, kmay__ said:

I use the Garmin s20, I love it. Very simple to use, I don't enter club info while I play, but that is an option. I'll go through the shots later and add in the clubs I used if I remember and care to. I just use it for yardages, and when I walk off the green I hit the button on the side to input my score for the hole. Unfortunate you don't want to use the accompanying app for the smartphone because its pretty awesome as well. It plots all your shots based on the movement of the watch and your walking pattern. Occasionally it'll be a little wonky, but I'd say its 90% + accurate. 

 

So here's some screenshots from my phone of what it records, you can see on the par 5, I've gone back in after the round and inputted the clubs I used. It also keeps a handicap for you, and tracks your drives and approaches and lets you know your misses. You can also choose to enter in how many putts, penalties, ect you take on each hole. I prefer to just enter my score as I walk off the green so I'm not standing there fidgeting with it. Also my driver history here to show misses, distances, ect. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This. 100%

[Newbie15]

21 hours ago, kmay__ said:

I use the Garmin s20, I love it. Very simple to use, I don't enter club info while I play, but that is an option. I'll go through the shots later and add in the clubs I used if I remember and care to. I just use it for yardages, and when I walk off the green I hit the button on the side to input my score for the hole. Unfortunate you don't want to use the accompanying app for the smartphone because its pretty awesome as well. It plots all your shots based on the movement of the watch and your walking pattern. Occasionally it'll be a little wonky, but I'd say its 90% + accurate. 

 

So here's some screenshots from my phone of what it records, you can see on the par 5, I've gone back in after the round and inputted the clubs I used. It also keeps a handicap for you, and tracks your drives and approaches and lets you know your misses. You can also choose to enter in how many putts, penalties, ect you take on each hole. I prefer to just enter my score as I walk off the green so I'm not standing there fidgeting with it. Also my driver history here to show misses, distances, ect. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I guess I should expand on what I said about not wanting to synch it to my phone. What I would say is that I dont want the usability of the watch to be dependant on the blue tooth connection to my phone because I often find that connection to be iffy on my 3 yr old Samsung.  I also want to leave my phone in the cart while I walk the course to my ball. I dont want to have to keep my phone in my pocket.

 

Having said that I do like those screenshots you posted so I will keep an open mind when I get one. Thanks

[Stuart_G]

6 minutes ago, Newbie15 said:

I guess I should expand on what I said about not wanting to synch it to my phone. What I would say is that I dont want the usability of the watch to be dependant on the blue tooth connection to my phone because I often find that connection to be iffy on my 3 yr old Samsung.  I also want to leave my phone in the cart while I walk the course to my ball. I dont want to have to keep my phone in my pocket.

 

Having said that I do like those screenshots you posted so I will keep an open mind when I get one. Thanks

 

For the Garmin units, the shot tracking is managed within the watch, not the phone.  So it doesn't need to be connected to the phone during the round.    You wait until after the round is completed before you upload the data to the phone (or computer) for viewing.   Only reason to keep it connected to the phone during the round is to receive notifications from the phone.

Edited July 28, 2021 by Stuart_G

[Newbie15]

 

5 minutes ago, Stuart_G said:

 

For the Garmin units, the shot tracking is managed within the watch, not the phone.  So it doesn't need to be connected to the phone during the round.    You wait until after the round is completed before you upload the data to the phone (or computer) for viewing.   Only reason to keep it connected to the phone during the round is to receive notifications from the phone.

Got it. Thank you. 

Edited July 28, 2021 by Newbie15

[Stuart_G]

9 minutes ago, Newbie15 said:

Does "auto shot tracking" simply mean that you tell the device that you are hitting the ball and each time you hit a ball it calculates the difference in yardage between those hits?  Or does it mean that the device senses the impact of the club and the ball so you dont have to tell it that you just made a shot?

 

It's a functionality that you just turn on at the bigging of the round and the watch is supposed to automatically detect when you hit a ball - really only for full shots.   It generally isn't intended to pick up chips or putts.

 

How well it does that is a separate question.  For some people it seems to work well, for others not so much.  Some units can be set to ask you which club you just hit after it detects a shot - or you can go add that info (as well as any missing shots) after the round through the app or computer.    I don't know if it's something about my swing or my particular watch but when I do check the data, I've got less than a 50% success rate of picking up the full swings.  But based on feedback I've seen from others, I think I may be more of an exception than the typical results.

 

The CT10 club sensors are an add-on to help with those deficiencies but IMO it would have been way better (and certainly cheaper) if it did have a way to manually add a shot on course - especially with the touch screen watches.  It might be a bit more awkward with the s20 button only UI.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 28, 2021 by Stuart_G

[larrybud]

I've moved from GameGolf Classic to ShotScope. LOVING it. I'm not a "watch guy" but I really don't notice it.

 

As I gather more rounds, the stats are very nice. Hopefully they update the website to include Strokes Gained, but for now, the app has it.

[Chef Otto]

I have a s12 white that I used once and would sell if interested. Send me a PM 

[Newbie15]

5 hours ago, Chef Otto said:

I have a s12 white that I used once and would sell if interested. Send me a PM 

I'm all set, thank you.

[Newbie15]

Thanks to the generosity of another member here I am now the proud owner of a slightly used Garmin Approach S40. I cant wait to give it a try.  Anyone own this model and want to share some tips?

[DrDon]

On 8/5/2021 at 8:15 AM, Newbie15 said:

Thanks to the generosity of another member here I am now the proud owner of a slightly used Garmin Approach S40. I cant wait to give it a try.  Anyone own this model and want to share some tips?

 

Any report/review of the S40?   I'm looking to get a new GPS watch for my wife -- something simple and easy to use.   She currently has a Bushnell that's starting to die on her.

 

 

[Newbie15]

I like it. I dont have a range finder so I cant tell how accurate it is. But for my purposes it's accurate enough. It's neat to come home and review your shots on the PC afterwards, especially the distances.

 

The only struggle I had was in understanding some of the prompts when I walked onto the green. Because it never detects putts and only sometimes detects wedges, you have to enter those manually and be aware of whether it detected the wedges or not. Once I understood that it was asking me to enter both total strokes and then number of putts, it worked well for me.

 

I am a new golfer and I take A LOT of strokes including pitches and chips around the green. Sometimes I lose count of how many and don't want to linger to try to count them up. As a result my scores on the watch are a little suspect. But when you're shooting 120 a couple of strokes either way ...

 

In the future I will consider getting the gizmo that goes on the butt of the club and tells the watch what club I just hit - including wedges and putts. That would presumably make the scores accurate and relieve me of the (not hard at all) responsibility of telling the watch what club I just used.  

[TooSteepForMizunos]

S40 owner, love it. 
Distances to green are great. Distances to most hazards are good (water hazards that bend and turn can be a little hard to get the right reading on). I use scoring and stat tracking, once you are used to the prompts after each green it’s very easy to use. When I’ve got a new club or set of irons I turn auto shot tracking back on until I’ve got distances, then turn it back off again. Obviously the distances are total distances including roll so you need to know your carry distances separately. With the distances on Garmin it’s important if you want good averages, don’t include any really bad shots. If you mishit you can just click the side button when the watch asks what club that shot was for, then it marks that one down blank for club selection. When I’m tracking distances I go into the app after each round and make sure I check all shots to get accurate distances, for example if a wedge shot isn’t picked up, your shot before that will read a lot longer than it was, so in the app you add a shot from roughly the right point on the course, and that’s going to give you closer to accurate readings than not editing it.

Combined with having my carry distances dialed in with a launch monitor, love having my average total distances aswell. And yes I realise when the course is harder or softer I will get more or less roll. 
The other thing I love is just having all my scorecards stored in there so I look back on my progress over time, total scores on each course I play, plus looking at fairways, greens and putts. 
One last feature that is great is being able to manually add a point anywhere on the course. Great for adding your own distances to layup spots. 

[Stuart_G]

18 hours ago, DrDon said:

 

Any report/review of the S40?   I'm looking to get a new GPS watch for my wife -- something simple and easy to use.   She currently has a Bushnell that's starting to die on her.

 

 

 

Nothing against the s40 - but if she wants simple with no frills or extras, the s12 might be a better option.   S40 (or now s42) adds a lot of things on top of the basic golf functionality.  Activity, fitness, sleep tracking, phone connectivity, etc....    The touch screen is nice though.

[Newbie15]

13 hours ago, TooSteepForMizunos said:

S40 owner, love it. 
Distances to green are great. Distances to most hazards are good (water hazards that bend and turn can be a little hard to get the right reading on). I use scoring and stat tracking, once you are used to the prompts after each green it’s very easy to use. When I’ve got a new club or set of irons I turn auto shot tracking back on until I’ve got distances, then turn it back off again. Obviously the distances are total distances including roll so you need to know your carry distances separately. With the distances on Garmin it’s important if you want good averages, don’t include any really bad shots. If you mishit you can just click the side button when the watch asks what club that shot was for, then it marks that one down blank for club selection. When I’m tracking distances I go into the app after each round and make sure I check all shots to get accurate distances, for example if a wedge shot isn’t picked up, your shot before that will read a lot longer than it was, so in the app you add a shot from roughly the right point on the course, and that’s going to give you closer to accurate readings than not editing it.

Combined with having my carry distances dialed in with a launch monitor, love having my average total distances aswell. And yes I realise when the course is harder or softer I will get more or less roll. 
The other thing I love is just having all my scorecards stored in there so I look back on my progress over time, total scores on each course I play, plus looking at fairways, greens and putts. 
One last feature that is great is being able to manually add a point anywhere on the course. Great for adding your own distances to layup spots. 

"If you mishit you can just click the side button when the watch asks what club that shot was for, then it marks that one down blank for club selection"

 

I didn't know that. Thanks

[Stuart_G]

I found the requests for the club to be annoying.  Fortunately (at least with the s60) you can set the option to not ask you for the club selection.  Then if you want, you can always go add that after the round through the app or web site.

[me05501]

Wow. I just connected my watch to my computer and opened the Garmin app, and it has actually been collecting stats in the background as I played for the last few years. I had no idea. 

 

Obviously it doesn't know which club I used for each shot, but it has more or less accurately determined drives, approaches, chips and putts. The site does suggest that I'd get even more data if I was using CT-10 sensors, but I guess entering the clubs manually is also an option. 

 

I think I'll wait for the next generation of sensors before I go down that road.