Navigating through heavy traffic is a nightmare for many office goers. However, when you are not sure about your way, a GPS can pinpoint your exact position on the map from three dimensions – altitude, latitude, and longitude. What role does a GPS play on a golf course?
The golf course can be an exceptionally difficult maze without walls. To measure our distance from the pin or other essential locations on the course, either you trust your instincts or technology. While it’s true that both are infallible, a good GPS watch will help you reduce the guesswork and do the better calculation. In this vein, we review the Garmin Approach S20 GPS Watch, which is the brand’s entry-level watch in the market.
What Functionalities of the Garmin Approach S20 are Worth Taking a Look At?
Display
Ditching the modern touchscreen functionalities, Garmin has decided to keep it traditional with buttons. The black background display of the watch has the letters displayed in grayish-white color (negative monochrome display) that appeals to the eyes, and the reflective screen is workable in bright sunlight too.
Waterproof
While not completely waterproof, it can sustain a few minutes of rain until you get to dry land.
Distance Displays
The display shows the distance to the hazard with respect to the greens on par-4 and par-5 holes. While it shows hazard distances, it cannot record the unmapped hazards on the greens. The Green view display gives a good idea of the green’s layout for you to play safe and sound. The autoshot functionality helps you to measure the different metrics related to the shot by each club that you use.
Weight
The plastic design of the watch makes it lightweight and shock-resistant. Its round dial is manufactured with rubber and has perforations along its sides for better ventilation. For better control, the sides of the watch are flanked by four buttons that save the difficulty of tapping the small screen in bright sunlight.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| The notations and the numbers on the watch are in fonts that can be easily read even by senior golfers
The Garmin watch neatly shows the hazard distance, which other watches struggle to show Along with the golf shots, Garmin has also included a host of other apps like sleep monitoring, GPS pace, Calorie measurement, etc The best advantage of the watch is its digital scoring facility that captures data that can be sent to the Garmin Connect App for more analysis. It is also compatible with the Garmin TruSwing Analyser, which enables golfers to view their swing data on their watches The battery life lasts around 16 hours, allowing you to play 3 rounds of uninterrupted play comfortably Bluetooth connectivity ensures that you receive all the text messages and social media alerts on your watch, which doubles as a phone on the course |
The Autoshot feature needs to be improved as it does not always activate on auto-mode and misses capturing accurate data of the shots
While the watch is packed with innovative technological features, some golfers complain that quality is an issue as some measurements recorded are not accurate and needs improvement With a host of premium features, amateurs may find themselves distracted by fiddling with their watches now and then during the game Traditional golfers prefer the old scorecard or pencil and paper approach to their game. Most of them are comfortable using the rangefinders Some common complaints about the Garmin include inaccurate measurements or distances. However, golf is a game that is dependent upon many factors like the satellite, software upgrades, and the typical weather for the day, etc. Thus it is essential to factor in these anomalies before getting to use the GPS watches on the course. It is also essential to learn to use the GPS and align it to any manual intervention that occurs on the field, like, manually removing the pin |
All in all, if you are all about distance, and not about aesthetics and style, you will enjoy the Garmin Approach S20. Golfers who use this often comment that with Garmin on the course, you are never left wanting for anything.