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When it comes to improving your golf swing you have plenty of options. But nothing gives you insight into what you're doing wrong quite like cold, hard data. Garmin knows this, and has updated its Approach golf watch line so you can get swing metrics as you play, right on your wrist.
Garmin already has extensive experience in the GPS space for golf, both with watches and handheld units, but this is its first attempt to analyze your swing on the links. Other wrist-worn devices like the Zepp Golf track stats about your performance during your game. The implementation is different, though. Zepp's solution is a $150 sensor you strap onto your golf gloves. Garmin's is a $400 watch that blends GPS data, sensors, and smartwatch functionality.
The Approach S6 comes with a full-color touchscreen display and onscreen maps of the course you're at (it pulls from a database of 30,000 international courses). If your aim runs afoul and your ball ends up deep in a sand trap or the woods, the watch can tell you which way to swing in case your sense of direction is lacking.
But more notably, the S6 tracks your swing, right on the watch itself, with three metrics: SwingTempo, TempoTraining, and SwingStrength. The first calculates the relationship between a golfer’s upswing and downswing as a ratio. 3:1 is the ideal, so the closer you get to that, the better. TempoTraining uses audio tones to help time your swing better. And SwingStrength tracks how much power you put into each swing.
The watch can also act as a scorecard, tracking putts, shot distance, and fairways hits. After the fact, you can upload the day's stats to Garmin Connect to analyze your data, identify trends in your performance, and get hole-by-hole details of the game. With those features, it's equally well-suited for use on a range or on a course.
In full GPS mode, it's supposed to get 10 hours of battery life, but if you're just using it as a watch, it will last up to 14 weeks. Garmin also packed in some smartwatch-like features: You can pair it with an iPhone 4S or later to get text, email, and missed call notifications delivered. Android compatibility will come this summer, which is great, because the watch won't even go on sale until Q3 this year. You can grab it for $400 at pro-shops and Garmin's website when it does.
