The 10 best golf watches, to help improve the quality of your swing and shot precision

Golfers are well-renowned for loving a gadget, especially one that promises to shave strokes off their scorecard, which the best golf watch could very well do. The best golf watches with GPS work similarly to rangefinders, providing useful real-time data and distance information which can shape your decision-making on the course and track scores, plus stats to help you analyse and identify areas to improve on once you’re back at the clubhouse.

Golf pro and founder of Urban Golf James Day explains that the core function of a golf watch is the “convenience of having the yardage effortlessly. You really don’t have to do anything but walk up to your ball, look at your watch and the yardage is there.” Even the most basic golf watches give you distance to the front, back and middle of the green.

The best golf watches range from less than £150 up to £1,700. Some can be used straight out of the box, while others require more complicated integration with a smartphone and apps. All come pre-programmed with tens of thousands of global course maps and most offer hazards and layup information with numbers. Others have detailed, colourful graphics and heat maps.

The GPS accuracy of most golf watches tends to be within five yards, but finding a model that’s quick to load the hole, boasts excellent battery life and has additional fitness metrics, such as to track heart rate and sleep, might also factor into your choice. If you’re pressed for time, here’s a quick look at our top five:

Which is the best golf watch in 2024? At a glance:

• Best golf watch overall: Garmin Approach S70
• Best value golf watch: Golfbuddy Aim W12
• Best golf watch for tracking performance: Garmin Approach S62
• Best golf watch for beginners: Garmin Approach S12
• Best budget golf watch: Shot Scope G4 GPS

Which golf watch should I buy?

Whether you’re after the best golf watches for beginners or the best golf watches for tracking performance, according to James, the best golf smart watch to choose is the one that gives you the information you need quickly, accessibly and in a way that won’t cause you to get distracted and overwhelmed. Especially if you’re a relative newbie: “The danger with golf is always overthinking, so if you’ve got a beginner who needs to be focusing on striking the ball nicely, getting the ball out the middle of the club and getting it to go straight, sometimes having too much information can be a big distraction,” he says.

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How I tested the best golf watches

I tested these golf watches over a period of a few weeks, taking them golfing around south London (Richmond, Duke’s Meadows, Walton Heath) and indoor golf centres to see how they felt comfort-wise. I wore them day-to-day to assess battery life, functionality beyond the golf course and additional health features.

My family of four children (aged seven to 14) and my husband are all very keen golfers, so I also shared the watches around when we were on the golf course: my husband, brother-in-law, friend and even my 11-year-old daughter – who managed to set up a couple of these watches on her own – all tried them as well. This meant that the watches were tested by golfers at varying ability levels and locations to help determine their GPS accuracy, convenience, ease of use and more.

Sometimes, I doubled up and wore two at the same time to see if the distance estimations were the same (they were usually identical or varied by one yard). I also spent a lot of time tinkering with the golf watches and their accompanying apps at home, downloading and registering myself on a multitude of golf GPS apps, watching ‘How To’ videos and studying my data off the course.

The best golf watches

1. Garmin Approach S70

£519.99, Garmin

Best golf watch overall, 9/10

We like: course info displayed quickly at each hole, stunning graphics, intuitive and easy set-up, useful extra features like Virtual Caddie

We don’t like: an expensive model at £500+, only pairs with the newest Garmin Approach Z30 rangefinder

• GPS accuracy is 3metres
• Up to 20 hours of battery life in GPS mode and up to 16 days in smartwatch mode
• 42mm or 47mm
• 43,000 course database worldwide

We’ve all had frustrating experiences on the fairway, but gently negotiating my golf ball back from a couple of geese after an appalling shot turned out to be a lot less stressful than some of the faff involved in setting up and connecting some of these golf watches.

Which is why I can’t overstate how much of a joy Garmin’s S70 is when it comes to user-experience. This starts from the set-up, where you’re given the option to connect the watch to your phone (which I did to access the S70’s connected features), before being directed to a QR code that takes you directly to the Garmin app download or the app itself, if you already have Garmin installed. The watch was ready to go and connected with my smartphone in about 15 seconds.

The visuals on this watch are extraordinary, with an AMOLED display and high 454 x 454 resolution with sharp, vivid colours, hazard depictions (including detailed trees) and course maps that can be viewed and navigated from every angle. The watch has three buttons at the sides and a touchscreen functionality. It comes in two different sizes; 42mm or 47mm. I tested the 42mm version with a white silicone strap, which is fairly unstylish and near-identical to the sub-£200 Garmin S12 golf watch.

On the course it does feel like you’ve got a helpful coach whispering in your ear (and that’s without using the Virtual Caddie function, which takes your past scores after five rounds and starts recommending which club to use to play certain holes, factoring in things like direction of wind), because it gives you the ability to zoom in and out around the course, while a helpful vibration prompt reminds you to input your score once you’ve completed each hole.

This is also my top pick because everyone who tried it – my husband, my friend and I– were unanimous in agreeing that this golf watch was the quickest to load, had the best screen, pinpoint-accurate GPS and was suitable for all different levels of golfer. My husband’s one complaint was that it didn’t sync with his Garmin rangefinder – it does however pair with a newer Approach Z82.

This watch has plenty of off-the-course benefits, as well. It can be used as an everyday smartwatch with music, weather, heart rate, step count and calendar info all accessible via an easy scroll. It’s also got comprehensive health features, from sleep monitoring to activity tracking across dozens of sports, from snowshoeing to pickle ball. I barely scratched the surface by checking my blood oxygen levels and doing some yoga with an avatar on my watch screen.

2. Golfbuddy Aim W12

£199.99, Decathlon

Best value golf watch, 8/10

We like: easy to set up, great heat map of each hole and hazards

We don’t like: the black leather strap, lack of detailed health features

• GPS accuracy via rangefinders promise one yard
• 10 hours of battery life in golf mode
• 45mm
• 40,000 courses worldwide

This golf watch comes highly lauded and I completely understand the hype; it’s good value for money, has fantastic golf features and is one of the easiest golf watches to set up and use. It doesn’t need to be linked to your phone – although you can download the Golfbuddy app and connect the watch and works almost instantaneously from unboxing to starting a round of golf.

There’s an intuitive touch screen and only one push button at the side, so it’s very easy to navigate, though you do need to set the toggle to benefit from golf features like driver distance and scorecard pop-ups. The screen sometimes alerts you that the GPS sync can take a couple of minutes, but I found that the hole loaded closer to a number of seconds.

The key feature that can benefit your golf game includes the ‘green undulation’ display: this heat map of the green gives a visual representation of the course’s gradations, with red showcasing the higher points and blue the lower ones. This was particularly effective for one of the holes at Dukes Meadows; the watch showed me there was water hidden behind the trees I needed to avoid, which I wouldn’t have otherwise known about. Even in a short game, I felt like the watch was improving my accuracy as I progressed to later holes, so I can see how it can help with shot precision longer term and on a variety of courses.

The battery life is great, as it lasts for days when not in GPS mode and will easily get you through 18 plus holes in GPS mode. The clarity and colours of the display, plus the sophistication of features, also make this a smart choice for the price point. Beyond golf, the W12 includes a step and calorie tracker – however, it would be great to see a few more health features added in future models.

I also wasn’t keen on the initial watch strap which was an unflattering leather, however it does come with a replacement silicone strap in the box. I worry about the charging system long-term too – it involves a circular cradle which I think could get lost or lose functionality.

3. Garmin Approach S62

£299.99, American Golf

Best golf watch for tracking performance, 8/10

We like: clear map, lightweight, accurate distances and easy to use

We don’t like: colours not as vivid as the S70

• GPS accuracy is 3metres
• Up to 20 hours battery life in GPS mode and up to 14 days in smartwatch mode
• 1.3” display size
• 43,000 courses worldwide

Confession: I prefer the look of Garmin’s Approach S62, the just-as-feature-packed-model preceding the S70, to the newer model. The S62 is chunky yet lightweight, with a smart black strap and bezel with red detailing on the buttons and face. It’s as straightforward to use and set up as the S70, with a touchscreen and three side buttons and boasts most of the same golf extras, like tempo training – which helpfully informed me that my downswing was too rushed.

My friend, who always forgets to enter scores, liked the pleasing buzzy wrist reminders once he finished each hole. This is also useful when you need to adjust your scores, such as when I had a slightly disastrous couple of holes that involved a few more swings than anticipated to get near the flag.

The course map downloaded instantly and even though the colours weren’t as vivid as the S70’s, everything was clearly laid out and you could navigate the map from various angles and even swipe around the screen to check the layout of different holes on the course. The compass-style pin pointer feature was another handy extra, which helped me line up shots when I couldn’t see the green.

Since this model is being phased out by the newer S70, the good news is that it’s massively discounted and available at a price point where you wouldn’t expect such top features. It works as a smartwatch with message alerts and wallet, as well as a comprehensive suite of health and fitness features including a heart monitor and oximeter.

4. Garmin Approach S12

£139.99, American Golf

Best golf watch for beginners, 7/10

We like: simple set up, easy to use, long battery life and ultra-light and comfy

We don’t like: no additional features, not a fashion watch

• GPS accuracy is 3metres
• Up to 30 hours of battery life in GPS mode and up to 10 weeks in watch mode
• 23mm x 23mm
• 43,000 courses worldwide

At sub-£200 (and now less than £150 on sale), this is a value-for-money golf watch from Garmin, with a simple digital display that also gives you sunrise and sunset timings. It was the most lightweight golf watch of the bunch, and convenient because it didn’t require syncing with a phone or offer too many potential distractions. It’s strictly a golf watch, with no health tracking, though I did appreciate the colourful strap alternatives (mint green, tidal blue) available for those who want to make a statement.

It does everything you need it to, without any additional fuss. As my friend Sean, who tested it, explained: “I only need distance from the hole and a watch which records the strokes. Anything else is extra add ons that I don’t want to pay for.” 

For those golfers looking for more, you can sync it with the Garmin app and get more comprehensive and detailed information. Unlike the jazzier watches, this one doesn’t do everything automatically, so it wasn’t readily apparent how to input scores at first - but I quickly realised you had to toggle to golf settings, where I also located stat tracking and penalties. The battery longevity was also impressive, it was still on 90 per cent after 18 holes when being used as a GPS.

5. Shot Scope G4 GPS golf watch

£129.99, American Golf

Best budget golf watch, 7/10

We like: easy-to-read digital display with massive numbers, works out of box

We don’t like: you have to attach straps yourself, fewer preloaded courses than alternatives, had to reconnect after playing once

• GPS accuracy is plus or minus five yards
• Battery life is 2 rounds of golf in GPS mode
• 44mm
• 36,000 courses worldwide

While this strap’s watch was a slightly awkward to set up, once I got it on, I was quickly impressed with the giant display digits which were very friendly to my poor eyesight. In fact, this display was so convenient that I found myself wearing it off the course too, even though it didn’t provide any additional health tracking benefits. Battery life was average, but in GPS mode I could get two rounds of golf in, meaning I didn’t have to worry about charging it after the first game.

The watch has four buttons (up, down, select and back) making it easy to navigate, and when you’re playing, it displays front, middle and back distances in large numbers with smaller ones indicating the hole you’re on. Press the down button and it’ll display the distance of any hazards. 

The minimal-but-clearly-presented info works for players at my level, giving me just enough guidance without any additional distractions – I managed a birdie on one hole wearing this watch, so I’ll definitely call that a win. I compared the yardages to a friend’s watch during play and they were identical, so despite the lower price point, the accuracy was good, and the numbers quick to load.

6. Shot Scope V5 GPS Watch

£199.99, American Golf

Best golf watch for GPS, 7/10

We like: long battery life and detailed stats, comes with additional tracking accessories to help you understand and improve your swing

We don’t like: doesn’t register every shot, the tracking is a bonus, but time-consuming to set up

• GPS accuracy is plus or minus five yards
• Battery life includes 2+ rounds of golf in GPS mode
• 43mm
• 36,000+ courses worldwide

With its chunky face and rubber strap, the Shot Scope V5’s rugged look and four-button controls, instead of a touchscreen, made me assume the watch would have basic functionality. That’s not the case – with colourful graphics and sophisticated stats, it delivers a lot for golfers, especially those who want to work on their swing. In addition to full-colour maps of 36,000+ courses, which showcase hazards you may encounter on the green, the watch comes with tags you plug into your golf club grips so you can analyse your shots afterwards.

You need to download and connect the watch to the Shot Scope app, which took me a few tries, then you input information about the type, club, make and model for each of your clubs. I wouldn’t recommend this for beginners as it’s time-consuming, but will be useful for those who want to take their game to the next level. 

Shot Scope is known for its comprehensive stats and via the watch and app, you can track everything from tee shots to putts and strokes gained – giving you a comprehensive data picture that can be used to improve your game in the long run.

I liked that you could move the buttons to navigate a driving point anywhere on the course; this helped me get closer than I normally would on a couple of tricky shots, although the watch did miss a couple of shots, too. The battery is very good; 83 per cent after nine holes, while the screen has a customisable display and step counter.

7. Apple Watch Ultra 2

£769, John Lewis

Best for app compatibility, 7/10

We like: attractive all-round smart watch, compatible with many golf apps

We don’t like: apps can only be launched from your phone, many apps require complicated additional set-ups

• L1 + L5 Precision dual-frequency GPS
• Up to 36 hours of battery life in normal use and 72 hours in low-power mode
• 49mm

The Apple Watch Ultra 2 is a gorgeous smartwatch and as an Apple user, it was very easy to set up initially and quickly synced to my other devices. I was impressed by how many golf apps were compatible with the watch, and that’s not counting all the fitness and health tracking already built into the device. 

One of the best things about this watch is that it detects when you’re moving and starts tracking anticipated workouts; unfortunately, this didn’t work quite the same way with golf, even after I’d downloaded various apps. The most comprehensive (and recommended by Apple) app is Golfshot, which can turn your Apple Watch into a GPS golf watch as well as a swing coach. 

Swing ID uses Apple Watch’s accelerometer and gyroscope – by detecting acceleration changes and collecting data every time you swing, it helps you figure out what you need to be working on to improve your long-term game. However, this feature is only available for Pro subscribers.

Golfshot’s GPS functionality is available to anyone with an Apple Watch and also tracks scores. The app does need to be launched from your phone though, which does diminish the convenience of a smartwatch on your wrist and ends up being quite distracting. However, the watch display is easy to read, crisp and colourful. The app is intuitive and straightforward to use, with quick loading time and accurate map detailing.

My husband loved the fitness statistics, but found the golf GPS ‘basic’ compared to the sophistication of the Garmin. There are a handful of other Apple-recommended golf apps to try, such as Arccos, a compatible shot tracking app which requires the purchase of smart sensors for your clubs and The Grint, which helps you link your handicap while offering GPS tracking for free.

8. Tag Heuer Connected Calibre E4 Titanium 45mm – Golf Edition

£1,700, Tag Heuer

Best luxury golf watch, 7/10

We like: stunning display, fantastic health features

We don’t like: had to download three apps, battery life is poor

• GPS accuracy is within 2 – 3 yards
• 5+ hours battery life while full shot tracking
• 42mm or 45mm (42mm is £200 cheaper)
• 40,000+ courses worldwide

Tag Heuer’s luxurious golf watch is a work of art; the watch I tested was inspired by the colours of a golf course, with white straps and green accents. The attention to detail in this watch is phenomenal, down to the ball marker built into the buckle which pops in and out when you’re putting. 

While I spent way too much time changing watch faces on the app (there were dozens to play with, including one that looked like the surface of a golf ball), I also found the connectivity frustrating. I kept having to download apps (a generic Tag Heuer app, a Tag Heuer golf app, Wear OS) and the first time I took it to play golf, it wouldn’t connect – so I had to reboot it and try all over again.

Once I got the watch working, it was, mostly, a pleasure: quick to load, with stunning visuals; 2D and 3D views of more than 40,000 courses and an easy-to-navigate touchscreen and crown. You can choose between Green Focus and Smart Target settings (the latter sets you up for your first shot), and there’s an automatic shot tracking feature, which tracks all shots, including putts and would definitely be useful in helping my accuracy improve long-term. I selected the battery-saving feature after the battery died the first time I brought it out and found this worked well to get me through five hours with GPS. The watch vibrates gently on your wrist to indicate you’ve completed a shot.

Since it’s an all-round smartwatch, it receives emails, can enable voice commands and has a phenomenal suite of health and fitness apps and exercises (including pro programmes, like exercises led by Naomi Osaka). Full-body workouts with avatars are available on the watch, and it tracks dozens of sports as well as sleep and heart rate. However, it’s an expensive option – at over three times the price of the Garmin S70.

9. Google Pixel Watch 3

£279, Google Store

Best golf watch with fitness tracking, 7/10

We like: easy to use and set up, attractive design, golf health tracking easy to access

We don’t like: can only launch golf apps from phone, some golf apps didn’t sync properly

• GPS accuracy is plus or minus five yards
• Up to 24 hours battery life with always on display and 36 hours with battery saver mode
• 41mm or 45mm
• 40,000+ courses worldwide with Golf Pad GPS app

The Google Pixel Watch 3 is a great-looking smartwatch that’s easy to set up (my 11-year-old did it in minutes, using a Google Pixel 8a phone) even for Apple users like my household. The Pixel Watch can be used on the golf course with a number of golf apps, like 18 Birdies and Golf Pad GPS, which is a popular app for under £30 a year (for the Pro version) that tracks scores and gives you accurate distances to front, middle and back greens.

The golf apps are slightly time consuming, as you need to launch them from your phone in order for them to work on the watch. 18 Birdies failed to work on the watch, but Golf Pad was fine for showing distances and hazards – although it didn’t bring up a map as I’d expected. The 45mm watch face was the same size as the leading golf-specific watches and showcased information and messages clearly. Even though I couldn’t get any other golf apps to work on the watch, I did appreciate all the health and fitness tracking available (the Pixel Watch 3 even calls 999 if it can’t detect a pulse).

The watch vibrated to notify me to walk more and sensed when I was about to start working out, asking if I’d like to record my stats. Thanks to Fitbit integration, the watch quick-launched golf tracking for me which recorded steps, distance walked, BPM and time spent playing.

10. Whoop band

£229 (with 12-month subscription) Healf

Best watch for supplementing your golf game, 7/10

We like: health stats and sleep insights are incredibly detailed – we can see how using this information can improve your fitness and golf game

We don’t like: it’s not strictly a GPS watch, and it has a strange charger that you attach while the Whoop is on your wrist

• No GPS
• 4-5 days battery life on full charge

Golf GPS watches can help with accuracy and understanding distance, but there are other metrics pro golfers use to improve their swing speed and performance from tracking recovery to respiration, so they can reach that optimal ‘flow state’. According to golf pro James Day, “it really does affect your ability to hit shots and also your ability to make good decisions. You can control that state through breathing, training yourself to breathe in a way which is not only very consistent, but at a certain tempo”.

That’s where the Whoop comes in. This subtle strap doesn’t even have a screen or GPS but I thought it merited inclusion as it’s become a bit of a cult watch for golfers at all stages. It connects with a smartphone app to track metrics from sleep and recovery to strain, so you know when you’re pushing hard and recovering.

Many of the golf smart watches on this list integrate with the Whoop, and it’s slim enough to wear alongside your GPS watch. It takes a few days of continuous wear and sleep for the device to start plotting sophisticated data, from time spent in REM sleep to HRV and respiratory rate changes. You can also choose golf as one of your ‘strain’ activities – it measures average and max heart rate per hour and calories burned, and starts to automatically recognise when you’re golfing, the longer you wear it.

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.