Playing golf with a smart watch on your wrist; is it recommended or not? GW finds out for you.
Text: Gerben Bijpost
Garmin's collection includes the Approach S62, a premium smartwatch for golfers. Equipped with a large 1.3-inch colour touchscreen display, this golf watch offers numerous features to enhance a golfer's game. Moreover, it can serve as your virtual caddie, keeping an eye on all conditions for you and constantly available for strategic consultation.
What does the pro think of Garmin?
Sounds promising, but does it really work? For the answer to that question, we consulted golf professional Maryono Olink. Because who knows the ins and outs of such a watch better than someone who wears one every day and has made golf his profession.
What is the main argument for you to use this golf watch?
First of all, the fact that it is multi-purpose. So not only for golf, but also privately. I find that a nice feature. Furthermore, he offers enormous insight and ease on the golf course. It allows you to play faster and helps you make decisions when in doubt. In fact, it is a virtual caddie, advising you to play more conservatively or more aggressively, telling you what the right direction to take is and constantly offering a view of the bigger picture. A resource full of useful data and information. With the big advantage being its enormous stamina: if I want, I can walk an 18-hole course more than five times on one battery charge. With ease.
What is your favourite feature on the Approach S62?
I find the distances function particularly useful. It is very comprehensive in terms of information. A watch used to only tell you how far it was from tee-off to the hole. Now you get very detailed information about all the obstacles you encounter on the course. And the Approach S62 provides information on 42,000 courses worldwide, so that's a real wealth of information. For example, if there is water fifty metres away, the watch tells me I need to hit at least seventy metres to get over this obstacle. And if I'm playing on an unfamiliar course and don't know exactly where the hole is, the pinpointer function will point me in the right direction.
Doesn't that compromise your own basic skills?
No, because although you are given a lot of information, it is still up to you how you want to interpret and use it. For example, the watch indicates a certain wind direction, but of course you feel the wind yourself. By combining this information, you arrive at a certain strategy. The watch provides data that helps you make decisions. And it can confirm or refute the insights and ideas you have yourself. So your experience and game insight increases faster than it would without such a watch.
A watch on your wrist.... Doesn't that bother you in the game?
The watch is so light that it doesn't bother you at all. That's why I love wearing it so much, both on and off the track.
You also teach golf. Do you recommend using a golf watch to your students?
I recommend it to anyone who wants to develop their game faster. It is just a useful support to be able to test your feelings during the game via the hard data provided by the watch.
Do you also use the CT10 club trackers?
I definitely use those because they make the game even faster. You screw these into the club handle, so the watch knows what you are hitting with and can run analysis on that. For example, it can advise you to make a different club choice for a particular stroke. Incidentally, you need to have played a few rounds before the watch can make optimal analyses of your game. It learns as you go and can then advise you more and more accurately about club selection, for example.
Do you have any tips & tricks for those going out on the golf course for the first time with such a watch on?
Get straight to work with the rangefinder, for a good overview of the course. You'll also sharpen your own insight and analytical skills by doing so. And the Garmin golf app is also a perfect tool. It gives you optimal insight into performance and, for example, shows you exactly whether you have a deviation to the left or to the right, what distances you hit with which club and that kind of data. Measuring is knowing, so it helps you make choices to improve and speed up your game.
Multi-purpose
While the Approach S62 is designed for golfers, it has numerous features that extend beyond the golf course. For example, it has heart rate monitoring to display activity intensity. And to properly measure your overall health and fitness level and estimate the oxygen level in your blood, it has a Pulse Ox sensor. Thanks to smartphone notifications, you always stay in touch with the outside world: the display shows incoming calls, text and social media messages, calendar notifications and more. Though you can of course turn that off if you want to concentrate on the track, if you wish. The watch also tracks your daily steps, distance travelled and calories burned. And besides golf, you can also use pre-loaded profiles for running, cycling, swimming and winter sports. Having a drink after an intense 18 holes? Thanks to Garmin Pay, you can easily pay contactless. And want to change your style? Thanks to the QuickFit system, you swap the sporty silicone wristband for another colour with one click, but leather, stainless steel or titanium are also among the options.
The Approach S62 costs €549 and is available in white and black versions. For more information: www.garmin.com
English 
Dutch 
German