Are you in search for the best golf GPS watch reviews for 2020? Yes, we have tested and compared most Golf GPS devices and now we are making it easy for you to decide. If you read further below you will find 6 of the best golf GPS reviews, a golf GPS comparison table and our recommendation for you.
Forget about the usual disadvantages given for not buying a golf GPS device. Competition, price, and advancement in GPS system has made it really fair to have a GPS device instead of a laser rangefinder. Gone are the days where everyone needs to use a caddie to locate distance, point or hazard on the course and pay an annual subscription, or course update fees. This is no longer the case as there are a lot of high quality and user-friendly GPS devices in the market today that don’t make you pay any fees for updates or subscription.
One question that is often asked: why a Golf GPS? Why not a golf laser rangefinder? For everybody that already has an answer to this question, you can skip this section and continue to the 6 Best Golf GPS for 2020.
What do we have on this page? Here is a quick link for information on this page, if you are in a hurry – (Click on any link to take you down the page)
Why Golf GPS – Any Advantage over Laser Rangefinder
Choosing The Best Golf GPS Device – Important point to help you decide
Quick Review of the 6 Best Golf GPS for 2020 – Handheld + Watch + Clip On
Why Golf GPS – Any Advantage over Laser Rangefinder
- It’s very easy and convenient to use a GPS watch and using a laser rangefinder is much more time consuming. I also don’t like the idea that I need to take something out of my bag, cart or have in my pocket all the time
- Quick reference to distance information – One twist of your wrist and you have all the information!
- Can track and measure your distance, speed and time of play.
- Some can even record your score.
- You can use as a normal wrist watch
Choosing The Best Golf GPS Device – Important point to help you decide
Basic NEED or Features!
The most important features you need from a GPS device are the:
- Distance to the green (front, center or back) and likely
- Distance to hazards
You would have to decide if you need both but every Golf GPS device has the possibility of measuring distance to green. The GPS devices with the feature distance to hazard would cost more.
Ease of use
Simplicity is necessary especially in the game of golf where time counts. The best golf GPS device must be easy to use and handle. With simple click of a button or touch on the screen you should be able to navigate to get your distance to the green or hazard. With some devices, it would be a simple turning of your wrist and there you have it!
Subscription
Never buy a golf GPS device that you have to pay a monthly, yearly or course update fee. Check the details to make sure of this. And you don’t need a personal caddie either. There are top products available without any update or subscription fees from good golf brands that can provide the best accuracy in measuring distances to the flag and hazards on the golf course.
Battery life
Battery life is very important. You don’t want to be in the middle of a round and woops battery is empty. After all what’s the use of the golf GPS device if you can’t use it because the power management of the device is poor. In our test we calculated the average rounds of each of our recommended or tested devices. And also the number of holes it would cover (check our comparison table).
Preloaded courses
Take it or leave it, whether you are playing in a little county golf course or you are travelling to somewhere around the globe.. you really need a device that can cover all golf courses around the world. And not only all the golf courses that are around right now, also in next 10 years! Maybe you would like to play on the same golf course where the next PGA tour will be played.
OTHERS – Not Necessary
Other features like Smart Notification, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Score cards, Club suggestion, Alarm for Tee Times, etc. are just add-ons that you don’t absolutely need. However tech loving golfers would probably not mind paying a little bit more to have some of these useful features. By now, most tournaments allow the use of electric devices like the GPS watch. Just be sure to check it out before you start to play!
Quick Review of the 6 Best Golf GPS for 2020 – Handheld + Watch + Clip On
1.) Garmin Approach S6 Golf GPS Watch: (9.6/10 REVIEW SCORE)
This is a very well made watch and an all-around tool to speed up your round. The quality overall is good, although it seems like it could be slightly more robust. Garmin Approach S6 is a lightweight, easy to use, comfortable and flexible enough for everyday wear. It has an attractive look and sleek design. In-terms of aesthetics, this is a much made GPS Watch.
Garmin Approach S6 has a variety of colorful bands available to customize its look. Its works also like a watch and you can use it alarm for tee time. With the Garmin Approach, you simply turn it on and it finds the course automatically. Distances are consistently on target and for the most part accurate. Approach S6 doesn’t really have a women version but the white edition is just perfect for every women’s wrist!
Approach S6 is a stylish and comfortable GPS golf watch with a high-sensitivity GPS receiver giving precise yardage to the front, back and middle of greens. The S6 has the ability to measure shot distances. In fact, Garmin S6 can measure front, back and middle of the green distances, layup yardages to the 150 and 100 yard markers. Other features are automatic time and date, an alarm so you’ll never miss a tee time, an odometer to track how far you’ve gone and a digital scorecard that easily keeps track of your score to mention a few. Garmin Approach S6 (full review here) comes with many more interesting features and specifications. The rechargeable Lithium polymer battery gives you 10 hours of play, which should be more than enough to finish two 18 holes rounds.
I am happy to say that the Garmin Approach is the best solution for everybody if you are looking for quick information about the distance to the green, no-nonsense basics with free updates and a terrific database of over 38,000 available courses.
BUY GARMIN APPROACH S6
2.) Garmin Approach S20 Golf GPS Watch: (9.5/10 REVIEW SCORE)
Looking for the top of the range golf watch? Get the Garmin Approach S20! The Approach S20 comes with so many bells and whistles that a golf GPS watch could have. Whatever you want, this Garmin has it all! The Garmin Approach S20 is sleek and durable. In our opinion, it’s the best golf GPS currently available! Of course it has free worldwide course updates and obviously, front, middle and back yardages are always present. Together with indentation and distances to hazards or doglegs, layup distances, the high resolution and special sunlight readable display makes using this golf watch very easy.
The Garmin Approach S20 also has some great extra features like the enhanced statistics tracking for fairways hit, greens in regulation and putts per round. The AutoShot feature automatically measures your shot distances and lets you analyze everything with your Garmin Connect account interface. There are more features like the scorecards, auto advance to the next hole, smart notification wireless signal connectivity to your smartphone, and you can use the Garmin Approach S20 as your daily activity tracker as well. Because of the extended battery life of this golf watch, you can play golf tournaments without any rush. You can play golf up to 15 hours on one battery charge! That should be enough for more than a full day on the golf club! When you use the watch as your daily activity tracker you can even use it for up to 8 weeks without having to recharge it.
In our review and received feedback from other golfers is that the GPS in this golf watch is very accurate and connects very quickly to the satellites. Especially if you compare this to other GPS watches available. The band is also comfortable to wear and fits small wrists nicely as well. The Club Tracking features is also very nice to analyze your golf performance. You can add your clubs in the Garmin Connect and select which club you’re using and after the round, you can analyze your shot distance for each club used.
This is a great golf GPS watch! Clear display, great battery life (we got easily three rounds out – 15 hours/56 holes). The unit is out of the box – ready to use. If you’re looking for a golf GPS watch that gives you more than the basic information with stats and a score card, then this unit is the one you should get. This would be for the techie golf lover who likes or appreciate every feature in a golf GPS device. Read our complete review to know everything! Garmin is the best when it comes to GPS and this one is no different. You can’t go wrong!
BUY GARMIN APPROACH S20
3.) Bushnell Neo XS Golf GPS Watch: (9.2/10 REVIEW SCORE)
Our assessment of the Neo XS is very good. The distances are very accurate and closely agree with every range finder we have compared it against. It was easy to use, quick, and accurate within a couple of yards. Sometimes when the green is close to the next tee box, the watch will advance to the next hole when you approach the green. A real easy push of a button and its back to the hole you are on.
One unique advantage of the Bushnell NEO XS is its long battery life; much longer than most of its competitors. You can complete 3 rounds for 15 hours play without any problem or recharging the battery. The greatest pros are its simplicity and the large numbers. As you get older your eyes may get worse, NEO numbers are huge, no problem seeing them and no eye strain. The NEO seems lighter than the others. There is no problem reading the watch in bright daylight.
Bushnell’s NEO-XS Golf GPS Watch is ready to play right out of the box with 30,000 preloaded courses. There is no downloads, subscription, or membership fee. The watch automatically sets itself to the hole being played, showing how far it is to the back, front and center of the green. You can measure doglegs, and Layups but the distance to hazard is limited to 2 per hole. For those with a small wrist, Bushnell NEO XS comes with a substantially adaptable strap that can fit any wrist. There are several options to measure the distance of each shot. There are some nice basic features if you are a runner (ok, not many golfers are runners, but I am) and to read everything, check out our full review.
We definitely recommend this watch if knowing the distance to the front, middle, and back of the green is enough info for you to work with. The Neo XS is so light and comfortable that you will forget you are wearing a golf GPS device.
BUY BUSHNELL NEO XS
4.) Garmin Approach S4 Golf GPS Watch: (8.9/10 REVIEW SCORE)
Everything about Garmin Approach S4 watch is solid except its expensive distance marker and battery life is not excellent. Compared to the cost we expect Garmin S4 to have excellent battery life and ability to measure the distance to hazards. It gives accurate readings of other distances and is very easy to use. Garmin Approach S4 does have a few bells and whistles: You will love how it keeps score, knows the courses, measures distances and how it feels to put it on. Very precise and keeps you informed on your overall performance.
This golf GPS device is an excellent device to acquire. The yardage is always spot on and it will automatically switch from hole to hole. You can switch between play mode and watch mode easily (to check the time) during a round of golf without losing your entered scores. It’s really simple to use. Hands down, Garmin Approach S4 is the easiest, most accurate device you can imagine. We compared the distance from plates on course with a laser rangefinder and it was spot on. I mean dead on. No problems, no worries, easy out of the box. On the golf course, just turn your wrist over and it would be there. Overall a great blend of watch and Golf GPS.
There are 38,000 international and local courses pre-loaded to get you started. Garmin S4 gives you the distances you really need like yardage to doglegs. The yardages worked very well for front, middle, and back. It comes with a lot of features like: smart notification, Bluetooth connection, drag the pin features, odometer, touch screen, and digital scorecard, you name it! If you need to measure shot distances, yardage, and random individual scoring, the Garmin S4 does the job pretty well. The battery life is reasonable but not perfect and can take you for about 2 rounds of golf. The touch screen is good and it matches up in accuracy with other devices we tested it with.
It’s without a doubt a MUST buy for any tech loving avid golfer or If you plays once or twice a week or you are looking for the best golf GPS Watch to help get distance and yardage easily. Anyway, don’t read another review. If you can afford this watch, buy it! If not and you just need basic distances, buy one of the cheaper versions. However, if you do buy the S4, you will be very pleased. For the full review click here.
BUY GARMIN APPROACH S4
5.) BEST SELLER: Garmin Approach S2 Golf GPS Watch: (9.0/10 REVIEW SCORE)
The Garmin Approach S2 golf GPS Watch is a bang! Forget about the rest; this is the best-seller golf GPS watch on the market and our top choice for affordable golf watch! This product is really easy to use and see even under bright sunlight. It’s a basic golf watch that does exactly what you need! You can use the feature distance to front, middle or back of the green. You can also measure the individual shot distances so you can keep track of your improvements. We find it to be exceptionally accurate. It is very light in weight and you would adore having it on your wrist as a normal watch.
The Garmin Approach S2 GPS watch comes preloaded with over 30,000 courses. The power when completely charged would last easily for a complete 18 holes round. If you’re a quick player you might even get 2 rounds. Some other feature is the built-in alarm for tee times. For all crop of GPS watches, this Garmin S2 by far had the best affordable and therefore a best-seller for a long time. In addition it is very user friendly.
You can spend more on other golf GPS device for some more features, but it’s not absolutely necessary. This is a basic golf GPS watch for anyone who wants something simple and no difficult features. Read our whole review here. The budget is reasonable so you won’t break the bank. Don’t hesitate to get Garmin Approach S2. You won’t be sorry!
BUY GARMIN APPROACH S2
6.) GolfBuddy WT5 Golf GPS: (9.0/10 REVIEW SCORE)
Next on our best golf GPS list, is another GPS golf watch – GolfBuddy WT5. The GolfBuddy WT5 is a very functional and basic golf GPS device. It does what it promises to do and you will love it! GolfBuddy Wt5 does a really good job calculating the distance from the golfer to the hole. Not a lot of extras but yardage reading right on. You will start using it just immediately it gets out of the box! Go to the course, switch it on, go to the tee box for first hole, and you can immediately get the distance to the hole. Awesome isn’t it! There is no need to connect to a computer to download anything! No fuss or waiting for uploads.
GolfBuddy Wt5 comes equipped with an enhanced set of features including a comfortable silicone wristband to provide the user with greater comfort and usability. Just press the button: Boom!, you get the hole number, distance to the back front and center of the green. Integrated enhancements to the WT5 software now enables the unit to display distance to green directly on the main screen. This improvement will allow you to quickly reference the WT5 visually or through its audio functionality. Don’t like the sound distraction, just turn volume off or voice prompt.
GolfBuddy WT5 is available in two colors and is beautifully designed. It also works as a normal watch so no need to carry any time device. On a side note it can also track the distance of your shot! It is easy to charge and read in direct sunlight. For what it does, it is a great product. The accuracy compares very well to those with the ‘higher priced spreads”, even laser range finders. It is comfortable to wear. You can get at least 18 holes on 1 charge. Click here for the full review.
This is absolutely good for beginners or someone who wants a simple device to perform basic function of measuring distance to the hole, center, back and front of green. You will not find anything better for this price. It’s well worth it!
BUY GolfBuddy WT5
Our Thought
After careful thought, testing and also looking at consumers report we came to the following conclusion. The best Golf GPS Watch for 2020 is the Garmin Approach S6 golf GPS rangefinder watch. Another good alternative if you want to go with a popular brand is the Bushnell’s NEO-XS Golf GPS Watch. The best golf GPS device for the money is the GolfBuddy WT5. GolfBuddy Voice plus can serve as watch and also you can clip it anywhere by removing the detachable wrist belt. Our overall handheld and clip on, touch screen best golf GPS device is the Garmin Approach G8. So many features you cannot resist if you are the techie type. You might want to consider the Garmin Approach S4 if you instead want a GPS watch with so many bells and whistle.
Thank you. We know you will make the right choice!
Useful link to other pages on the site..
Detailed comparison of the 9 Best golf GPS
6 Best Golf Rangefinder for 2020 – Reviews