Every Garmin golf watch explained: Which model is right for you
GolfMagic rounds up every golf GPS watch from the biggest brand in the industry so you can choose the right one for you.
Often imitated but never duplicated, Garmin's golf GPS watches have long set the benchmark for performance, accuracy and innovation in the industry.
Perhaps the world's most respected company for making sports wearables, Garmin boasts unrivalled GPS technology and a host of health tracking features that make their watches across all sports among the most desirable around. As such, millions of athletes trust Garmin watches every day to track their hobbies, whether it be playing a round of golf or running a marathon.
Part of Garmin's appeal lies in the breadth of its products and options to suit. a range of budgets. The American brand makes basic golf gps watches starting from prices as low as £100, as well as fully-featured lifestyle watches with price tags creeping up into the thousands.
We naturally consider all of Garmin's latest models among the best golf watches money can buy, and each is a safe bet. All that's needed on your end is to determine the amount you're willing to spend and the breadth of features you need.
As such, we thought we'd put together a handy one stop guide on what every current Garmin golf watch offers (in descending price order), so you can choose wisely and get the watch truly best suited to your needs.
The best Garmin Golf Watches 2025
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Garmin MARQ Golfer Gen 2
Key Features
- Garmin's most detailed golf GPS functionality
- High-end Titanium and carbon finishes
- Combines Garmin's high-end golf and fitness products into one package
- Truly looks like a high-end watch
Pros
- Excellent golf functionality
- Build quality and materials are second to none
- Excellent battery life
Cons
- It's somehow more expensive than the TAG
Price: £1,999
Garmin's MARQ range is its answer to the ultra-luxury smart tool watches slowly starting to infiltrate the market, all the functionality of its highest-end golf watches combined with the form and function of its best fitness and lifestyle models.
It comes in a sleek package with a smart silicon band, a pristine titanium case (with the option of carbon fibre or Damascus steel for a few hundred quid extra), a domed sapphire glass lens, and the best screen/battery combo on the market, lasting more than two weeks with normal usage on a single charge (and 10 hours with the GPS on).
As a golfing unit, the MARQ Golfer provides pretty much exactly what you'd get from the S70, including the ultra-detailed maps, pinpoint accuracy in yardage and GPS readings, and the ability for the watch to sync up with a Garmin rangefinder to provide gapping and club recommendations. Garmin have also been kind enough to throw in three of its Approach CT10 sensors, which aid with shot tracking and scoring.
The only drawback, of course, is the near £2,000 price tag.
Shop now: £1,999 from Garmin
Garmin Approach S70
Price: £499-£549
Key Features
- Garmin's most precise golf functionality
- Real-time GPS with 43,000+ detailed course maps
- Pairs with a Garmin rangefinder to provide a true caddie on your wrist
The Garmin Approach S70 is really the pinnacle of the company's golf-oriented watch range, with the full suite of Garmin's latest golf innovations alongside the most detailed course and distance mapping currently available on a Garmin watch..
The Approach S70 delivers all the features of the S50 and more, with the advanced golf features, more detailed mapping and other insights like wind data and real-time club suggestions that would normally require a subscription included in the watch out of the box.
Like the S50, it's also a fully functional fitness and lifestyle watch, with a full host of the wellness tracking features that make Garmin beloved of fitness fanatics worldwide. The AMOLED touch screen is also among the best in its class, delivering incredible detail with additional buttons that make navigating the UI even easier
The larger processor, buttons and battery means it sits slightly larger on the wrist, with the option of both 42mm and 47mm models available, but it's still not too cumbersome to bother most. Still, whether or not all this warrants the extra £120 is entirely up to you.
Garmin Approach S44/S50
Price: £379.99
Key Features
- Golf GPS with 43,000 pre-loaded courses
- Green distances and plays-like yardages
- Garmin fitness features and wellness tracking
- AMOLED display
For us, the S50 delivers the best balance of functionality and value for money out of any Garmin Golf Watch, and would probably be the one we bought if it came down to personal choice.
As a golf watch, it has all the tools required of the discerning modern golfer. It comes with 43,000 courses pre-loaded on its GPS, has a full AMOLED screen that holds up in the sun, customised distances to the front, middle and back of every green, and plays-like distance based on slope data.
The battery life is ample in GPS mode, lasting 15 hours when out on the course and well over a week during day-to-day use, while the S50 also incorporates the much-loved wellness features that make it an outstanding lifestyle watch off the course.
It is worth noting, however, that some of the more advanced features require a Garmin Golf membership—although this isn't a bad option given the subscription effectively gives it almost all the features of the S70, a watch that retails for over £100 more.
Garmin Approach S62
Price: £329.99
Key Features
- Accurate GPS mapping of 43,000 courses
- Autoshot game tracking
- Virtual caddie with pinpointer, plays-like distance and wind speed and direction
- Works with Approach CT10 club tracking sensors
A retail-only model exclusive to stores like American Golf and Decathlon, Garmin's Approach S62 is a prior generation model that nonetheless offers performance and features of higher-end watches like the S50 at a more approachable price point.
While the UI and hardware in the S62 is slightly older, the S62 still represents a fantastic value proposition with its easy to read touchscreen colour display, virtual caddy function and autoshot game tracking.
Garmin Approach S12
Price: £179.99
Key Features
- Accurate GPS mapping of 42,000 courses
- In-built scoring
- Handy green and course mapping
- Pairs with the Garmin app for more precise readouts and green data
- Works with Approach CT10 club tracking sensors
Garmin's Approach S12, and its predecessors, have been the near-universal entry point into golf watches for some time now, and there's a reason for that. Despite the RRP, they're frequently available for little over £100, have all the precise GPS distance readouts you'd expect from a Garmin watch, and have an interface that makes going about your round and scoring an absolute breeze.
It's also surprisingly intuitive for what looks at first glance like a simple black and white GPS watch. The redesigned screen is brighter and crisper for better legibility in the bright sun. And you'll likely mostly be using it to get distances to the hole, it also provides dogleg, hazard and layup distances, as well as front, middle and back green mapping so you can plot your way around the course with confidence.
The battery life lasts around 30 hours, which is ample given you'll almost certainly not be wearing it much off the course. And while the simple readout might be a bit spartan for some, it's still by far the easiest option to recommend if you want a golf watch that's cheap and simple.
Brad Nash is Reviews Editor at GolfMagic, having joined the team in June 2025 to look after all things reviews, soft goods testing and equipment alongside Equipment Editor Tom. Primarily a writer, you may see him pop up in videos or on the GolfMagic socials from time to time.
