GM tries out the Garmin Approach S1

I was a bit sceptical with the Garmin Approach S1 at first. For starters, it’s a watch so isn’t going to have the screen capacity to give you a map view of the course.

But it’s a quite remarkable piece of golfing technology, especially when you’re playing abroad and have no idea what the conversion rate of metres to yards is.

The Approach S1 combines a high-sensitivity GPS receiver with an extremely comfortable and waterproof golf watch to show the precise yardage to the front, middle and back of the green.

Preloaded with nearly 5,000 European golf courses, the watch counts down the yards as you get nearer the hole, and then resets itself once you’ve walked onto the next tee.

The only thing it doesn’t do is tell you the line of your putt.

If you’ve been looking for balls all day, the S1 odometer can also tell you how far you’ve walked on and off the course, and it can also be used as an alarm clock to make sure you never succumb to the dreaded two-shot penalty rule for being late on the first tee.

S1’s cool look belies the tough, rugged, waterproof design and is fitted for course playability.

The S1 also comes with a rechargeable lithium ion battery and automatically sets the time wherever you are in the world.

For what it does, it is slightly overpriced at RRP £180 - but this is an expensive game and in an age where a new pair of Footjoys cost almost £200, the S1 looks like a steal.

And you can't put a price on lower scores...

Pros

• Accurate yardages to front, middle and back
• Measure how far you've walked
• Can be used as an everyday watch
• Stylish look

Cons

• No English instructions
• Slightly overpriced
• Unlikely to replace the GPS system in my bag

More at Garmin's website.