Sensors were hit and miss for me. It was easier to just track afterwords in the app.
Garmin Approach S70 Watch
I have a full set of sensors and they've worked great for me. Stats aren't as extensive as Shot Scope, but it gives more than enough information. I only occasionally have to add or subtract strokes after a hole. The watch keeps track of everything.
I have not. I did play with the manual club selection after each shot but didn't really get a ton of value out of it, so I stopped. I do use it to keep score still when I'm playing solo or not in charge of the score card for the round.
BornAgain
Smooooth
Pretty much where I'm at with it. I think most lower double digit to single digit handicappers know their club distances well enough to not want to spend time messing with club selection. I use mine for keeping score, tracking drives, and course layout mostly. I'm surprised how close it gets most all my shots, and it looks like it updates my putts even from the manual score entry. At first it missed many of my chip shots, now it's picking them up. Could be watch is on a little tighter, or lack of long sleeves muffling the impact??...not sure.
Interesting thoughts... I fit that mid single digit index range and have used either Arccos or Shot Scope for years. I have found the data provided to be very useful, including club distances. I am going to give the S70 a shot, because I am interested in going to a smart watch as an every day watch. I want to see how accurate it tracks and if the data provided gives me enough to analyze what I feel I need to look at trends introspectively.
j0nesy
Active member
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I switched from the ShotScope H4 to the Garmin Epix 2 and full sensor set. The Garmin sensors do an excellent job of sensing and recording every shot. The issue is that they will fly off the club at some point. I found myself constantly worrying about them during the round, which took away my focus and enjoyment. This similar issue happened to another individual I golf with frequently and some googling will reveal that this is a common fault with the sensors. I finally had enough and sold the Garmin sensors and am just using the watch.
In contrast, the ShotScope sensors were unremarkable in that you never even knew they were on the clubs. Garmin watches are excellent for golf and fitness - but, the costly sensors are flawed. IMO, ShotScope sensors and watches are better for those who strictly want a golf watch and are much more reasonably priced.
I'd have to agree here. You can get an entire setup for the cost of just the Garmin sensors.
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Wow that’s really surprising that distances were so far off! I’ve had mine for just shy of 4 months now and it’s been spot on each and every time when going on hikes and walks.
I know lots of runners who use Garmin and they swear by known accuracy.
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I haven’t, but I’m still waiting to use the watch for golf for the first time. I plan on using just the S70 for a month or so and see how that is and then decide if I want to purchase sensors.
Just received my S70. First impressions out of the box are this is very nice. Can't wait to get it out on the course soon.
BornAgain
Smooooth
So far I'm finding the watch to be very accurate with distance. One thing I noticed is when you are golfing it actually uses GPS to track your distance and the steps can be off because it uses arm swing to know if you're walking or maybe riding a bicycle where your arm doesn't swing. By default Golf does not track walking distance and store the data. Under settings on the watch and then under Golf you can turn on activity tracking and it then saves it. You should end up with something like this when you're done.
That is quite helpful. Thanks
BornAgain
Smooooth
Another point on using this during golf. When I'm golfing, I want to concentrate on the game, not mess with a watch the whole round. So instead of trying to set the pin onto right spot of the green and get accurate yardage here is what i do. When someone else is hitting the ball, I laser the pin and compare that to center distance on watch. If it's 10 yards short, I then use watch the rest of the way and just add 10 to what i read. Obviously this needs to be done every hole, but it's faster than the laser when others are waiting for you to hit your next shot. Saves time and messing around and I can go about my game without trying to put the pin exactly where it reads correct.
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Yeah, I am never going to take the time to set pins during a round. I have enough trouble just focusing on my game. If I feel that I have a chance of giving myself a birdie look, I will laser the pin. Otherwise, I just look at the green and judge where the pin is and then use front, middle, back for the yardage.
BornAgain
Smooooth
Likely that will give close enough results 90%+ of the time from what I've seen. Stood at the 150 fairway marker yesterday at center of fairway and s70 read EXACTLY 150. I'm doing a lot of testing to build the trust I need to use more confidently. If you have no confidence in your data....the shot is gunna suck from my experience.
Triple Lindy
Active member
Are you getting putting data in the Performance Stats? I can see number of putts on each individual scorecard, but Performance Stats shows “Not enough data” under Putt. Seems like it should show something - I enter number of putts manually as I’m entering the score. I’ve had the S70 for a couple of years and have wondered why I don’t get any putting data. Even if it tracked 2-putts or less as a metric, like GIR, it would be helpful.
I love the watch, BTW. I use it primarily as a GPS for distance to target/hazard, and keeping score. I don’t mess with pin location - center of green is fine for me and I have a range finder if I want distance to pin. I really like being able to just glance at my watch for distance to center.
Short game and Putting Data will not be available unless you have a CT10 sensor on your putter.
They sell as a full set or 3 pack.
I never found the data of any value and dropped using the sensors.
Maybe others find the data better and can explain the value.
They sell as a full set or 3 pack.
I never found the data of any value and dropped using the sensors.
Maybe others find the data better and can explain the value.
Triple Lindy
Active member
Thanks. I thought that might be it, but since number of putts is manually entered, seems odd not to have some stats. Not a huge deal.
Triple Lindy
Active member
I’ve had to manually sync a couple of times to get rounds to show up. With the watch paired to your phone, go into the app, select Garmin Devices from the menu, and touch the Sync Now button. That’s the Android experience anyway.Had a horrific round over the weekend that shows up in my watch but won't transfer to the golf app on my iPhone for some reason...
Tried that a couple of times. I really just want the hole by hole score so I can put it in for my handicap. Will mess with it a bit more here soon.
Good review...At that price I think I will wait for the older model to drop in price and buy it at closeout.
Was messing with the swing tempo activity at the range. Once you figure out what speed you match up with it's pretty interesting. Apparently I identify as a slow professional to our Garmin overlords. 
I don't hit the ball nearly as far as any pro for the record. It was useful though. I've been struggling with good iron contact and went to the range today to focus on setup and tempo to try and get things back in order. I was definitely not perfect but feel like I was doing pretty well. Striped a bunch of iron shots and lo and behold the tempo was 3.0 (ideal on their scale) or within .1-.2. Below is the overall stats, including driver, which I couldn't figure out how to get my backswing speed aligned with the expectation. This will be my last time hitting off of mats for a bit but it's a neat tool to see if your tempo is within decent range.
I don't hit the ball nearly as far as any pro for the record. It was useful though. I've been struggling with good iron contact and went to the range today to focus on setup and tempo to try and get things back in order. I was definitely not perfect but feel like I was doing pretty well. Striped a bunch of iron shots and lo and behold the tempo was 3.0 (ideal on their scale) or within .1-.2. Below is the overall stats, including driver, which I couldn't figure out how to get my backswing speed aligned with the expectation. This will be my last time hitting off of mats for a bit but it's a neat tool to see if your tempo is within decent range.
I agree I have 3 sensors, putter, sw and pw. Nice that it picks up the club and you don’t need to enter m club it is but other than that not too useful
BornAgain
Smooooth
I'm just adding the putts as I put in the score each hole. I don't think it updates this to the round data now that I used it more though. Thought it was for a while because sometimes it gets my putts correct and sometimes not (on scorecard with no sensors).
Putts are showing up on "scorecard" but not on "Performance Stats". Not sure why they don't make it to both?
That said, you sure you have the S70 because it's only been out less than a year and you said you've had it a couple??
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