Lorraine Kelly
There are golf gadgets that promise the world and deliver a glorified stopwatch. Then there are the rare few that actually help you play smarter without turning you into a distracted extra from a sci-fi film.
Enter Garmin’s latest Garmin golf watch, the premium Approach S62—a sleek GPS model that puts full-colour course mapping and key yardages right on your wrist, and does it with enough style to survive the clubhouse without being laughed out of it.
Garmin is clearly aiming this at golfers who want proper information—pin direction, hazards, slopes, green shapes—without the faff of pulling out a phone mid-fairway like you’re checking bus times.
A bigger screen, a tougher bezel, and fewer squints on sunny days
The headline hardware upgrade is the display: a sunlight-readable 1.3-inch colour touchscreen that’s 17 per cent larger than the previous model, wrapped in a scratch-resistant ceramic bezel. Translation: it’s easier to read when the sun’s blazing and your playing partner is insisting that bunker is “not really in play.”
And yes, it’s designed to look like a premium watch first and a GPS device second—because golfers are traditional like that. We’ll accept technology, but it has to show some respect.
The big sell: Virtual Caddie, PlaysLike Distance, and hazard intelligence
The Approach S62’s feature list reads like a wish-fulfilment fantasy for anyone who’s ever stood over a shot thinking, “I have absolutely no clue what this is.”
It brings back familiar tools such as PlaysLike Distance, Hazard View, and PinPointer, and introduces a built-in Virtual Caddie designed to consider variables like wind speed, course layout, and your historical swing data to suggest the best club for the shot.
Garmin’s confidence is not subtle: “The Approach S62 gives golfers access to essential golfing information like no other watch on the market with a style that goes beyond the clubhouse,” said Dan Bartel, Garmin vice president of global consumer sales. “Thanks to our new built-in Virtual Caddie and detailed course maps, the Approach S62 has the power to instantly transform into a caddie that knows you and 41,000 courses worldwide.”
That “41,000 courses” line is doing a lot of heavy lifting, but it’s a fair brag if you travel—or if you simply enjoy knowing your watch has more course knowledge than your entire foursome combined.
When you can’t see the flag, it can still point you in the right direction
Let’s talk reality: blind shots happen. Doglegs, elevated greens, tree trouble—sometimes you’re playing “guess the pin” and hoping for the best. The Approach S62’s PinPointer shows the direction to the pin when you can’t physically see it, helping you pick a line with at least some logic behind it.
Then there’s PlaysLike Distance for slope-adjusted yardages, and Hazard View, which lets you scroll through hazards on the map and see distances—useful if you prefer to avoid making “hero” decisions that become “recovery” swings.
Green View and drag-and-drop pin placement: accuracy without the drama
One of the more practical tools is Green View: wherever you are, the watch displays the green’s true shape and lets you drag-and-drop the pin for tighter yardage accuracy. If you’ve ever argued with someone about whether the pin is “back right” or “middle-ish,” this is the kind of feature that ends debates quickly.
Shot tracking and post-round stats, if you’re brave enough to face the truth
The Approach S62 includes an Autoshot round analyser to measure and record detected shot distances. It can also be paired with optional Approach® CT10 club tracking sensors to deepen the tracking detail.
Pair it with the Garmin Golf™ app and you unlock a golf performance widget that feeds stats back to the watch—handicap index, fairway and approach hit/miss, greens in regulation, strokes gained analysis, and even participation in leaderboards and tournaments worldwide.
In other words: it will know exactly how often you “just miss fairways” (which is golfer code for “I missed by a mile”).
Beyond golf: heart rate, Pulse Ox, smart notifications, and Garmin Pay
Garmin wants this to earn wrist time off the course too. The Approach S62 includes enhanced wrist-based heart rate monitoring and a Pulse Ox sensor to estimate blood oxygen saturation. You also get smart notifications for emails, texts and alerts, plus activity tracking and preloaded profiles for running, cycling and swimming.
And because modern life is a treadmill of tiny inconveniences, Garmin Pay is included for contactless payments—so you can spend less time queueing and more time pretending you’re going to “just grab a quick bucket” and then hitting 140 balls.
Battery life and bands: built for long rounds and longer weeks
Battery life is a quiet deal-breaker for golf wearables, and Garmin has come armed: up to 20 hours in GPS mode and up to 14 days in smartwatch mode. That’s enough for serious golf weekends, trips away, and the kind of “I might play nine” lies that turn into 18.
Quickfit® bands let you swap styles—leather, silicone, nylon, titanium—while Connect IQ™ offers custom watch faces, apps and widgets for those who enjoy tinkering as much as chipping.
Price and availability
The Approach S62 is available now with a suggested retail price of £499.99.
Garmin positions the S62 as part of its expanding outdoor segment—built for everything from hiking and trail running to diving and satellite communication—but make no mistake: this one is unapologetically aimed at golfers who want their data sharp, their decisions quicker, and their wristwear respectable.
If you’re shopping for a Garmin golf watch that doesn’t just track your round but actively helps you plot it, the Approach S62 is Garmin’s clearest statement yet: your next caddie might not carry a bag, but it will absolutely judge your club choice.
