Golf’s a strange old game, when you think about it.
A sport – of sorts – that takes place entirely outside, that was supposedly invented in Scotland, a country not particularly famed for its hospitable climates.
Then there’s the whole concept itself. You use a series of vaguely different sticks to propel a ball towards a distant hole while attempting to avoid the sandpits that are deliberately strewn in the way to stop you. Also, traditionally, you should be draped in a heady mix of checks, Argyle and tartan, like a three-year-old that got lost in the fancy dress box.
All that aside, approximately 5.6 million adults in the UK now play on 9- or 18-hole courses, and a staggering 66.6 million worldwide. Not even its association with Donald Trump has knocked its accessory-heavy appeal.
And speaking of accessories, the problem is that, once you’ve spent a king’s ransom on all the golf bats, golf bat bags, tees, gloves, special shoes, special trousers, special hats, ball holders, towel, pitchfork, ball retriever, repair tool, umbrella, golf bat headcovers, and Oasis-branded ‘Roll With It’ putter, you might, you know, still be a bit rubbish.
Well, fear not, for technology can come to your aid, giving you the advantage on any course, helping you digitally map your way from the tee box to the green, avoiding hazards both sandy and watery in between, with distances to all laid out for your consideration long before you start whacking your dimpled balls around.
Yes, I speak of golf-specific GPS units, available in both watches (many, many models) and handheld format (quite a few of these too), with prices ranging from the low- to mid-hundreds all the way up to, ooh, loads.
As such, I’ve been rummaging for balls in the rough recently, armed with a five-strong selection of specialist golf GPS units, each at different price points, and each confidently claiming the satellite-borne ability to transform you from Maurice Flitcroft (check out the excellent, true-life film ‘The Phantom of the Open’) to a near- Jack Nicklaus in next to no time.
What’s my handicap? The way I play…
Best golf GPS systems at a glance
- Best for the path to golfing greatness: Garmin Approach G80 - £350, Garmin
- Best for all the watch less of the wonga: GolfBuddy aim W12 - £200, GolfOnline
- Best for play and practice: Shot Scope H4 - £149, Amazon
- Best for premium playing: Garmin Approach S70 - £550, Garmin
- Best for entry-level GPS glory: Canmore HG500 - £160, Amazon
Best golf wedges for ultra precise shots
Best golf training and practice aids for improving your game and lowering your handicap
Best golf trolleys for carting your clubs around 18 holes
Best golf iron sets 2025 for mid handicappers
Inspired by the US PGA Championship? Get the gear with up to £30 off Castore
Garmin Approach G80
Best for: The path to golfing greatness
Garmin makes golf-based smartwatches aplenty; however, while we’ll come back to that later, right now the focus is firmly on its less wristy route to golfing glory, the handheld Approach G80.
A neat, compact, all-in-one box of tricks, here an 3.5-inch colour TFT touchscreen display gives you instant access to over 42,000 worldwide preloaded courses, with touch targeting to see precise distances, adjusting for uphill and downhill shots, while the PinPointer feature keeps you facing the right way with each shot and the Launch Monitor gives you instant feedback swing by swing.
With practice modes available too, alongside tempo training to refine your swing rate, and a digital score card, the G80 has everything you need except someone to carry your bag, and with up to 15 hours of battery power available, even the worst hacker will have plenty of time to hone their skills, although the patience of other players on the course may well run out long before that.
Key specs
Buy now £350.00, Garmin
GolfBuddy aim W12
Best for: All the watch less of the wonga
A golf watch that’s not a Garmin and which, consequently, doesn’t come with Garmin price tag, this is the aim W12 from GolfBuddy.
Okay, I know what you’re thinking: “W12?” So, it’s named after Shepherd’s Bush?” Wouldn’t that be nice? But no, however ‘W’-atch 12 does offer a full array of golfing goodies designed to get you from tee to pin with as little hassle or massive mistakes as possible.
Preloaded with 40,000 global courses, with freebie updates, simply summon up your course du jour and scroll around the 1.32-inch colour TFT-LCD display to check out your lie, tapping anywhere your hole-in-one heart desires to instantly see the distances involved, complete with slope adjustments to keep you tightly on target.
Naturally, a digital scorecard is included, and looking after body metric matters, also a Pedometer and calorie-counting functions.
Connecting to your phone over Bluetooth and with anything else of a digital bent via Micro USB, a full charge allows for a hefty up to 10 hours of use in Golf Mode, making the GolfBuddy aim W12 a feature-packed “budget” Buddy that will keep your, ahem, aim true.
Key specs
Buy now £200.00, GolfOnline
Shot Scope H4
Best for: Play and practice
Another fair-priced GPS player for the fairway, the Shot Scope H4 is a very hand handheld that can also be easily clipped onto your club bag or, indeed, on the waistband of your plus fours (or any other golfing trouser of your choice) if you’re the kind of person who likes to walk around with things clipped to the waistband of their strides.
Featuring a 1.4 inch colour LCD display and a battery offering up to 15 hours of use, the Shot Scope 4 comes preloaded with over 36,000 courses worldwide, giving you shot tracking with dynamic front/middle/back distances, flags up hazards to keep you from wading through water or digging in the sand like an overgrown child, getting you round the course with as little embarrassment and/or cost if you’ve been betting on holes, as possible, with lie type, distance, club used, and proximity all laid bare before you. What’s more, you can even pause it mid-game to practice your shot.
Meanwhile, over on the compatible mobile app, your stats are collected to review your play for further analysis at the 19th hole and also let you share your stats on social media, whether that’s triumphantly or with a sense of self-depreciation, all of which ties neatly together to make the Shot Scope 4 a smart, sub £150 digital caddy that’s get you to the can and keeps you out of the cabbage, as the lingo might have it.
Key specs
Buy now £149.00, Amazon
Garmin Approach S70
Best for: Premium playing
And so here we find ourselves at The Masters. Pushing both boundaries of playing performance and price, it is the Garmin Approach S70’s turn to tee-off, and what a nuanced display of precision and performance we can expect from this powerhouse of play, all glanced through its stunning 1.4-inch, 454 x 454-pixel, AMOLED display.
So, first things first, while the S70 is without any shadow of doubt a golf watch, it’s also a smart sports watch of a much broader kind, coming imbued with monitors to measure your body metrics, such as wrist-based heart rate, resting heart rate, respiration rate, and even your stress level.
Also, it comes armed to the techie teeth with a Barometric altimeter, Compass, Gyroscope, Accelerometer, and Ambient light sensor, while also letting you receive smart notifications, respond to text messages on Android phones, control music on Android phones, and check weather reports and, yes, the stock market.
There are also countless workout, training and activity plans but – whoa, there! – we’re getting too far away from the basic brief: golf.
So, preloaded with over 43,000 courses, full colour, fully accessible course maps are the order of the day, with a virtual caddy that makes club recommendations based on wind, elevation and swing data, to get you started. Then there’s the pin pointer feature to guide your golfing precisely along, hazard view, F/M/B distance to green, and digital scorecard to keep a solid track of your ever-burgeoning brilliance.
Connecting to the Garmin app on your smartphone, you can also pore over your performance in the minutest of detail, analysis every shot to see where you might be going wrong and, of course, where you’re becoming the next Seve Ballesteros.
Okay, so the Garmin Approach S70 costs a lot, but this really is the pinnacle of the GPS golf watch world and, of course, so much more to the sports/health fanatic whose exercise endeavours extend beyond the fairway. A premium product for those angling to become a premium player.
Key specs
Buy now £550.00, Garmin
Canmore HG500
Best for: Entry-level GPS glory
Another handheld option that plays perfectly to the attention of those golfists looking for a GPS-fuelled helping hand but at a price that won’t see their long-suffering partner losing all composure over your bent clubs in Waitrose carpark (other supermarkets are available), the HG500 from Canmore brings digital caddy convenience for a piffling £160 – which, considering how much you’ve already spent of kit, clothing and membership of the local club, should be a splash in the ocean to you.
Featuring a 2.4 inch colour LCD display with a resolution of 240 x 320pixels, 14-hours of battery life from a full charge gives you unfettered access to over 41,000 courses from around the world, giving you all the essential GPS info on distance to green (F/M/B), hazard distance, shot distance, and digital scorecard, guiding you round the course as though you’d been born to it, ensuring that the only obstacle to your swinging success is human error alone; and by “human”, I mean you, of course.
Combining a touchscreen and physical buttons for when you can’t be bothered taking the gloves off, the HG500 is a highly affordable and efficient entry into the world of GPS-enhanced play.
Key specs
Buy now £160.00, Canmore
