Best Golf GPS Watch With Fitness Tracker & Heart Rate Monitor

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You know what? Taking a laser rangefinder on the golf course isn’t ideal for all games of golf you will play in your life.

Not only do they require a clear line of sight to get the yardage, but they also require steady hands and rain or mist can affect the laser.

The solution is to invest in a golf GPS watch. It gives you all your yardages, while leaving you completely hands-free. And if you’re also in the market for a fitness tracker, there’s no need to pay twice.

There are some great golf GPS watches around that also double as fitness trackers. You can track your number of steps, your heart rate, your calories burned, and more.

I’ve been checking out some of the best golf GPS watches around that also double as fitness trackers.

After much deliberation, I was able to handpick a shortlist of our top few favorites to review for you. Let’s start with our top pick, the Garmin Approach S60.

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Our Top Pick: Garmin Approach S60

Introduction to Garmin Approach S60

I decided to make this my number one pick. I feel it has the most to offer the golf enthusiast without costing quite as much as some of the more expensive high-end models. like the Garmin Approach S62 which also made my shortlist.

When the Garmin Approach S60 became available in 2019, it became a quick hit, legendary even.

It has a large, 1.2 inch diameter, full color high resolution touchscreen display. And it comes preloaded with 40,000 golf course maps from all over the world.

When I tried the watch for myself, I found that I could bring up bird’s eye views of the course I was on, and of each hole. Even under direct sunlight, there was no glare, and I could see the display clearly.

Based on the GPS signal, you get yardages to the front, middle and back of the green and so on, so you will be informed exactly how far you have to hit the golf ball at each turn.

This in turn can also help you to decide which club to use for each shot. And it will also give your yardages to any hazards and doglegs and such as well.

But, the usefulness of the S60 to your golf game does not stop there – not by a long shot (excuse the pun!).

There’s PlaysLike Distance, to automatically adjust yardages to account for uphill and downhill shots (in other words, compensation for slope or elevation – somewhat of a rare feature).

There’s Touch Targeting to give you precise distances to any spot, be it the hole or a hazard. And it has AutoShot to automatically record distances during the game. Super handy for post game analysis.

You can also pair it up with the Garmin Truswing Sensor, via Bluetooth. For the uninitiated, the Garmin Truswing Sensor is an incredibly useful tool for anyone who’s serious about improving their golf game.

The Truswing Sensors attach to your golf clubs to give you super accurate data on the club path, your swing tempo, your swing speed, face to target, the dynamic loft, the shaft angle and more besides.

It can even give you 3D animations of each swing, displayed on your smartphone. Although, technically speaking, this watch doesn’t have heart rate monitoring already built-in, it turns out that you can pair it to a heart rate monitor via Bluetooth.

And this is actually a good thing because you get more accurate readouts if you were to use a heart rate monitor around your chest than any heart rate monitor going on the pulse in your wrist.

That said it is still a decent fitness tracker, and it comes with preloaded activity profiles for running, cycling, swimming and more.

It also offers smartwatch functionality, which basically means you can pair it with your smartphone via Bluetooth to receive notifications of calls, text messages, emails and more.

When I tested the watch for myself, I was more than happy with the yardage accuracy, especially when there were slopes involved.

I thought the battery life in GPS mode was quite good, coming in at 10 hours on a full charge, but depending on what time of day your game starts, this could be an issue if you had left it on GPS mode all day long.

Admittedly, this watch does cost considerably more money than the budget golf GPS watches that made my shortlist.

Pros:

• Preloaded with 41,000 courses worldwide
• 1.2 inch diameter, full color touchscreen display
• Provides yardages, auto shot tracking and more
• It can give you a bird’s eye view of the green
• Can be paired with Garmin Truswing for swing metrics
• Can be paired with your phone for smart notifications
• Fitness tracker with several preloaded activity profiles
• Reasonably good battery life, even in GPS mode

Cons:

• Poor fitness tracker due to lack of heart rate monitoring
• Not a budget golf GPS watch

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Editors Choice: Garmin Approach S62

Introduction to Garmin Approach S62

The Garmin Approach S62 is an upgraded version of the Approach S62 that I reviewed for you earlier. It has more features than the S60, but I didn’t make it the top pick of the shortlist because of its much higher price tag.

It has a large 1.3 inch, scratch resistant, easy to read full color touchscreen, that’s 18% larger than that of the S60. And it comes preloaded with 41,000 golf course maps worldwide.

My favorite feature was the Virtual Caddie, which suggests which club to use next, based not just on the typical distances you hit but also factoring in the wind speed and direction. 

This was a mind opener and really helped my game.

Key Features

• Green view – allows manual pin positioning 
• Hazard view – self-explanatory
• PlaysLike Distance – slope or elevation compensation
• PinPointer – shows direction of pin when you’re in a blind spot
• Pairing up with the Garmin golf app – for post game analysis & leaderboards etc.

It also offers smartwatch functionality, which basically means you can pair it with your smartphone via Bluetooth to receive notifications of calls, text messages, emails and more. And it even allows you to make contactless payments.

When I tested it out, I was impressed not only with the golf features and the display itself, but also with the battery life. It lasted a whopping 20 hours in GPS mode.

You can also use it as a fitness tracker, and use it to count your steps, and track what distance you cover in activities like hiking and running.

Unfortunately, however, it does not feature heart rate monitoring, so it cannot give you a good estimate of calories burned during exercise. Other than that, I guess the only other real drawback to this watch for a golf enthusiast is the scary high price tag.

Pros:

• Very large full color touch screen
• Has a great Virtual Caddie function
• Loads of other great golf features
• Even features slope compensation
• Is also a smartwatch & fitness tracker
• Amazingly long 20-hour battery life

Cons:

• Premium product at a premium price
• Poor fitness tracker due to lack of heart rate monitoring

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Best Value: Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 (Golf Edition)

Introduction to Samsung Galaxy Watch Active 2 (Golf Edition)

Now, this is a great watch in all three categories, as a golf GPS watch, as a fitness tracker with heart rate monitoring, and as a smartwatch too.

Let’s start with the golf features. It comes preloaded with over 40,000 golf courses from around the world, which is about the same number as those offered by Garmin golf GPS watches.

It features full maps that display bunkers, hazards and such, and satellite views of the course, displaying the current location, fairways, greens, and yardages.

There’s also automatic hole recognition, touch targeting to find distances to specific locations, dual arc distancing to and from the hole, automatic shot tracking.

And there’s also a digital scorecard that will keep track of holes played, the par for each hole, and the number of putts, etc.

It’s also a great fitness tracker because it features a sensor to monitor your heart rate right on your wrist, so you don’t need to pair it with a chest monitor.

And measuring your heart rate gives you more accurate estimates of your calories burned, AND it can be used to track your sleep patterns.

It also features a step counter, and features apps for tracking swimming, running, and cycling.

It will also give you how many floors you’ve climbed, or laps around a track or pool, your calories burned per day, and number of repetitions done for any strength training exercise you do.

The smartwatch functionality, which basically means you can pair it with your smartphone via Bluetooth to receive notifications of calls, text messages, emails and more.

And that’s not all. You can also use it to play music and podcasts from Spotify, and even download your favorite music directly to the watch, thanks to the whopping 4 GB of internal storage.

When I took the watch to the course to test it, I accidentally dropped it in a puddle (I wasn’t wearing it at the time), and I found that the watch still continued to work just fine.

I also found that I could see the color display very clearly, even in direct sunlight, with no glare. I have to admit that when I tested out the battery life, I was quite disappointed.

But I guess I was asking a lot of the watch that day because I had both the heart rate monitor on and had the GPS running.

Pros:

• 40,000 preloaded golf courses
• Offers color bird’s eye views
• Loads of great golf features
• Also doubles as a smartwatch
• Works great as a fitness tracker
• You can use it to play music

Cons:

• No slope or elevation compensation
• Battery life could be better
• It’s not what I’d call a budget watch, but it’s significantly more affordable than the Garmin Approach S62
• Be sure to buy the Golf Edition, because the regular version does not have the special golfing features

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Runner Up: Garmin Approach S20

Introduction to Garmin Approach S20

The Garmin Approach S20 is the full package. Not only is it an excellent GPS golf watch and fitness tracker, but it’s a smartwatch too.

You can pair it with your smartphone via Bluetooth to receive notifications of calls, text messages, emails and more. Its performance as a golf GPS watch is exemplary.

Like most other Garmin golf watches, it comes preloaded with over 40,000 golf course maps from all over the world.

Plus, users get unlimited updates of these courses for the whole lifetime of the watch. Based on the GPS signal, you get yardages to the front, middle and back of the green and so on, so you will be informed exactly how far you have to hit the golf ball at each turn.

This in turn can also help you to decide which club to use for each shot. And it will also give your yardages to any hazards and doglegs and such as well.

It also has a Green View feature which shows you the true shape and layout of the green, even if you’re behind it. And you can manually reposition the pin as needed.

But where the S20 really comes into its own is when you pair it up with the Garmin Truswing Sensor.

The S20 is also quite a good fitness tracker. Not only does it count your steps every day, and the distance you cover as you walk, jog or whatever, but it also monitors your heart rate through the pulse on your wrist.

And because of this monitoring, it can give you a far more accurate estimate of your calories burned than it otherwise would have. And it can also be used to monitor your sleep to boot.

I like the aesthetic of this watch, with its black silicone band, and smooth rectangular monochrome display. And I can confirm, because I tested it, you can see the display clearly even under direct sunlight.

When I tested the battery life of the device, I found that it lasted about 15 hours in GPS mode on a full charge.

I also found that the yardages provided matched that on my handheld GPS unit, and I never had a problem with the GPS signal.

I would argue that it’s incredibly competitively priced, given just how much functionality this watch has.

Pros:

• Preloaded with 41,000 courses worldwide
• Provides yardages and auto shot tracking
• It can give you a bird’s eye view of the green
• Can be paired with Garmin Truswing for swing metrics
• Can be paired with your phone for smart notifications
• Fitness tracking includes heart rate monitoring
• Excellent battery life, even in GPS mode

Cons:

• No slope or elevation compensation
• Display is not color but black/white monochrome

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Runner Up: Garmin Approach S40

Introduction to Garmin Approach S40

Now, the Garmin Approach S40 is an excellent GPS watch for golf. Not only because it comes preloaded with 41,000 golf course maps from all over the world. There are plenty of other excellent features.

This makes it an excellent gadget for those who like to enter golf tournaments abroad. And where the S40 really stands out against other Garmin GPS fitness tracking watches, is that the display is in full color, and you can bring up a clear bird’s eye view of the area before you start your game and for each shot.

You can manually set the pin position, and the watch will automatically work out the yardages to the front, middle and the back of the green. And it will also work out the yardages to any hazards as well.

You can connect it to the Garmin Golf app, which enables you to view all your stats, both in real time during play, and afterward as well, for some in-depth post-game analysis.

And if you’re feeling really confident, you can compete on leaderboards, too. But where the S40 really comes into its own as a golf GPS watch is how you can pair it up with special sensors over Bluetooth to get advanced swing metrics.

These sensors can be screwed into each grip of all of your clubs, and they will automatically track every stroke, and tell you where and how far you’ve hit each shot. They can even measure your downswing and upswing tempo.

For more information on the Garmin Approach CT10 sensors, just go to our review here on Golftlink. They may be somewhat expensive, but if you have the budget for them, they can really help your game.

It’s also a smartwatch, and you can pair it with your smartphone to receive notifications of calls, text messages, emails and more.

You can also use it as a fitness tracker, and use it to count your steps, and track what distance you cover in activities like hiking and running.

Unfortunately, however, it does not feature heart rate monitoring, so it cannot give you a good estimate of calories burned during exercise. When I tried it out for myself, I felt it was a really nice change to have a display that’s in full color. And I found that having that bird’s eye view really helped me get a better feel for the game.

The display is also a nice size at 1.2 inch diameter, which I found I could view clearly even under direct sunlight.

When I tested its battery life, I was really impressed to find that it lasted a whopping 15 hours in GPS mode on a full charge. It’s available with different color bands and bezels.

And through Amazon, you can also buy it as a bundle deal with the Garmin Approach CT10 sensors, or with golf balls or golf balls and such.

Pros:

• Preloaded with 41,000 courses worldwide
• Provides yardages and auto shot tracking
• Gives a bird’s eye view of the courses and holes
• Can be paired with your phone for smart notifications
• Large, easy to read full color touchscreen display
• Excellent battery life, even in GPS mode

Cons:

• Poor fitness tracker due to lack of heart rate monitoring
• No slope or elevation compensation

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Runner Up: Garmin Vivoactive 3

Introduction to Garmin Vivoactive 3

Now, this GPS watch and fitness tracker has simply been flying off the shelves at Amazon, where it’s received well over 10,500 individual customer ratings.

And, better yet, the average customer rating there still comes in at an impressive 4 and a half stars out of 5. It’s very reasonably priced for a branded watch, I have to say. Especially when you consider all the features it has to offer.

It features not just GPS tracking and fitness tracking but it also features smartwatch functionality as well, which means you can get notifications for the likes of calls, text messages, emails and more directly on your wrist when paired with your smartphone via Bluetooth.

But when it comes to other features, it’s definitely a fitness tracker first and a golf GPS watch second. I say this because while it has a lot to offer in terms of fitness tracking, it doesn’t actually come with preloaded golf courses already built in. 

But if you don’t tour worldwide anyway, this isn’t such a big deal, and you can just download the courses you want as and when the need arises.

The golfing features include those all important distances to the front, back and middle of the green, as well as hazard, layup and dogleg distances, which can also come in very handy.

And that’s not all. It also covers club tracking, touch targeting, pinpoint blindspot assistance, and shot tracking.It also comes with about 15 other preloaded GPS and indoor sports apps, and with activity profiles, including the likes of strength or cardio workouts, water sports, skiing, running, cycling, and more.

And you can customize your workouts, so they’re completely personalized to you.

The fitness tracker functions feature not only the standard step counting, heart rate monitoring and sleep monitoring, but also your fitness level, using VO2 max and fitness age estimates, and see how they change as your fitness improves over time.

It also tracks your heart rate variability, which in turn is used to deduce your stress levels. When I tried this watch out for myself, I was impressed by just how much you can customize it.

There are loads of different watch faces available through the Connect IQ store that can give the watch a whole new look as often as you wish.

And you download thousands of free widgets and apps too, including the likes of Uber and SmartThings. The other thing I like about this watch is that you can even use it for contactless payment with certain banks.

The display is 1.2 inches in diameter, which is all you really need, and it’s very easy to read, even in direct sunlight.

I tested out the battery life in GPS mode, and it lasted about 13 hours in total, which I thought was pretty good. And I can confirm the yardages on the golf course were spot on too – I compared it with a handheld GPS unit.

It’s available in a range of different color options.

Pros:

• Met with excellent customer ratings
• It comes very reasonably priced
• Preloaded with many activity profiles
• Handy range of golfing features
• Tracks heart rate, fitness & stress levels
• Good battery life, even in GPS mode

Cons:

• No preloaded golf course maps
• No bird’s eye view of the courses or holes
• No advanced swing training metrics
• Doesn’t save locations of hazards
• No slope compensation

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Runner Up: Garmin Approach X40

Introduction to Garmin Approach X40

In this model, Garmin has built a GPS watch specifically with golfing in mind. It comes preloaded with their normal offer of 41,000 golf course maps based all over the world.

And in addition to providing yardages to the front, middle and back of the green, it will also give you layup and dogleg distances as well.

You can even use it for automatic shot tracking and club tracking as well.

And when you get back home from your round of golf, you can carry out a post round analysis by syncing your data to your Garmin connect account.

It’s not quite a perfect golf GPS watch, though, as it doesn’t feature slope compensation or advanced swing training metrics, like some of the other golf GPS watches do.It’s also quite a good fitness tracker, too.

It will monitor your heart rate right on your wrist, so you don’t need to shell out for a chest heart monitor. Provided you wear it snug and above the wrist bone, you should get very accurate readings.

The watch also displays your heart rate in beats per minute, and it can give you your seven-day average resting heart rate. It can also bring up a graph of your heart rate over the previous 4-hour period.

The Approach X40 also functions great as a step counter. I know because I have tried it out for myself. And you can have it monitor your sleep for you.

It also works well as a running workout tracker, because it can see your distance covered thanks to the GPS functionality. And because it’s tracking your heart rate at the same time, it can also work out your calories burned as you run.

It’s also a smartwatch, and you can pair it with your smartphone to receive notifications of calls, text messages, emails and more.

When I tested out the battery life in GPS mode, I wasn’t particularly impressed, it lasted about 5 and half hours, but since then I’ve come to understand that this is because I was testing a renewed, preowned version of the watch and not a brand new one.

And anyway, 5 and a half hours in GPS mode is more than long enough for an entire round of golf.

It’s a great watch for fans of Fitbits, because it has that same, minimalist, streamline aesthetic, it’s pretty similar to the Sense 2 or Versa 4 in this case. The band has a width of 21.1 mm, which is just under an inch, and the display has a long rectangular shape that fits inside this width.

It may not be a full color display, but on the flip side it’s still very easy to read. I tried it out on the golf course, and even found it easy to read under direct sunlight.

I was also impressed at the accuracy of the yardages given (I compared it with a handheld GPS unit).

Pros:

• Preloaded with 41,000 courses worldwide
• Provides yardages and auto shot tracking
• Features accurate 24/7 heart rate monitoring
• Also an excellent watch for running workouts
• Smart, sleek appearance with easy to read display
• Can be paired with your phone for smart notifications

Cons:

• No bird’s eye view of the courses or holes
• No advanced swing training metrics
• Display is in black and white, not color
• No slope or elevation compensation
• Doesn’t come with several preloaded activity profiles, only running

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Best Golf GPS Watch With Fitness Tracker / Heart Rate Monitor Buying Guide

As promised, here’s your buying guide. Let’s walk you through some of the key things to consider when buying a golf GPS watch with heart rate monitoring.

Aesthetic & Display

You’re more likely to enjoy the watch if you like the look of it and it goes well with your outfits. But what’s more important than that is whether you can actually read the watch.

To that end, you need a large display that measures at least an inch in diameter, or an inch diagonally if it’s a square or rectangular display.

You also need the watch to feature bold numbering and lettering, so you can see the yardages etc. at a glance without having to squint.

You will also need to be able to see the display under direct sunlight, without any glare.You may be happy with a purely black and white display, or you may prefer full color maps.

Preloaded Golf Courses

If you like to go touring with your golf, then you need a golf GPS watch that features preloaded golf course maps from all over the world.

Garmin is the key brand here, as you can see, most of their watches comes preloaded with over 40,000 courses.

Smartwatch Functionality

Did you know that you can get golf GPS watches that not only double as fitness trackers but are also smartwatches as well?

This means that they can connect to your smartphone via Bluetooth and give your notifications directly on your watch for calls, emails, text messages, and even some social media notifications too.

Some people see this as a great feature to have, but others say that they find it a distraction while they’re on the golf course. So each to their own on that.

Fitness Tracking

All of the watches that made my shortlist feature fitness tracking, but only some of them offer heart rate monitoring directly on the wrist.

If this is important to you, be sure to check this feature before you buy.

Battery Life

GPS usage has long been known to put quite a severe strain on GPS devices.

However, the battery life of most GPS watches on the market will last for at least 6 hours on a full charge, which is more than enough for a full round of golf. I made a point of testing the battery life of every watch in the shortlist.

Water Resistance

Many golfers like to continue with their game even in light rain. And why not? Don’t let the weather get in the way of your fun if you can help it.

For this reason, you should check whether the watch you like has water resistance.

Brand

I think brand is important when it comes to high-tech products like GPS watches that double as fitness trackers.

This is why our shortlist includes the likes of GPS tracking specialist Garmin, and cutting edge tech from Samsung.

Value For Money

Now, it’s important to note that I don’t include prices in my text in the reviews. This is because they are subject to change. However, you can click on “Check price” to check prices as you go along.

Be sure to be on the lookout for any great deals on special occasions like Black Friday or Cyber Monday!