Garmin Approach S42

• Manufacturer: Garmin
• Price: $299
• Battery Life: 5 Year
• GPS: Yes
• Color Screen: Yes
• Touch Screen: Yes

The Garmin Approach S42 is a GPS smartwatch specialized for golf tracking features and applications. Its main features include the ability to see the distance to the green and hazards on the course with its selection of maps for over 42,000 local golf courses, its tracking of numerous stats about your game, and its ability to track far you hit with different clubs.

One of the main reasons to use a golf watch is that its GPS tracks your shots on the course. It’s more convenient than a laser yardage finder for this purpose, as you can easily use the watch’s GPS to see how far your shots are going.

Specs

• 1.2 Inch touchscreen
• Silicone strap
• 15 hours battery life in GPS Mode
• 10-day battery life in Watch Mode
• Preloaded with 42,000+ virtual courses
• Live scorecard
• Stat tracking
• Manual pin placement

The Garmin Approach S42 is for the golfer who wants a lot of data and a smartwatch that can double as a helpful accessory off the course. 

Compared with the Garmin S12, the S42 has a full-color screen and more data options. The S12 is good if you’re just looking for the bare minimum of features on the course but have no intentions of using the watch off the course.

The S62 has the same great GPS golf features but has more off-course features for a better experience off the course, giving it more flexibility if you are looking for something for more everyday wear.

Therefore, the S42 is in that perfect goldilocks zone, with the features you need while not going overboard. It’s also compatible with your phone and Garmin’s CT10 club sensors.

The first thing you’ll notice is the packaging. It’s well done. It’s not quite luxurious and over the top, but it still feels high quality.

When you open it, you’ll see the watch highlighted nicely. The weight and quality of the S42 feels excellent, with a solid rubber watch band that’s easy to adjust and doesn’t get in the way while playing.

Inside the box, you’ll also find a charger and an instruction booklet. Unfortunately, the charger uses a proprietary connection, which is disappointing. The standard USB-C port would have been nice so that you wouldn’t need a specialized charger.  As a person who frequently loses dongles/cables, this is frustrating.

When wearing a watch for long periods, the design and comfort become essential. Some watch straps are too bulky, some are too tight, and sometimes the material just feels awful. 

However, the Approach S42 has a very comfortable strap.. It fits well and is flexible enough to fit most wrists. The band feels durable, I’d expect it to last just as long as the watch. Both the strap and the glass on the watch screen are of higher quality than the average brand.  The buckle on the strap is metal, further increasing the durability without getting in the way of comfort. 

Finally, the touchscreen itself is highly responsive and smooth to the touch. I very rarely “fat fingered” anything on the touchscreen.

Here’s how to set things up:

1. Charge the watch. The first thing you want to do is to charge the watch by connecting it to a socket through its proprietary wire. Usually, it doesn’t come fully charged out of the box.
2. Download the Garmin app. Once done charging, you can go on your phone’s app store and search for “Garmin Golf.” Download it. All you need to do is put in your info, create an account, and then walk you through how to connect.
3. Download local courses (optional). If you’re afraid you might not get the best connection, you can download the course in advance onto the watch. This way, you have the GPS data ready even when you lose your signal. Again, this is completely optional but will make sure you’re prepared.

The Garmin Approach S42 can be integrated with your phone to get notifications on both devices. You can use the watch without the app, but your overall experience will be better if you use both. For the more advanced features like shot tracking, it’s best to pair the app. 

However, if you don’t want to use your phone for whatever reason on the course, you can still look through the data later on your phone but just use your watch while out on the green. 

In addition, Garmin has its own version of club sensors that can help track data for the app, similar to Shot Scope but works particularly well with the Approach S42. Feel free to check them out if that’s of interest to you.

Once you have the Approach S42 setup, double-check to ensure everything is connected and charged. If that’s all set, then you’re ready to go. 

First, start up the Garmin app. Once opened, here’s how to get started step-by-step:

1. Press the side button.
2. Press “Play Golf.”
3. The watch will then locate golf courses near you with GPS.
4. Find your course and select it.
5. You’ll have the option to keep score and track your tees.

If you notice it’s taking a while, the GPS might not be connecting. You can download the course ahead of time to avoid this potential difficulty.

Once it’s started up, you should be all ready to go!

The main reason you want the Garmin golf watch is its on-course features, so let’s take a closer look at each of these.

1. Course Selection – Garmin has the largest database of golf courses available in the world at its disposal. This is excellent, because if the courses you play aren’t on the watch, there’s little point in having the app. Even if your course isn’t in their database, you can request to have it put there and they’ll respond to your request.
2. Distances – The main reason for a golf watch is its ability to track distances. All golf watches tell you the front, middle, and back distance to the green. What the S42 adds is the ability to select a point on the green to get the distance. You can use this to get an idea of how far your shot has to go. The S42 also lets you see the distance to doglegs and to layup spots. This information can help to plan your play through a hole. Finally, you can set your own targets. If there’s a spot you want to mark to check the distance, the app will remember it. 
3. Shot distances – You can check your shot distance beyond just distances on the green. Using this data, you can improve your average yardage and adjust accordingly. 
4. Club distances – In addition to shot distance, you can check your average distances with different clubs across multiple shots. The watch can record your shot distances with a club and keep a running average for you. It’ll also keep track of your longest hit with each club.
5. Scorecard – It’s simple, if you don’t want to use a pencil and paper scorecard, you can keep score on your golf watch. It just takes a couple of buttons to figure out. 
6. Stat tracking – With the use of the scorecard over multiple games, you’ll be able to start tracking your stats over time. This will let you know where you can improve the most. For example, it can track what percentage of greens and fairways you get onto and when you miss them. Of course, to do this, you need to let it know whether you “hit the fairway,” “missed left,” or “missed right” after each tee shot, so keep that in mind.
7. Accuracy – as a GPS technology leader in the field, Garmin has excellent accuracy on its golf watch. You can be sure they mapped the course well and that the numbers are reasonably accurate. 

As we mentioned at the top, the S42 lies in a tricky middle ground between the S12 and the S62. The S12 gives you everything you need in a golf watch, while the S62 provides many more regular smartwatch features.

This puts the S42 in the middle when it comes to off-course features. It has some, but not as many as top-of-the-line smartwatches. Here are some of its main features you may be interested in knowing about:

• Weather app
• Step counter
• Alarm clock
• Timer
• Phone notifications
• Sleep tracking (with Garmin Connect)

There are quite a few more, but these are the main ones most people are interested in for a smartwatch. 

Compared to the S42, the S62 has a slightly larger screen, a heart rate monitor, and more design options. These are the types of things you can expect from more expensive smartwatch options. If that’s what you’re looking for, you may want to consider upgrading. 

On the other hand, if you’re never planning to wear the watch outside the golf course, you can check out the S12.

Now that we’ve seen what the watch can do, we can also look at the accompanying app for your mobile phone. There are about five features of this app worth discussing in detail, so let’s dive into them.

1. Round overview. This screen lets you see both your scorecard and an overhead map of each hole. The scorecard keeps track of your overall score in a round, including your comparison to par on each hole. It also tracks the number of fairways you hit and how many putts it took for each hole.
2. Hole overview. This screen shows you where each of your shots ended up on each hole, including what club you used for each shot and the shot distance. It’s a more precise look at how individual holes went compared to the round overview screen.
3. My Bag. This section lets you see each club’s average and max distance at a glance. It even tells you on which hole you got your max distance.
4. Shot overview. This section is specific in a different way than the hole overview, focused on the stats for your shots overall. It’ll let you know what percent of your drives hit the fairway and give you an idea of how to improve. When it comes to the green, it’ll let you know your GIR percent and what percent of your shots missed the green, specified by long or shot, left or right. 
5. Performance stats. The last one on the list is the performance stats, which lets you know some large-scale numbers after playing 10 rounds on the same course. For example, you’ll be able to see your handicap on the course, your best score, and your average score for the course. In addition, it allows you to compare with other Garmin users to help track your improvement. 

The Garmin Approach S42 is a great GPS golf watch.  It’s affordable at $299, which is a good middle ground depending on what you’re looking for. It has more features and better design sensibility than more affordable watches. However, it lacks some of the day-to-day features of more expensive watches.  Garmin is a very reputable brand that will be around for years, and will continue to support the Approach lineup.   

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