My Personal Journey With the Garmin Approach S70: An In-Depth Golf GPS Watch Review

I’ve worn the Garmin Approach S70 almost every single day and night for nearly one year.

In fact, the only times I’ve taken it off (other than to charge it) have been the days I’ve worn a different golf GPS watch for reasons of testing and reviewing those products.

Why should that matter to you?

I’m putting those basic facts out there to make these points: I know the Garmin Approach S70 incredibly well. And I know how it compares to most of the other top golf watch options available.

Does that alone mean you should take all of my opinions as gospel? Of course not! They are just one guy’s opinions. But it just so happens to be a guy with a lot of relevant experience and information to share. With that context, I hope you’ll find some value in all that I’ve learned.

Here’s what I can say right out of the gate: The Garmin Approach S70 aims to be the ultimate dedicated golf watch.

But I’m sure you already knew that. You’re here to get my take on whether or not it’s actually reached that lofty goal.

And the S70 starts at $649.99 for the 42mm models and goes up to $699.99 for the 47mm model.

Again, you already know that. You’re here to find out if it’s worth that pretty steep asking price.

In other words, all of us already know that the Garmin Approach S70 doesn’t suck. Now it’s time to find out if it’s really what the marketing says it is and if it’s still a good value relative to the asking price.

Let’s go!

The Look and Feel of the Garmin Approach S70

Don’t worry, I’m going to cover all of the important stuff about how the S70 performs on and off the golf course. There’s a lot to talk about.

But first, let’s look at fit and finish. After all, this watch is designed to be worn 24 hours a day. And if you’re going to drop as much as $700 to get one, you’re probably interested in wearing it more than just when you play golf. And for that price, you’re also likely expecting a positive first impression.

Packaging wise, the Approach S70 arrives in the exact same-style box as all of their Approach-series products. It’s the same gray sturdy box with a picture of the device and its name on the front.

The box is nice and well designed if not remarkable. It’s totally sturdy and does the most important job of protecting its contents. This is the kind of box that could take a beating in transit without the watch inside being in danger. To me, that’s a win.

Garmin’s packaging engineers know exactly what they are doing, and the Garmin Approach S70 is no exception to that general statement.

The Stunning AMOLED Display on the Garmin Approach S70

It’s when you open the box that the excitement begins. For me, and I have no doubt it would be the same for anyone, the Approach S70 screen is breathtaking. Truly.

Finally, we’ve got a dedicated golf watch with a gorgeous AMOLED screen that can rival the very best digital watches, including Garmin’s own top-end outdoor adventure watches and even the almighty Apple Watch.

This S70 screen is a showstopper. Once you fire up the watch, you’ll be blown away by the crispness, the brightness, the clarity. It really is a beautiful display. So good that I think the screen quality alone will be reason enough for many golf watch enthusiasts to want the S70.

What’s cool too is that you have so many options to customize the look of the screen. You can choose from a dozen different watch face designs. And you can tweak both the main color and accent color to get the combo that looks best to you.

You can also choose what data metrics you want displayed on the main home screen. This watch provides so much information, but you can pick the eight most important data points to have displayed at all times.

On my watch, I like to be able to see at a glance what the wind speed is, the temperature outside, what time the sun is going to set, how much watch battery life I’ve got, how much Body Battery life I’ve got (more on that when we talk fitness and lifestyle features), what my current heart rate is, my VO2 measurement, and how many steps I’ve taken so far that day.

From the main screen, it’s a simple scroll down to check out a ton of additional information like emails, texts, and calendar reminders, a full-blown weather forecast, heart rate over the past seven days, my current golf handicap and most recent score, a pulse ox reading, my most recent activity and what my heart rate got up to, music controls, an in-depth breakdown of the factors contributing to my Body Battery number, my most recent sleep score, my current stress level, an overall health snapshot, and so much more. It’s totally wild. And it all looks so good with this AMOLED display.

Garmin S70 Review: A Fashion-Forward Golf Watch?

To my eyes, the S70 is a very nice looking golf watch. I’ll admit that you’d be foolish to take fashion advice from me. But I’ve worn this watch in multiple different social settings, including to some nice dinners, and I’ve even gotten several compliments about its look. It seems to strike others as a classy-looking high-end smartwatch, the kind that even fashion-conscious people are increasingly wearing throughout the day.

I do think that the 47mm version, which is what I have, may be too large for some wrists and for some tastes. I think my wrist size is about average, and I’d say the watch looks on the large side. But not in a bad way. The design is quite handsome, with a nice-looking black ceramic bezel, a red accent ring with matching red top button, and a black silicone band.

But if that larger size doesn’t fit your sense of style, they do have a 42mm version. PlayBetter has that size watch with either a white band and black bezel with a bronze accent or a powder gray band and black bezel with a neon green accent.

All of the S70 bands are removable, so that you can trade it out for a different option if you prefer.

As for display size, it’s 1.4 inches on the larger version and 1.2 inches on the smaller option.

What I really like about the S70, even the larger one that I have, is that feel-wise it’s totally unnoticeable on the wrist. And that includes while I’m playing golf. The edges on the bottom of the watch are tapered so that It doesn’t get in the way at all of my swing or wrist hinge. And I can wear it comfortably around the clock without any fatigue or annoyance, including when I’m sleeping.

We’re going to explore all of the non-golf-related features of the S70 as we go. But if you want to lump looks into that category, I’ll say now that I think even a non-golfer would be happy with this watch as a daily driver.

But, of course, it’s the golfer who’s most likely to buy the S70. So let’s get into the good stuff of getting this baby out on the course. 

A Golf Watch That’s Smarter Than You?!

If you’ve ever played golf with a really good caddie, they make smart recommendations to help you play your best. And if the trust level is there, they’ll even give you advice that goes against what you yourself think is the right play. The caddie’s job is to know that golf course even better than you do and to give you their opinions based on the combination of that course knowledge and what they know about your individual skills.

And that is exactly what the Garmin Approach S70 does. Its virtual caddie function is incredible.

Once you’ve played five rounds with the watch on and the stat tracking engaged, the S70 will begin to make recommendations based on all that it’s learned. Not only will it know how far you typically hit each of your clubs, but it will also know what parts of your game are strengths and what are weaknesses.

That means that not only will it recommend which club to hit, but it will intentionally tailor those recommendations to avoid putting you in problematic situations.

Say you hit your typical 7 iron 145 yards and you’re facing an approach shot to a front pin location of that same 145 yards. But in front of the green is a large bunker. If you struggle out of the sand, the S70 will know that. And it’s going to recommend that you hit the 6 iron instead of the 7 because it knows that you’re better off being long than risking being in the bunker. It will even show you the probability of making a certain score with each of those two club selections.

I mean, is that not next level?! Seriously!

I’ve been in a serious funk with my driver for a while now. It’s not good. But I’ve noticed that the S70 has picked up on that trend. Now, when I arrive at the tightest Par 4 on my home course, the watch is telling me to hit my more reliable 4 hybrid off the tee rather than my driver. And it shows me that the odds of me making par with that approach are about the same as the odds of me making double bogey if I pull the big stick because it knows that I’m likely to hook it into the woods.

It makes these kinds of recommendations for every single shot throughout the round. It’s incredible!

And, of course, if you don’t want to take its advice, you don’t have to. You can even disengage this feature all together if you think you know better (psst… you don’t).

To get this functionality does require a little bit on your part. After you hit each shot, the watch will prompt you, asking you what club you hit. Then, when you arrive at your ball, it will know how far you hit that last shot and will continue to keep track of how far and in what direction you’re hitting all of your clubs.

If you want the virtual caddie benefit without the manual input, you can pair the S70 with Garmin’s Approach C10 shot-tracking sensors. That’s going to make the entire experience even more accurate, not to mention convenient, but it will cost you another $300 for a full set of the sensors.

But for as impressive as the virtual caddie feature is, that’s far from all that the Garmin Approach S70 can do out on the course.

More Garmin Approach S70 Golf Features

Obviously, the S70 handles all of your basic golf GPS watch duties, such as delivering accurate front/middle/back distances for each hole. But it takes the experience much, much further.

First of all, you’ve got full-color, full-detail, interactive overhead maps of every hole. Every tree, bunker, water hazard, the accurate shape of the green—it’s all there on that beautiful display for you to study whenever you need.

And, using the touchscreen, you can swipe and tap your way around the hole to get distances to specific spots.

But it goes even deeper. At the start of each hole, the watch will show you an arc somewhere on the hole that represents the typical distance of your drives. That way, you can see at a glance if there is anything you need to avoid in the area where you’re most likely to land. 

What’s even cooler is that, because the watch knows your game and distances and how far offline your misses travel (your dispersion patterns), it will show you a box for each of your shots that represents the overall area your shot is most likely to land. So again, you’ll be able to adjust your aim and club selection to increase your chances of staying away from trouble.

You can see how this watch starts to justify its price. I mean, these are legitimate shot-saving tools we’re talking about. If you’re anything like me, you’d pay whatever the asking price if it meant improving your game. Looking at it through that lens, the S70 might be worth a million bucks!

And we still haven’t covered all the cool stuff this watch can do to help your game.

Here’s another huge one: The S70 gives you plays-like yardages that take into account distance, slope, elevation, wind, weather, and even air pressure. It is a true plays-like distance, totally removing the guesswork of how the weather conditions might affect the shot. And in my experience, these numbers are spot-on.

And, yes, the S70 factors that plays-like distance into the club it recommends you hit for each shot. It really is like playing with an experienced, professional caddie that knows your game and how the conditions will impact your shots.

This weather-included plays-like distance is one of the big differences between the S70 and Garmin’s previous flagship golf watch, the Approach S62. The S62 also has a virtual caddie feature, but it is not as sophisticated and all-inclusive as what you get with the S70. And, of course, the S62 doesn’t include that gorgeous AMOLED display.

Still another really cool golf feature on the Garmin Approach S70 is the PinPointer, which is essentially a built-in compass. It’s very useful when you’ve got blind shots and can’t see your target. When you click on the PinPointer, a screen will pop up with a red arrow pointing exactly at the middle of the green.

I recently played a course for the first time that features massive sand dunes that make for blind shots on many of the holes. I would get behind these huge dunes and couldn’t tell if I was lining up correctly to hit the ball toward my intended target. I quickly realized what a round-saver the PinPointer feature was. And also how accurate and reliable it is.

This is the kind of feature you’ll probably never need on your home course. But when you play somewhere unfamiliar, it’s a huge advantage.

You can also get a close up view of each green, and you can manually drag the pin position to approximate that day’s location and get an even more precise yardage.

One thing I really like about the S70 is the combination of buttons and touchscreen. Navigating the watch is just very intuitive. And the design is really well thought out.

It feels like all of the functions that you’d think would be easiest to navigate using buttons are in fact activated with one of the three buttons.

And all of the things that would make the most sense to do via touchscreen, like moving the pin location or tapping on a hazard to get a specific yardage, are all done with the touchscreen.

You can also get green contour heat maps on your S70, though that does require a $9.99 per month Garmin Golf subscription.

I think it’s a bummer that Garmin doesn’t just throw this feature in. You’re already paying either $649.99 or $699.99. And granted, for that price, you’re getting a hell of a lot. But is it really too much to ask for them to also include this additional feature? Apparently, it is.

Approach S70 Fitness and Lifestyle Features

For all of the things we’ve already mentioned, it should be clear to you that the Garmin Approach S70 is the most feature-rich golf watch available in 2024. There’s really not another golf watch that comes particularly close to doing all that the S70 can do.

But that’s just talking about on the golf course. The S70 ups the ante even further once we get off the course.

This is a full-blown smartwatch with advanced fitness and lifestyle features, including:

• Heart rate monitor
• Heart rate variability
• Stress tracking
• Body Battery energy monitoring
• Sleep score and advanced sleep monitoring
• Pulse Ox sensor to monitor your blood oxygen saturation
• Hydration tracking
• Step counter
• Much more 

Before I started wearing the S70, I had a lot of room for improvement with my overall health and fitness awareness. I still do, but the S70 has helped me in ways that I honestly believe are contributing to an increased wellspan and lifespan.

Being continuously aware of how your actions affect your different health and fitness metrics makes you think before you act. At least it has for me. 

I’ve noticed that if I drink alcohol, my sleep suffers. I still drink occasionally, but if I’ve got a big day coming up, I curtail that activity because I now have a clear understanding of how it’s likely to compromise my following day. I’m not talking about a hangover. I’m talking about the effect even just one or two drinks can have on your sleep. I really wasn’t aware before.

The same thing with sleep quality in general. I get a report every morning that grades my sleep and shows me how much deep sleep and REM I had as well as how often I was restless or even fully awake. I’m now a lot more vigilant about getting a full night’s sleep than I used to be.

Stress is another factor I’m paying a lot closer attention to. But there’s a problem. Without fail, on the days when I play golf, that evening my watch will tell me that it looks like I had some stress in my day. Damn that inconsistent driver and those three putts!!

What’s cool is how you start to understand how all of these things work together to result in your overall energy level, focus, and motivation. Garmin calls that your Body Battery, and you can see right on your watch as it steadily goes down throughout the day.

You start to realize that when you get good sleep, avoid stress, eat well, and get your steps and exercise in, your Body Battery drops much more gradually. Conversely, when you don’t take as good of care of yourself, your Body Battery number serves as a reminder of the fitness or lifestyle decisions that might be working against you.

I’m not saying the Garmin Approach S70 is a magic watch that’s going to guarantee that you live healthily past 100. I’m just saying that, at least for me, it can really help you become a better, more healthy version of yourself. You don’t have to give up all of the things you love, even if they are unhealthy. But this watch has helped me at least consider how to keep some of those things more in check, which I’m thankful for.

Garmin S70 Battery Life

Garmin rates the S70 battery life as up to 16 days when in smartwatch mode (meaning not in golf mode).

But in my experience, that is a VERY conservative estimation. At various times, I have worn this watch for three full weeks before recharging, and that includes multiple rounds of golf. The battery life on this thing is crazy!

I once went on vacation for 10 days and forgot to bring my watch charging cord. No worries. I had plenty of juice to make it through the vacation, including one 18-hole round of golf.

Also, water has no effect on the watch. It’s rated 5 ATM, meaning you can shower and swim with it. I’ve done both.

Is the Garmin Approach S70 Worth It?

I realize that there is no shortage of smartwatches on the market. And for as advanced as the fitness and lifestyle features on the S70 are, you don’t even have to go beyond the Garmin family to find those same features and even more in other products.

What I mean to say is that the S70 is by no means your only option for a really smart watch that has the ability to help you live better.

But it’s when you add the incredibly sophisticated golf tools to those really impressive fitness and lifestyle features that you realize the S70 truly is special.

Here’s a watch that can actually help you play better golf by way of it’s incredible virtual caddie that actually learns your individual strengths and weaknesses, crazy-accurate plays-like distances that take into account every possible variable, fully detailed color hole maps all displayed on a beautiful AMOLED screen, and a bunch of other really useful golf features.

And on that same watch you can track all of the things that most impact your wellbeing, things like sleep, stress, heart rate, and fitness.

I mean, if that’s not worth $699.99 (or $649.99 for the smaller version), I’m not sure what is.

If you’re not a golfer, don’t get the S70. Get a different watch that covers all of those important fitness and lifestyle elements.

And if you’re a golfer who just wants basic yardages, you obviously have a lot of choices that don’t cost nearly as much as the S70.

But if you want what is not only the absolute best golf watch of 2024 but also is stylish enough to wear to dinner, comfortable enough to wear to bed, and useful enough to actually change your life for the better, just buy the Garmin Approach S70. I honestly cannot imagine you looking back on that as a bad decision.

Marc's Overall Garmin Approach S70 Rating