How AutoShot Works on a Garmin Golf Watch

The AutoShot feature, which comes installed on many Garmin golf watches as well as several of its fitness watches, keeps track of how far you hit each shot.

You have to wear your GPS watch on your lead wrist. From there, when you swing the club and contact the ball, your watch will detect that you’ve hit a shot. After you arrive at your ball, the watch will use GPS to calculate the distance between where you hit from and where your ball has come to rest.

Also, you can manually input what club you hit, and the AutoShot feature will track how far you’re hitting each of your clubs.

After your round, you can pair your Garmin golf watch with the Garmin Golf app or Garmin Connect app to analyze your shot data.

With Garmin’s flagship golf GPS watch, the Garmin Approach S62, the watch will start to make club recommendations for you based on the average distances you hit each club.

To put it simply, AutoShot is a super cool feature.

But there’s a catch.

AutoShot cannot detect slower swing speeds and softer impact. That means it doesn’t consistently pick up putts, chips, and short wedge shots.

So, what if you want to track the distances that you hit all 14 clubs in your bag?

Garmin’s got a solution for that exact scenario.

Garmin’s CT10 sensors allow for shot-tracking capabilities without having to wear a golf watch. But if you do have a Garmin golf wearable, all the better.

CT10 sensors fit onto the end of a golf grip and automatically accumulate shot data each time that club hits a ball. The sensors are lightweight and undetectable when you’re swinging the club. Golfers can install CT10 sensors on all 14 clubs in their bag or on only select clubs.

The sensors pair with Garmin golf watches, so if a golfer has both a watch and sensors, they can see their stats right on their wrist.

And for those players with Garmin Approach CT10 sensors but without a golf watch, they can access their stats through the Garmin Golf app.

Remember, AutoShot on Garmin golf watches does not consistently read putts, chips, and short wedge shots. So, if you wear a Garmin golf watch and want to record your stats for each club in your bag, you’ll need to add CT10 sensors into your golf tech mix.

The good news is that you don’t need to buy a complete set of sensors. Some golfers only want sensors for their putter and two wedges because they can track the rest of their clubs via AutoShot. PlayBetter.com offers the Approach S62 bundled with a pack of three CT10 sensors for this exact reason.

You absolutely do not need CT10 sensors if you’re already using one of the Garmin golf watches that includes AutoShot. You’re going to get tons of useful shot data with the GPS watch alone.

However, if you want to track every single shot of your round, including the putts and chips, combining a Garmin golf watch with CT10 sensors gives you that full coverage.

Most golfers want to know how far they hit each club. That doesn’t usually include their wedges and putter. That’s because those shorter shots are more touch and feel dependent, and having distance data isn’t as useful.

For that reason, most golfers will be just fine using a golf watch with AutoShot and not worrying about club sensors.

Garmin tends to be very generous with its technology, often including tech specific to one product class with watches in other classes. That’s definitely the case with their AutoShot feature.

So, beyond Garmin golf watches like the Approach S42 and Approach S62, you can access AutoShot through several of Garmin’s fitness watches, including the fēnix 7 and epix (Gen 2).

And, of course, if you’ve got a GPS golf watch like the Garmin Approach S12 that does not include AutoShot, you can still access your golf stats on your watch by pairing it with a set of CT10 sensors.

As with everything golf tech, there are no one-size-fits-all solutions. You’ve got to figure out what works for you.

There’s no doubt that reviewing shot data can help you lower your scores. But how you get that shot data is a personal decision.

If you like the idea of a golf watch, choosing one of the Garmin golf watches with AutoShot will get you pretty much everything you could possibly need. And if you also want to record your chips and putts, add a few CT10 sensors to complete your golf gadget setup.

Whichever way you want to go, we’ve got you covered at PlayBetter.com. Enjoy free two-day shipping and a no-hassle returns process.