GPS Watch - Yes/No?

It's a matter of preference I suppose, It just automatically takes the guessing out of it and I can be confident in the number I have in my head

A big advantage it has vs the markers is you will have the distance to the front/middle/back of the green on your watch not just the front/middle depending on the course, its handy if you have a rather big green - depending on the type of watch you have then you could also have yardages off the tee to hazards - see how much to layup and how much to carry

another advantage for me seeing as this happens me more than others is, when I'm on the wrong fairway or just generally off line , you dont have to go calculating how far you are from the marker etc... just right there on your wrist

I'd be lost without mine at this stage. Often off line from the tee. Can still be confident in selecting the correct club from the wrong fairway or something similar. Great when visiting courses too. As the lads have said good for picking layup shots ahead of water / bunkers etc. I had a cheap one for years and the strap broke. Went out and bought a new one the following morning (helped I had a voucher for mcguirks with nothing specific in mind).

What one did you buy? I am looking at getting one too.

I got the Garmin S42. Very happy with it. 300 Eur. As I had the voucher I didnt shop around. Measures out each shot so handy to figure out how far you hit each club eventually. Works as basic smart watch for day to day watch if thats of interest.

I played narin last year and it wasn't downloaded and I couldn't believe how reliant I had become on it. The markers are fine if you want to know how far you are to the middle of the green and you're on our near the fairway. But...

If you're properly offline they're brilliant. You'd estimate a distance give or take 30 metres without them.

Distance to hazards, doglegs and layups are used regularly too. Knowing how much you need to clear bunkers / water, or how far the back can save you shots.

I think I prefer having a watch to a laser though. I'd rather know how far I am from the middle of the green than the flag.

Another very handy watch feature is the measure shot one. I knew my distances fairly well already - I had estimated quite accurately from using the fairway markers. But when you're looking for a ball it's brilliant, because you can check your distance and realise I can't be this far or this short.

^ Yes, I do that all the time. When you walk your line and combine that with good data on how far you expect you hit the ball you narrow your search area. 'X' marks the spot. Rince and repeat because every time you do this you get to know your distances better and reduce the search area meaning the knowledge gained from looking for your ball on a wayward bad round where you may not be too bothered will actually help you on a different good round where you 'really need to find that one' that got loose.

It's a little amusing from time to time as well when you help someone look for their drive so check the distance. I'll ask them how far they hit the ball and will start from about 50 yards back from that distance. Usually people are 20 metres short or so. A slice in particular can do that. But it does happen quite a bit that I find it 50 metres short of their distance. Sometimes I'll say something, sometimes I won't.

Vivoactive garmins definitely the way to if you also like swimming, running cycling etc. Stores all your golf data also so handy to look back on the app.

What way does the Vivoactive work for golf?

Are the courses downloaded from an app on your phone? And what all information does it give you being a watch that isn't specific to golf?

Which garmin running watch do you have? Plenty of them are capable of having the golf widget downloaded onto them.

A definite yes from me on a GPS watch for golf.

Could I happily play without it ? Absolutely, but at club golfer level, knowing front, middle & back yardages is a big help. TBH I find that the real benefit of them is, over the course of a period of time, you start to learn how far you hit it, or don't hit it, to be more precise ! For a relatively small investment in golf terms you'll get years out of it.

Can't go wrong with Garmin, I had a Garmin S3 for many years, but last year I got the Shot Scope V3 with the tags. Its a brilliant piece of kit and being able to see, and edit if necessary, your round afterwards on a map and get all your stats (if you're that way inclined) is very interesting. There's a whole dashboard with stuff like strokes gained, your club yardages, left/right misses, putts etc etc.

I've no connection at all with Shot Scope but I did notice on social media yesterday that they have a €50 discount at the moment, reducing it from €269 to €219.

Yeah, not on the list that Garmin say can have the app installed.