Garmin Approach S44 and S50 GPS Golf Smartwatch

The Approach S44 and Approach S50 are GPS golf watches that share a case, a display and a golf feature set, and differ in what they do away from the course. Both use a 1.2 in (30.4 mm) AMOLED touchscreen at 390 x 390 pixels with an optional always-on mode, behind a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 lens with an anodized aluminium bezel, in a 43 x 43 x 11.4 mm case rated 5 ATM.

On the course both watches carry more than 43,000 preloaded courses worldwide and show yardage to the front, middle and back of the green, yardages to layups and doglegs, hazards and course targets, Green View with manual pin position, PinPointer for blind shots, custom targets, measured shot distance, a digital scorecard, stat tracking for strokes, putts, greens and fairways hit, handicap scoring, Swing Tempo and a round timer. Garmin AutoShot detects and records shots automatically, and both watches work with Approach CT1 and Approach CT10 club tracking accessories. Full vector maps, touch-targeting and Green Contours are available with a Garmin Golf membership. Tournament mode can be enabled where competition rules require it.

The Approach S44 is the golf-focused version. It uses a silicone band, weighs 42 g, fits wrists from 125 to 202 mm and runs up to 10 days in smartwatch mode or up to 15 hours with GPS active. It also carries everyday activity tracking — steps, calories, distance, intensity minutes, move alerts and auto goal.

The Approach S50 adds full health and fitness tracking on top of the same golf feature set: wrist heart rate measured every second, resting heart rate, high and low heart rate alerts, respiration rate, Pulse Ox blood oxygen, Body Battery energy monitoring, all-day stress, advanced sleep tracking with sleep coach and nap detection, Health Snapshot, fitness age, women's health and automatic rep counting. It also adds music storage, Garmin Pay contactless payments and PlaysLike distance without a membership. The S50 uses a ComfortFit nylon band and weighs 29 g; the ivory band fits 127–190 mm wrists and the black band fits 145–217 mm.

Compatibility: both watches take 20 mm industry-standard Quick Release bands, charge from a Garmin proprietary plug charger and hold 4 GB of memory. Rounds, scorecards and stats sync to the Garmin Golf app, where they can be reviewed after the round.

• 1.2 in (30.4 mm) AMOLED touchscreen, 390 x 390 pixels, optional always-on
• More than 43,000 preloaded golf courses worldwide
• Green View with manual pin position, PinPointer, hazards and custom targets
• Garmin AutoShot automatic shot detection and a digital scorecard
• Works with Approach CT1 and Approach CT10 club tracking accessories
• S44: golf-focused, silicone band, 42 g, up to 10 days smartwatch battery
• S50: adds wrist heart rate, Pulse Ox, Body Battery, sleep tracking, music storage and Garmin Pay
• 5 ATM water rating and 20 mm Quick Release bands on both versions
• Up to 15 hours of GPS battery while golfing