Garmin Approach S72: A Real Upgrade for Golfers

The Approach S72 is a real upgrade

Garmin also released its newest golf watch this week: the Approach S72, in 43 mm and 47 mm, both at $799.99. And unlike the Enduro 4, this is a genuine step up from the watch it replaces, the Approach S70.

What's new on the course

• Swing metrics on your wrist: hand speed, backswing length, wrist rotation and more, also during a new driving range activity
• Putting analytics: speed bias, direction bias and make rate, in the Garmin Golf app after your round
• Aerial imagery of each hole, so you can see where to lay up and where the safe miss is
• Green reading: which way putts break and the average slope, on select courses
• Heart rate per round: how your heart rate changes before and after each shot, and how it may have affected your score

Putting analytics, aerial imagery and green reading need an active Garmin Golf membership. The rest works out of the box, on top of everything the S70 already did, like 43,000 preloaded courses and the virtual caddie.

And it's finally a full smartwatch too

This is where the S72 really pulls ahead of the S70. Straight from my compare data:

Feature	Approach S70 (47 mm)	Approach S72 (47 mm)
Price	$699.99	$799.99
Lens and bezel	Gorilla Glass 3, ceramic	Sapphire, titanium
LED flashlight	❌	✅
Calls and voice commands (speaker and mic)	❌	✅
Barometric altimeter	❌	✅
Skin temperature	❌	✅
ECG app	❌	✅
Full offline maps	❌	✅
Training Readiness, Garmin Coach, race predictor	❌	✅
Wi-Fi	❌	✅
Activity profiles	40	95
Battery	16 days, 20 hours on the course	16 days, 20 hours on the course
Weight	56 g	48 g with the new ComfortFit band

The S70 was a golf watch with some smartwatch features. The S72 is a complete Garmin, with the training metrics, sensors and maps of a high-end watch, that also happens to be the best golf watch Garmin makes. The flashlight with red light is handy for finding a ball marker in your bag at dusk, and it's Garmin's first golf watch where you can take a call on your wrist.

My verdict

This watch really has everything you want while golfing, and a lot of what you want when you're not. For $100 more than the S70 launched at, I think this is a very good upgrade.

I've already added both sizes to the Garmin Finder, so you can put the S72 next to the S70, or any other Garmin, and compare the features that matter to you.

Compare the Approach S72 →