Tee Time

from IGTMAutumn2022.Ultratravel.com

Branson’s Bestest

The latest golfing smartwatch or the smartest old-school mechanical? Both have

their place on the course, says Chris Hall

SMART PLAYER TAG Heuer’s Connected Golf Watch comes with an app that tracks the wearer’s performance It is appearing on the wrists of even the most traditionalist, over-formal, country-club golfers – you know, the type who wear saddle shoes, argyle socks and still carry their pencil bags well into their advancing years. It’s the smart golf watch, and its impact on the game has been nothing short of seismic. From providing yardages and course maps to higher-handicappers, to syncing with your smartphone for a post-game data-dump for keen amateurs, there is virtually nothing it can’t do. Garmin is the dominant name, and regardless of the model, it’s loaded with GPS and more than 40,000 course layouts. Its Approach

S12 and Approach S42 models – entry- and mid-level respectively – are worthy options with market-leading reliability and ease of use in their favour, but if you want the full suite of tech tricks up your sleeve, you’ll need the Approach S62 (garmin.com), which has Garmin’s Virtual Caddie package. This can take wind and slope into account, and suggest clubs accordingly. It’s also a highly capable all-purpose smartwatch, with all the fitness tracking, payment functions and alerts that entails. Giving the Garmin a run for its money on the course (not so much off it, as it lacks the broader spectrum of functions) is the SkyCaddie

LX5 (skygolf.com). It might be on the big side, but it’s light at just 65g, and that size is for a reason – it houses the biggest, clearest screen display out there, for sharp, contoured maps that give a detailed read of the hole ahead.

The last contender to mention is the Apple-shaped ShotScope V3 (shotscope. com), which might not be the biggest or brightest, but has one key selling point – full shot-tracking functionality, which works in conjunction with 16 tags that attach to the grips of each club in your bag. For detailed measurement of your personal game, and identifying areas of improvement, it’s a powerful tool.

The same goes with the latest iteration of TAG Heuer’s Connected Golf timepiece (tagheuer.com), which has added a few neat perks, including a magnetic ball marker built into the buckle, and a shot-tracking function (for the first shot of each hole only). Reviews also praise its battery life, which should cover even the most drawn-out 18. If you load your carry distances into the accompanying app, it will recommend clubs for you based on distance – but you’ll have to factor in the elevation and wind conditions yourself.

There are some, however, who will never be swayed by this over-obsessive level of data, which they contend takes away from the purity of the game. For them, some of Switzerland’s other notable watchmakers have debuted