Sunday Runday
In this weekly column, Android Central Wearables Editor Michael Hicks talks about the world of wearables, apps, and fitness tech related to running and health, in his quest to get faster and more fit.
After a 15-year hiatus from golfing, I decided to get back into the sport last month. I’m predictably rusty and was never that good in my teens. But I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how useful my Garmin Venu X1 has been as a (sort of) golfing beginner.
Growing up, I would get wowed by Tiger Woods chipping in at the 16th at Augusta, or Phil Mickelson doing some magical flop shot, and then drag my dad to the local 9-hole Par 3 course to practice. I fancied myself good at the short game, but never really mastered my swing.
I eventually graduated to playing (badly) on proper-sized courses with friends during high school. But after growing six inches, my youth-sized clubs held me back; then I went off to college and the working world, never finding the time or money for new clubs. Running was much easier on my time and budget.
Now, I’m finally falling back into golfing at my local course with used clubs. I’m still at the stage where I’m just happy if I don’t top or shank a ball, but I’m getting better after hundreds of swings at the driving range. And when I’m playing a round, I find that glancing at my Garmin watch has been an excellent alternative to dedicated golf tech or apps.
This Garmin watch is a straightforward rangefinder replacement
As a near-sighted person who spends most of his day staring at monitors, I’m very bad at judging distances. Hitting at the range, I can tell if I’ve struck a ball well or how far it’s slicing; once it goes past that 100-yard sign, though, it’s hard for me to guess how much further my five iron is going than my nine iron.
My Garmin watch gives me that context on the course. When I start a Golf activity, it pulls from my GPS data and its 43,000 predownloaded courses to show my location relative to my local course map. I can then see exactly how many yards I have left to go to the center of the green, whether I’m at the tee or on the fairway.
Knowing that I have 120 yards to go, picking a club based on that information, and then seeing immediate evidence if I chose correctly is vital for an amateur who lacks context or instinct for what club to use.
Image 1 of 2
This tool isn’t strictly necessary on a par 3 where you can see the exact yardage, but Garmin can also estimate “playslike distance,” telling me how elevation change, wind, and humidity will affect ball flight.
And on par 4s and 5s, it’s very helpful to be able to walk up to the ball for my second shot, glance at my wrist for one second, and immediately see a ballpark of how far I have to go. If I’m laying up, I can check around where I’m aiming for the exact yardage to the next hazard.
Ever since I heard a golf shop worker and customer ranting about slow amateurs fiddling with rangefinders or golf GPS apps when they should be focusing on their swing, I’ve worried about testing the patience of whomever I’m paired with. A simple smartwatch golf app solves that problem.
Once my Garmin Venu X1 detects that I’ve swung, it starts tracking how far I move until my next hit. After the round, I can check each hole for how far I drove the ball off the tee, my drive accuracy, greens in regulation, and other stats.
Generally speaking, I was impressed with how accurate Garmin’s auto-tracked golf shots were. The only place the Venu X1 failed was in detecting my putts or certain chips. I assume subtle putt motions are hard for a watch gyroscope to measure against normal arm motions.
But it’s easy to log my score at the end of each hole — saving me from having to pocket a physical scorecard — and then have the watch auto-update to the next hole’s yardage and conditions, so I can start mentally planning my next shot while walking to the next hole or waiting for other players to finish.
Why I prefer my Garmin Venu X1 to other golf watch options
I last golfed before fitness watches were a “thing,” so I’ve yet to test how other brands handle golfing. But since Garmin beats most other brands for GPS accuracy and battery life, it was a natural fit to try first.
Only a few premium Garmin watches, like the Fenix 8, Forerunner 970, and Venu X1, have pre-downloaded courses. The Approach series is more affordable and built for golfers, but its training tools are more limited for running, hiking, and other activities.
More importantly, I’ve become spoiled by the Venu X1’s massive, 2,000-nit display and lightweight design.
On a normal fitness watch, the circular display cuts off visual space, so you have to zoom out more to see all the details or scroll through the hole if you prefer an enhanced view. With the Venu X1, I just naturally see the whole hole, with enough space for buttons in the corners and yardage that doesn’t block vital visual data.
It’s easier to tap specific points to check the hazards or contours, but you rarely need to because the default view shows so much.
More importantly, I barely notice the Venu X1’s 40g weight on my wrist, and it’s so skinny (with no crown) that there’s no chance it bumps into my wrist when it bends mid-swing.
Any normal smartwatch weighs about 1.5–2X that; when I try making a swinging motion with my Galaxy Watch 8 Classic or Apple Watch Ultra 2, I immediately notice the watch bouncing away from and against my wrist from the momentum, unless I wear it so tightly that it’s uncomfortable.
It’s hard to recommend the Venu X1 without some reservations: it’s expensive, even for a Garmin watch, and a rangefinder would be cheaper. Plus, you may not like the squircle look, and while its battery is more dependable than an Apple or Wear OS watch, a full 18-hole course of GPS tracking will burn a decent chunk of its battery life.
But since I already have a Venu X1, I can’t see myself willingly wearing any other watch to the course. It helps a beginner like me make snap-judgment decisions on which club to use, without being uncomfortable or a distraction.
Garmin Venu X1
The Garmin Venu X1 has a 2-inch AMOLED display but only weighs 40g with its nylon strap, half as light as many premium smartwatches. It lasts 8 days per charge and comes with perks like training load data, a built-in LED flashlight, a mic and speaker, accurate GPS data, and built-in maps for hiking and golfing.
