The ifrothgolf review
The Garmin Approach S44 is a slim, lightweight golf GPS watch with a colour AMOLED screen, aimed at golfers who want accurate yardages on the wrist without paying flagship money for the S70 or S50.
What's great
The screen is the big win. That AMOLED display is bright, sharp and dead easy to read in full sun, a proper step up from the old mushy MIP screens. Yardages to front, middle and back are spot on, usually within a yard or two of a laser, and with 43,000-odd courses preloaded it just works wherever you tee it up. Battery is genuinely good too, around 10 days as a watch and comfortably 36 holes on a GPS charge. At 42 grams you forget it's there mid-swing, and the two buttons make it easier to use than fiddling with a touchscreen in the rain.
Worth knowing
Here's the honest bit. There's no heart rate sensor, so no sleep, stress or proper fitness tracking, it's a golf watch first and a smartwatch a distant second. The hole maps are basic next to the S70, with bunkers shown as rough blobs rather than exact shapes, which is annoying on a course you don't know. Shot tracking is clunky and you need to buy CT10 sensors for chips and putts. Worst of all, plays-like distance, full green contours and virtual caddie are locked behind a paid Garmin subscription, which makes the dearer S50 (those features included) look better value. A few owners also report it losing the plot briefly between holes.
The verdict
I rate the S44 for the screen, the accuracy and the battery, and if you just want clean yardages it's a solid buy. But the subscription paywall and missing heart rate mean I'd think hard about stretching to the S50 before pulling the trigger.
What reviewers say
Testers love the bright AMOLED screen and lightweight all-day comfort, calling it a strong entry-level contender. The lack of a heart rate monitor and only adequate shot tracking are the common criticisms.
