Golf GPS watches in 2025: ranked by someone who has worn four of them

I have worn a golf GPS watch on every round since 2019. I have currently reviewed four in detail over full seasons. Here is the honest ranking.

1. Garmin Approach S70 (£449): The best golf GPS watch available in 2025. The AMOLED display is bright enough to read in direct sunlight, which sounds obvious but has been a persistent failing of GPS watches for a decade. It maps over 42,000 courses and provides front, middle, and back distances by default, with full hole mapping (showing the shape of every fairway and hazard) available on the watch face without requiring a phone. The Hazard View feature shows distance to all hazards in sequence as you walk up the fairway. Battery life: 20 hours in GPS mode, sufficient for a full day of 36 holes. The S70 also functions as a premium lifestyle watch outside golf — important for people who don't want to carry two watches on a trip.

2. Shot Scope V5 (£199): The best value GPS watch in the category and the only direct competitor to Arccos for automatic shot tracking built into the watch hardware. The V5 tracks every shot automatically via wrist sensors (no phone required), logs them to an app, and builds the same kind of performance statistics as Arccos. The mapping is slightly less detailed than Garmin and the display less premium — it remains a transflective LCD rather than AMOLED. But at less than half the price of the S70, with shot tracking included, it is the most complete budget option in golf tech.

3. Bushnell Ion Elite (£249): The Ion Elite prioritises simplicity. It has a large, clear display, 38,000 mapped courses, and displays four pieces of information: front, middle, back, and the distance to the pin based on pinsheet data (available via the free Bushnell Golf app). What it lacks — hole mapping, hazard distances, shot tracking — may not matter to golfers who primarily want accurate yardages without the complexity of a full data platform. If you want a GPS watch that does the basics excellently and no more, the Ion Elite is the recommendation.

4. Apple Watch Ultra 2 (£799) with a golf app: A controversial inclusion because the Ultra 2 is not a golf watch by design. But with Hole19 or Golfshot loaded, it delivers full hole mapping, GPS yardages, and scorekeeping on the finest display in the wearable category. The limitation is battery life — 18 hours with golf app active, less if also tracking workouts and managing notifications. If you already own an Apple Watch Ultra 2, the golf apps are genuinely good. If you're buying specifically for golf, the Garmin S70 beats it on golf-specific functionality at a lower price.

The honest purchasing guide: under £200 (Shot Scope V5) → the shot tracking makes it the clear choice. £200–350 → Bushnell Ion Elite if you want simplicity, Garmin Approach S62 (slightly older model at reduced price) if you want full mapping. £400+ → Garmin Approach S70, without reservation.

One travel note: GPS watch mapping accuracy on international courses — particularly in Asia and Africa — varies. Garmin has the most comprehensive international course database. I've had Shot Scope fail to find a course in Japan that Garmin had mapped correctly. Worth noting if you're using your GPS watch on Dormie trips.