The technology I carry on every golf trip — and what I leave at home

I've been asked what's in my bag on a trip more times than I've answered any other technical question. Here's the honest list, with explanations.

GPS Watch (Garmin Approach S70): Always. At every destination. Even courses I've played before. The value of a GPS watch on an unfamiliar course — knowing the exact carry to clear a hazard you can't fully see, or the distance to the front of the green when the pin is tucked — is too significant to leave behind. In Japan and Korea particularly, where courses have complex multi-level greens and distances that don't match intuition, the watch is essential.

Rangefinder (Bushnell Pro XE): I bring this to maybe 60% of destinations. Courses that provide GPS-equipped carts, or where the caddies are giving accurate yardages (Leopard Creek, Nine Bridges), I leave it behind. It's an additional 400 grams and if the information is coming from another source I don't need to duplicate it. For Portugal, Spain, and the UK, where I'm often playing without a caddie, it goes in the bag.

Phone and Hole19 app: Every trip. Hole19 is my backup GPS and social scorecard. I have clients who want to see their friends' scores in real-time during a round. Hole19 handles that. It also has the best international course database of any app I've tested — I've never been on a course it didn't have mapped.

Power bank (20,000mAh Anker): Every trip. Universally useful. Airports, long days on the course, hotel rooms with one accessible socket. The 20,000mAh Anker fits in a hand luggage bag and charges two phones simultaneously. Non-negotiable for anything over 5 nights.

What I leave behind: autonomous trolley (too bulky for flight), launch monitor (no practical value once you're playing actual courses rather than practising), smart training aids. Trips are about playing, not measuring. The measurement tools have their place at home.

One recommendation specifically for golf travel: download courses on your GPS watch and GPS app before you leave home, not at the destination. Mobile data roaming in Japan, Vietnam, and most of sub-Saharan Africa is expensive enough that pre-loaded offline maps are the sensible option.

The most underrated tech item in my bag: a £12 waterproof phone pouch on a lanyard. When it rains on the Algarve in November, a wet phone is worse than a wet scorecard. The pouch solves this completely.