Available in two sizes, the $799 flagship introduces new on-wrist swing metrics and a built-in flashlight
Garmin has unveiled its new flagship golf watch, the Approach S72, blending dedicated on-course smarts with full-day health monitoring and smartwatch features.
Available in 43mm and 47mm sizes with AMOLED displays, titanium bezels, and sapphire lenses, the S72 is the first of the brand's golf watches to receive one of our favorite Garmin features: the built-in LED flashlight.
That means you can light the way on those twilight rounds that drag on a bit too late, and it also helps you root around in your bag for a new ball after you shank one into the trees.
Crucially, the S72 is also Garmin's first golf device with a built-in speaker and microphone, enabling hands-free phone calls and voice commands from the wrist when paired with a smartphone.
Improved shot tracking and on-wrist swing analytics
For golfers looking to hone their game, the S72 also brings on-wrist swing metrics that measure key motion data—including hand speed, backswing length, and wrist rotation—without requiring external club sensors.
This pairs with new golf-specific biometric tracking that overlays real-time heart rate data onto completed scorecards to analyze how physiological strain and pre-shot nerves affect performance.
To help evaluate shots on the course, the watch integrates aerial hole imagery for smarter layup decisions, along with post-round putting analytics that track speed and direction bias.
As with previous devices, those with an active Garmin Golf Membership also get green-reading capabilities, showing break directions and slope percentages to help you choose precise aim points. You can now log also practice sessions on the driving range directly in the Garmin Connect app, so range reps count toward daily Body Battery and overall fitness goals.
Off the course, the Approach S72 packs Garmin’s standard suite of health tools, including stress monitoring, sleep tracking, and preloaded activity profiles for mobility and strength.
Battery life reaches up to 20 hours in GPS golf mode for the 47mm model (or up to 16 days in standard smartwatch mode), with pricing starting at $799.99 / £699.99. It arrives on the same day as the Garmin Enduro 4, the latest edition of the brand's long-lasting outdoor GPS watch.
