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Using Waypoints and Navigation Data Fields on a Garmin Watch

Many Garmin watches that support courses have data fields that can display information on upcoming waypoints. Navigation data fields such as "Distance To Next" can show the remaining distance to the next waypoint in a course. Courses created on the watch using waypoints, and courses with Course Points can display waypoint information when using navigation data fields. For more information on types of data fields, and how to set up a data field for your specific watch, see your owner's manual.

To see if your watch supports courses, refer to 

Creating a Course on the Watch

For watches that support courses, creating a course on the watch can vary by type. See Creating and Following a Course on Your Device in your owner's manual for instructions.

Adding Course Points in Garmin Connect

Course Points are a way to identify a specific location when creating a course in the Garmin Connect™ program. Course Points can be identified by Type and Title. See instructions below on how to add a Course Point to a course in Garmin Connect program. 


In Garmin Connect Web

  1. Sign in to your Garmin Connect Account.

  2. Select Circle with an arrow pointing right. from the upper left corner to expand the menu navigation.

  3. Select Training & Planning.

  4. Select Courses.

  5. Select a saved course.

    For information on creating a course: Creating a Course in Garmin Connect.

  6. Select Options Icon to access more options for editing the course.

  7. Select Edit.

  8. Select Add Course Point.

  9. Click a point on the course to add a course point.

  10. Optional: 

    • Select Type.

    • Select a Title.

  11. Select Save Point.

  12. Repeat steps 8-11 for additional course points.

  13. Select Save Changes.

In the Garmin Connect App

  1. Open the Garmin Connect app.

  2. Access the menu by selecting More (bottom right).

  3. Select Training & Planning.

  4. Select Courses.

  5. Select a saved course.

  6. Press Options Iconin the upper right corner to access options.

  7. Select Edit

  8. Press Options Icon in the lower right corner to access additional options.

  9. Select Add a Course Point.

  10. Select a point type. 

  11. Press Next in upper right corner.

  12. Move the map screen to place the location marker on the course track.

  13. Select Next.

  14. Editing a Course Point:

    1. Touch the Course Point.

    2. Touch the Course Point name.

    3. Select and enter either Course Point Name or Course Point Type.

  15. Repeat steps 9-13 for additional course points.

  16. Select Save.


Waypoint Information is Wrong or Missing

If waypoints are saved or loaded to the watch and the course is created in the watch using those waypoints, then point to point navigation will be provided and the navigation data fields will show information for the next waypoint. If you are not seeing the information, here are some things to consider:

Routes created from waypoints in other programs, like Garmin Explore™ or BaseCamp™, will be converted to courses once they are sent to the watch and the waypoints will not be used when calculating any information. For example, the "Distance To Next" data field will simply display the distance remaining to the end of the course.

The watch needs to be actively navigating using a course. For specific steps on how to load a course to your watch, see Courses in your owner's manual.

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