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Golfing With a Garmin Watch That Has no Pre-loaded Golf Courses
Garmin golf capable watches can be used to get distances from your upcoming shot location to the hole. There are several other features that can be utilized depending on the product you have such as: Automatic Shot (AutoShot) Detection & Distances to Hazards. This overview of how the golf activity functions will help you get ready to use your watch before your first round. Watches will need to pair with the Garmin Connect™ app to download courses.
This article is for watches that do not have pre-loaded golf courses. For watches with pre-loaded golf courses, see Getting Started Golfing With a Golf Capable Garmin Watch With Pre-Loaded Maps.
For detailed instructions of the process of downloading and transferring golf courses to your watch, see - Downloading Golf Courses to Your Watch Using the Garmin Connect App.
Scorecards can be kept on the watch during the round. Once the round is ended and the scorecard is saved, it can be synced and be viewed in the Garmin Golf™ app. For information on how your specific watch syncs the scorecards, see - Syncing Scorecards to the Garmin Golf App.
Scorecards will be applied to Course Stats to get averages on courses you play often. See your owner's manual for instructions on enabling scoring options.
For details on the stats and icons shown on the scorecard in the Garmin Golf app, see - Understanding Golf Scorecards in the Garmin Golf App.
Several golf capable watches have the ability to automatically detect your shots. This automatically measures the shot distances between each shot. It can also be used to give averages for clubs if Club Prompts are enabled or if Approach® CT10 sensors are being used. See your owner's manual for instructions on enabling Club Prompts and pairing Approach CT10 sensors.
The AutoShot data will sync with the scorecard to be viewed in the Garmin Golf app or in Garmin Connect. The shot data will be utilized in the Performance Stats section to calculate your handicap and see how you perform against other players. For the compatibility of your watch with AutoShot features, see - AutoShot Feature on Garmin Golf Watches and Devices.
All Garmin golf capable watches will automatically transition to the upcoming hole when brought near the hole's farthest back tee box. To make sure the transition takes place automatically, walk through the farthest back tee box before moving to the tee you will be playing from and make sure to enter your score for the previous hole before transitioning to the next hole.
If for any reason the device does not automatically transition, transitioning can be done manually. Look for "Changing Holes" in your owner's manual for steps on manually transitioning holes.
If you are not starting the round of golf on the first hole, see - Starting a Round of Golf on Any Hole.
Several watches provide other features during the round like viewing hazard distances, moving the flag to get a more accurate distance than the center of the green, and using the PinPointer (compass) feature to get the direction to the green when it is unable to be seen. See the owner's manual for instructions on how to access these features during a round.