What Does Swolf Mean When I Swim with My Garmin Watch?

Swolf is the blending of the words Swimming and Golf.  Swolf is a score that measures your swimming efficiency, and just as in golf, a lower score is better. For pool swimming, the swolf score for a length is obtained by adding together the number of strokes taken in the pool length, and the time it took to swim that length. For instance, 30 seconds and 10 strokes to swim the length of a pool will give a swolf score of 40.

Swolf is primarily used for pool swimming.  For open water swim activities using GPS, the swolf score is computed over 25 meter intervals.  The swolf score is not displayed on the device for open water swimming, and only the overall average swolf score for the activity is provided in your Garmin Connect™ account.  Accuracy of the score will be dependent on the device's ability to record an accurate GPS pace and distance during open water swimming.