14 DAY TRIAL // You might remember that a while ago we talked about the Smash, a wearable specifically designed to help you perfect your tennis skills.
Following the same trend, where wearables are designed to be your private tutors, arrives the new and improved Garmin companion watch that aims to teach you how to swing a golf club.
The Approach golf watch is not a new comer to the world of self-improvement aided by wearables, but Garmin has just updated the device, adding a bunch of enhancements to assist you in the process of perfecting your technique.
The watch is capable of analyzing your swings right on spot and provides real-time data on how you can improve what you’re doing.
Garmin’s golfing watch isn't the first to offer such services. For example, the Zepp Golf sensor is capable of tracking your performance stats too.
But the Approach is a little bit different. First of all, the device is a smartwatch, so it will relay notifications to your wrist. Secondly, it is capable of gathering and sorting out data picked up from the GPS and sensors.
The Approach S6 arrives with a full-color touchscreen display that shows you the onscreen maps of the particular course you’re at (it taps into an extensive 30,000 international courses database).
If you happen to swing the golf club aloof and your ball ends up in the river or somewhere lost in the woods, your little Garmin buddy will be there to give you a few tips on how to find your sense of direction again.
Most importantly, the S6 is capable of tracking your swings and thus providing you with three metrics: SwingTempo, TempoTraining and SwingStrenght.
SwingTempo is able to calculate the relationship between a golfer’s upswing and downswing in the form of a ratio. 3:1 is what you should be striving to achieve, so the closer you get to the value, the better.
TimeTraining makes use of audio tones in order to teach you how to swing and SwingStrenght can tell you how much power you put in each swing.
The watch can also provide you with info related to shot, distance and fairways hits. After you have finished playing a game, you can go on and upload your day’s stats to Garmin Connect, so you can compare them to previous games and hopefully, identify a trend in your performance.
The Approach S6 should last up to 10 hours of use, but if you’re using the device only as a watch, it will last for up to 14 weeks.
The device also acts like your regular smartwatch, capable of delivering notifications for texts and calls. So far, the Garmin is compatible only with iOS smartphones, but Android compatibility will be made available next year.
The watch is sold under a $400 / €294 price tag.