Garmin Forerunner for Golf

Forerunners are considered the best running smartwatches in the town. Can you use a Forerunner watch for a game of golf? Can a Forerunner give me preloaded golf course maps and help set up a game of golf with my golf buddies? Let us find the Garmin Forerunners that support golf.

Table of Contents:

Garmin Forerunner watches that have golf
How to play golf using Garmin Forerunner?
Garmin AutoShot on Forerunner watches
Does Garmin Forerunner have preloaded Golf maps?
Summary

Garmin Forerunner watches that have golf

There are 4 Forerunner models that support golf. These watches come with the Golf app and preloaded golf course maps. All that you need to do is to launch the Golf app and wait for the satellite data to be picked up. Once you have GPS connectivity through the Forerunner watch, you can get the golf course data for a game of golf. The golf app can even keep scores while you play a game with your golf buddies.

The following Forerunner watch models have golf:

Forerunner 945
Forerunner 945 LTE
Forerunner 955
Forerunner 955 Solar

This, essentially, means that the Forerunner watches older than the Forerunner 945 model do not come with the Golf app.

The Garmin Forerunner watches that do not support golf are:

Forerunner 55
Forerunner 245
Forerunner 245 Sq
Forerunner 245 Music
Forerunner 255
Forerunner 255 Sq
Forerunner 255 Music
Forerunner 745

These watches do not come with the Garmin Golf app. And, you will be unable to download Golf course data on these Forerunner watches.

How to play golf using Garmin Forerunner?

Golf app is part of the operating system on Garmin Forerunner 945, 945 LTE, 955 and 955 Solar. Before you can play a game of golf using the Forerunner watch, there are a couple of prerequisites:

your watch must be adequately charged. If you can have it fully charged, it would be even better.
you will need good GPS connectivity to launch the Golf app and fetch the golf course details and the hole details.

To initiate a game of golf on the Forerunner watch:

Select Start from the Garmin Forerunner watch face.
Select Golf
Now, wait for GPS connectivity to establish between your watch and the GPS satellite systems.
On your watch, you will see a list of golf course data.
Select the golf course you intend to play in.
You can also choose the ‘Keep Score’ option.
You can select and a hole by using the up and down options on the screen.
From here on, the hole information is recorded. As you move to the next hole, the watch will automatically move the hole to the corresponding hole on the golf course.

The shot distance is automatically calibrated by the golf app on the Garmin Forerunner watch.

Garmin AutoShot on Forerunner watches

Garmin Autoshot helps in measuring the shot distance automatically. Before the shot distance can be measured, you will need to enable the ‘Keep Score’ option on the Forerunner watch.

You will also need to enable the shot measurement on the watch using the steps below.

From the Garmin Forerunner watch, select Start from the watch face.
Choose ‘Measure Shot’.
This will measure the shot distance when you hit the ball. Putt shots are not measured.
The shot distance, so measured, gets uploaded to the Golf app. It helps in post-game analysis of the shots and shot distance.
Once you make the next shot, the distance is measured once again and the results are posted on the Golf app.

For best results from golf shot measurement, it is advised to wear the Forerunner watch on the leading wrist. Leading wrist means the wrist that exerts more power on the shot. The lead wrist is the hand that is placed highest on the golf club. If you are a right hander, you will keep the lead hand higher than the left hand wrist on the golf club.

Does Garmin Forerunner have preloaded Golf maps?

Yes, the Forerunner 945, Forerunner 945 LTE, Forerunner 955 and Forerunner 955 Solar comes with over 42000 preloaded golf course maps. Once you initiate a game of golf, the golf course data is presented to you for selection.

Depending on your choice, the Forerunner will load the golf course details and show the green course on the watch screen.

The following golf course details are available on the Garmin golf app:

In the US, there are close to 18,000 golf course details on the Garmin golf database.
There are close to 3500 golf courses in the UK.
For Canada, a little less than 3000 golf courses are available.
Australia and Germany have over 1000 golf courses each on the Garmin golf database.

The Garmin Forerunner watches come with preloaded golf data. From time to time, Garmin updates the golf course data. You could update the golf app to fetch the latest golf course data on the Forerunner watch.

You can also download the golf course data on your Garmin watch using the Garmin Connect app on your paired smartphone. You could download the golf course data for a specific course. The data or golf course map gets downloaded onto the smartphone through the Garmin Connect app. On the next sync with the Garmin watch, the golf map data gets pushed out to the Garmin watch.

To download the Garmin golf map data on the watch, please follow the instructions below:

Launch the Garmin Connect app.
Bring up the settings on the phone.
Select ‘Download Golf Course’.
You can search for a specific golf course and download its details on the Garmin Connect app.
On the next sync between the Garmin Connect app and the Garmin watch, the Golf Course details are pushed out from the phone to the watch.
This completes the process of downloading the Golf course data on the Garmin watch.

To reiterate, the Forerunner 945, Forerunner 945 LTE, Forerunner 955 and Forerunner 955 Solar all have preloaded Golf app and preloaded Golf course maps for worldwide locations.

Summary

Garmin’s Golf is supported on the Forerunner 945, Forerunner 945 LTE, Forerunner 955 and Forerunner 955 Solar models. All the other Forerunner watches are incompatible with Golf. You will not be able to download the Golf course data on non-supported Forerunner watch models.

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Helen Kurt

Helen Kurt is a geeky nerd who loves to cover the wearables space. She has over 5 years of experience in the smartwatch domain. You can reach her on email at [email protected].