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Adding a Shot Manually with S70 - Why Is It So Much Harder Now???

Dave Mello
9 months ago

I would like to request a feature that makes it easier to add a shot manually. In the S70, it requires at least 7 taps compared to 4 or 5 on the S60. This may not sound like a lot, but given how many shots the watch misses in the first place, and if you want to add the location for your first putt, this really adds up. And if you don't add the location for your first putt, you have no idea how long you really hit your approach shot. Or am I missing something basic here? If your approach lands on the front of the green compared to the back, that could be a difference of thirty yards. Doesn't the watch just default to a middle of the green location if you don't add one? It's just very frustrating to spend more and more money on a newer device, only to have a feature I use almost 20+ times a round take twice as long. At least move Measure Shot higher up on the menu so you don't have to scroll all the way to the bottom of the list. And whoever thought it was intuitive to have to scroll down to Measure Shot and THEN hit a button to add a shot hasn't played a round of golf with the S70. Or they don't care how far they hit the ball. Apologies in advance if I'm missing some easy way to do this already. If so, please let me know. Thanks!

  • 0 7 months ago

    I’ve only had this watch for about a week and it’s already pissing me off! I paid $600 for this thing and it’s not user-friendly at all. 

    First, it loses connection with my phone at very short distances (can’t even leave my phone in the cart on tee shots).

    The damn thing has a problem picking up pitch/chip shots.

    When I try to add a manual shot after a round, the watch places the tee shot where the approach shot landed, and then sends the approach (pitch/chip) shot back to where the tee shot landed. What the ***!!! C’mon Garmin, you should be better than that!

  • 0 7 months ago

    Hi Dave, just wondering if Garmin has fixed this issue or made it more user friendly ? I’m on the fence about the watch but don’t want it to be cumbersome and take my attention away from the game. I would want the shots and distances to be completely taken care of more or less. I’m ok with the chipping and putting stuff and making another separate club for those shots as others have suggested. 

  • +1 7 months ago in reply to 4297618

    I don't think the original issue I brought up has been fixed. It still takes a lot of steps to add a shot manually. Either because the watch missed it. Which to be fair does not happen very often. But in my case, I want to add a shot location for almost all of my putts so that the distance for my approach shot is accurate. As I understand it, if the watch doesn't know exactly where your first putt was from, it can't really know the distance of your approach shot. It could be 30+ yards from the front to the back of the green, and I THINK they all get calculated from the middle of the green. And the real point of all this, with the older watch, adding a shot manually was much easier. It was on the "front screen" so to speak. It's now buried like 4 layers in on the menu.

  • 0 7 months ago

    That sounds brutal.  I would also want exact distances- that’s the whole point of the virtual caddie and the club distances being accurate. Would you consider this issue a dealbreaker for purchasing the watch? I want more of a smartwatch than the s62 and would make use of the health and daily wear features, but that’s hugely disappointing if that’s what you need to do to actually get useful data.  

  • 0 7 months ago in reply to 4297618

    As you can see in this forum, most people love the hardware, but many are frustrated by the software. When I joined the Garmin ecosystem 5+ years ago, it seemed like the best option. I'm not sure it still is. But it feels like a lot of work to move into something else. That being said, it does sound like a new feature was released in the last month or so which suggests a new way to mark locations of putts on the green. If this is true, and it is easier to do that than 7 clicks and scrolls of adding a shot manually, and if these putt locations allow for the approach distance to be calculated accurately, this could be a definite improvement. I'll give it a shot next time I'm playing, but there are two big if's in there already...

    https://forums.garmin.com/outdoor-recreation/golf/f/approach-s70/364143/approach-s70-system-software-16-55

    Approach S70 System Software 16.55

    29 days ago

    Hello Approach S70 users, 

    We have fully released System Software 16.55.

    Change Log

    Added the ability to mark the hole location by double-tapping the touchscreen in green view.
    Added the ability to mark the locations of putts by pressing the action key in green view.

  • 0 7 months ago in reply to Dave Mello

    Yes please report back. I assume everyone who truly values exactly accurate distance tracking would have the same frustrations. 

  • 0 7 months ago in reply to Dave Mello

    Dave, do you have any experience with the Epix gen 2? They have dropped in price and from what I have read, other than the trees/updated graphics and swing tempo, it has all the golf features (and same issues I assume) as the s70. Would you go with the Epix gen2 over the s70 if using it for golf but also as a daily watch? 

  • 0 6 months ago in reply to 4297618

    I can confirm that it is now much easier to mark the location of putts on the green with this new update. One button push and then one easy tap to show the green and then one more button to mark a putt. No more multiple button pushes and long scrolls. I assume this will translate to much more accurate distances for all my approach shots, but haven't dug too deeply into that yet. I would also point out that if you're looking for a daily watch, the S70 is a great choice in my opinion. I don't use it that way, but it has very robust non-golf features, and from what I can recall, excellent battery lifetime. I have never used any of the Epix watches though.

  • 0 6 months ago in reply to Dave Mello

    Thanks Dave. That’s great and it definitely will improve accuracy rather than it assuming you hit the middle of the green. I also created another club in my bag specifically for short pitches and punch shots so it doesn’t skew data. Basically, the clubs are full shots only and now that you can mark your first putt that data should be much more accurate.