Golf app crashes on fenix 5

Following a hard reset, software update  - I had no luck, so I contacted Garmin Support.  Very helpful and offered to replace the watch (with a working but refurbished Fenix 5 - apparently never used, through a local sports store).  Will report back if all is fixed - fingers crossed.

I have this exact thing happen. I start the round early knowing I will have to restart my watch, but then if i back out of the golf to look at the time, I have to shut off my watch completely and lose all my shots for the round. This needs to be fixed so we can still look at other data like incoming calls or text messages without worrying about losing all our round data.

Thanks Spiderlinda.

I had my fenix replaced by Garmin and it still crashed in the very first game I played with the replacement watch!! frustrated!  So in my next game I turned off the Bluetooth on my phone and I enjoyed a normal round of golf with no issues. Not sure why this happens but its a workaround. 

I must admit, that this is a sad answer. The fact that so many of us actually find this forum and report this issue should be a good indication. Most of the solutions offered here seem "random" being an it-developer. And yes finding the root cause can be hard - but there is a problem with your software. If you have "unhandled" errors in your code it would explain the watch crashes - which should of course never happen, if your code was solid and well written in regards to proper error handling.

Maybe the cause is watch to phone communication - maybe its gps updates.. for sure it seems random and based on some form of update/communication being "broken" and crashing the app leading to watch reset. (i personally tried deleting all activities on the watch to see if it might be a corruption/memory issue - but it didnt really do much of a difference)

Also this has been going on randomly for more than a year for me.. but been increasingly worse this last periode of a couple of months. I am considering upgrading to a new Fenix - but to what end? If Garmin support is this "weak" - why bother? I must admit i love my garmin device.. and pretty much all other garmin devices ive had over the years.. but this is really becoming frustrating... having gone all out on a high end watch.. 

So please own up. 

Hi

I've a Fenix 5 and my wife a Fenix 5s. Both great watches, my walking and hiking apps work without problem.  Over the last 6 months both our watches crash for no reason while playing golf.  I did complain to Garmin who offered no answers, I've done all of the usual factory data reset etc etc but still the issue persisted.  

Today was our first day back playing golf after 3 months in lock down where all of the courses in England were closed. My watch crashed 4 times and my wife's which has always been worse crashed 16 times! Both were worse than useless, you spend most of your time rebooting your watch rather than actually playing golf. 

I've not seen the switching off Bluetooth solution before so we'll give that a go tomorrow, fingers crossed. 

I've considered selling my Fenix 5 and replacing it with a dedicated golf watch, if I do it won't be a Garmin!  This is obviously s software issue and I find it hard to believe that a company the size of Garmin cannot come up with a solution. 

Surely they must offer some sort of a solution we can't all have faulty watches. 

So today my wife and I both played golf,  we got the course data up and running on our watches and then turned off Bluetooth on our phones as someone suggested. 

Both watches worked perfectly with zero issues.  After the round we both saved our data and then switched the Bluetooth back on. So whoever it was that figured out the problem with Bluetooth thank you. 

So for us at least it appears that the crashing issue is something to do with Bluetooth while playing golf. 

Definitely a software issue, come on Garmin get this sorted we shouldn't have to disable Bluetooth just to enjoy a crash free round of golf! 

So,  over the last few days II've spent time emailing Garmin Tech support explaining the problems with our watches.  Today they emailed me stating that my watch has a fault and needs replacing. 

Now I've seen previous posts on here from others who have had their watch replaced and it made no difference at all. 

As my watch is over 2 years old this replacement would be at my cost not Garmin's, after the experience of others on here there is no guarantee that this would work so I would still be left with a watch that crashes during a round of golf.  I have refused their offer,  I don't know what the cost was but I'm not prepared to pay it. 

I can't understand why my watch crashes during a round of golf but if I go walking or hiking my watch performs as it should, that just doesn't make sense to me.  

I'll continue to turn off the Bluetooth on my phone as that seemed to work its not ideal but not getting messages when playing golf is a plus really. 

Needless to say there was no explanation from Garmin about why my watch needed replacing,  suffice to say I'm not impressed and won't be purchasing any Garmin products in the future! 

In an effort to help everyone with this issue as much as possible, I am adding the following to this thread's conversations.

First, my sincere apologies to everyone experiencing this issue and that applies to any issue being experienced. It is incredibly frustrating when your watch is not working the way it should.

Regarding specifically the Golf APP and crashing issue being discussed within this thread - we cannot reproduce your issue on our end when golfing.

The reason there is not a specific fix we can provide you through Product Support or through our forums, the issue is with your watch that you own and the issue is not being experienced on every other Fenix 5 watch being used to golf around the world.

When there is a major software issue, due to how many Fenix series watches are in use worldwide, we find out very quickly through all avenues of Product Support and the forums. We then replicate the issue being reported and escalate it to engineering to get resolved as quickly as possible.

If you continue to have an issue with your watch while using the Golf APP, and master resetting your watch does not resolve the issue, your watch will need to be replaced by Product Support.