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Garmin touchscreen devices for the golf course

7th May 2010 Print
Garmin Approach G5

Garmin has announced its first touchscreen handhelds designed exclusively for the golf course, the Approach G3 and G5.

The new Approach is available in two formats, the G3 and G5. The G3 offers a palm-sized device with a 2.6-inch touchscreen, perfect for the golfer who wants to keep an eye on their progress. The G5 has a large 3-inch touchscreen and allows the user to track their stats including putts per round, greens and fairways hit in regulation. They can also measure their shots and assign it to a club to obtain an average yardage per club.

Andrew Silver, Outdoor Product Manager for Garmin said: “The Approach devices show golfers the precise distance to the centre of green or other key course features, which can eliminate the guesswork and make club selection easier – key factors in improving any golfer’s score.

“There’s no other golf device on the market that combines the ease of use, responsive colour touchscreen and preloaded information featured in the Approach series, all with no annual fees. Within minutes of opening the box, you can be ready to tee off.”

The waterproof Approach series feature a touchscreen colour display, which offers two simple options once powered on. The Play and Preview options enable golfers to see detailed course maps with precise distance information from their current location to any position on the hole using Touch-Targeting. As the golfer moves about the course, the Approach continuously updates their position and distances to each target. During the course of play, the touchscreen interface also helps golfers decide the best tactic to use to get that perfect shot.

Another concern for players is the fairway bunker, a single tap on the map will show golfers how much club they need to carry it, or how little they need if laying up.

For good course management golfers can drag their finger across the map screen to give them the precise distance of their ideal approach shot.

To check the pin position, simply touch the top corner of the screen and golfers can reposition the flag to correspond with the day’s placement.

Whether tracking improvement or simply backing up your brags, the Approach makes it easy to measure the distance of your shot to keeping score for your group using the intuitive touchscreen digital scorecard.

The Approach even lets golfers preview any of the 1,250 preloaded courses to ensure they are never ill-equipped to meet the challenges of unfamiliar courses. The preloaded courses, complete with detailed vector mapping is unlike anything used before on a golf course, it can save time while eliminating setup complications and computer frustrations. Golfers can go to garmin.co.uk/approach to check if their course is among the 1250 already available for the UK.

Additional courses for the UK, as well as countries across Europe, will be made available for download at regular intervals throughout 2010, giving golfers the latest set of courses in one downloadable update, and all free of charge.

The Approach series let golfers benefit from Garmin’s 20 years of using GPS technology to enhance user’s lives, making Garmin a popular choice for runners, cyclists, hikers and a household name in the automotive, aviation and marine industries. Visit garmin.co.uk/approach for more information and videos on how to get the best out of using the Approach.

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Garmin Approach G5