Not everyone wants the fancy bells and whistles that many of the best golf watches offer. Simplicity is often the number one consideration for golfers and not many offer a more intuitive experience than the Shot Scope G5.
Where its sister X5 watch provides a touch screen and shot tracking capabilities, the golf functionality of the G5 is slightly more rudimentary yet it manages to provide all the information a golfer needs, displayed in a user friendly format. The screen size is generous and yet it has a minimalistic feel to it, perhaps because of how lightweight the case and straps are. I like how the outer ring of the display is slightly raised, which should reduce the risk of scratches accumulating if you're in the habit of leaving it face down on a surface for whatever reason.
You’ll notice there are four buttons in each corner of the G5 and each one is labelled to describe its function, so you’re left in no doubt as to how you navigate through the settings and screens. Once you’ve clicked ‘play golf’ and you’ve selected the course you’re on, the front, middle and back distances are displayed clearly on the main screen. There’s plenty of other useful information on there too, like the time, battery level, the hole number and its par as well as your current score.
But if you just want the main distances displayed, you can toggle off all the extra info if you want - you can even opt to just see the distance to the middle of the green if that’s all you’re interested in. Hazard information is a click away and the fact the G5 provides distances to reach and carry the hazard is particularly useful and not something all of the best golf gps devices offer.
Despite its modest price tag of £149.99, there are plenty of other features included - like distances to doglegs and lay up points, shot distance measurement and a digital scorecard to keep track of your round. But I think one of the most redeeming features of the G5 is it’s off-course appeal. The G5 is sporty and incredibly lightweight and compact, which means you don’t really notice it’s on when you’re wearing it. Plus the silicon strap is soft and comfortable.
Buy the G5 and you get a choice of two strap options from the 12 available - you have to clip them on yourself, which is a little fiddly but can be done in a matter of seconds with practice. When wearing it off the course, you can opt for a clock design over a digital display. It’s fairly basic, but bridges the gap perfectly between the course and the world outside of golfer for those who want a watch they can wear all the time.
