Shot Scope X5 GPS Watch Review

Shot Scope X5 GPS Watch Review

For golfers looking to combine shot tracking and GPS information in a wearable, Shot Scope has always made compelling products and the new X5 looks to build on what was on offer from the impressive Shot Scope V3. The new watch is sleeker and offers more off-course appeal without sacrificing its popular shot tracking capability, which comes from new and improved lightweight second-generation tracking tags that screw into the tops of your clubs.

To cover everything this watch offers would take almost an eternity, such is the wide ranging functionality built in so this review will look to cover the most important areas golfers consider when choosing a golf GPS watch.

The set up process is pretty straight forward although to access the statistics you’ll need to screw the tags into the tops of your grips, which takes some time. The X5 needs to be worn on your lead arm and because it needs to be within 10cm of the tags to pick up shots, expect it to miss a few if you like to grip down on the club. On arrival at the course, the X5 took around 20 seconds to locate the course – you get the option of GPS or GPS+Track depending on if you’re using the tags. Hit a shot and the club used will be shown in the main display. The home screen also shows the front, middle and back distances, the hole number and par as well as your current score if enabled.

The lock function comes enabled as standard, which I’d recommend turning off in the settings before you play as it is annoying to have to manually unlock the X5 every time you want to use it by twisting the crown button 360° or pressing and holding the middle of the screen.

Swipe left and you’ll see the distances to reach and carry hazards, which I found particularly useful and is not something many of the best golf watches offer. Swipe right and you’ll see a map of the green you’re approaching and the ability to move the pin position, which works well when adopting a dragging technique rather than a tapping one. Other features include shot distance measurement, doglegs and lay up distances and the ability to add penalty shots. Full hole maps are currently not available but are due to be added at some point in 2023.

This brings us on to the touch screen navigation which, on the whole, worked fine but it wasn’t as responsive as I was hoping for – swiping left and right didn’t often work first…