ccostel18

Congratulations testers!  Put them in your bag, don’t check the forecast, and head straight to the course….come what may🌧️

Congratulations testers!  Put them in your bag, don’t check the forecast, and head straight to the course….come what may🌧️

In the end this forum is for all to ask their questions and get inputs from all members. They can then choose what they want to do with that information one way or another. 
I can absolutely see your thinking and thought process just based off my own strengths and weaknesses, however nothing wrong with them asking some general advice and looking for some suggestions or experiences. They can then take that information and do with it as they please. 
So I will ask for both to agree to disagree or whatever you feel to do and see if anyone else has further experience with the i230 or i525 to chime in and give their inputs so @brogies can get the information he asked for. 

Nice to see a lot of others have “substantial” lists! Mine is pretty uneventful as far as variety. Tried to curb my golf equipment expenditures this year ☹️
Driver: Ping, Cobra
Woods/hybrid: Ping, Tour Edge, Cobra
Irons: Srixon
Wedges: Cleveland 
Putter: Ping
Balls: Callaway, Titleist, Srixon 
Shoes: Adidas, NewBalance, Nike 
Bag: Sun Mountain 
Gloves: FootJoy

Nice to see a lot of others have “substantial” lists! Mine is pretty uneventful as far as variety. Tried to curb my golf equipment expenditures this year ☹️
Driver: Ping, Cobra
Woods/hybrid: Ping, Tour Edge, Cobra
Irons: Srixon
Wedges: Cleveland 
Putter: Ping
Balls: Callaway, Titleist, Srixon 
Shoes: Adidas, NewBalance, Nike 
Bag: Sun Mountain 
Gloves: FootJoy

Congratulations to you and to all the forum staff. A leader is not someone who makes people do things, a true leader inspires people to do things. From what I have seen in only a month as a member you all are a great team, and that starts from the top. Good luck in all your future endeavors and thank you for your dedication to growing this wonderfully frustrating game!

Awesome opportunity for you guys! Looking forward to see if anything you all discover transfers to my in home set up. Enjoy!

Awesome opportunity for you guys! Looking forward to see if anything you all discover transfers to my in home set up. Enjoy!

Without a doubt this was one of the most requested items for member testing and we are so happy that Rapsodo agreed to come on board with this member test. It should be a lot of fun and a great test to follow along with!
A lot of you already know me and my intro so I will go over with the short version here and stay mainly to my golf game. 
My name is Jamie and I am the Forum Director here for MyGolfSpy Forum. You will see me all over the forum posting way too much and doing my best to be the most active person here. I am originally from Canada, but moved to Switzerland just over 3 years ago. While it may seem impossible and many think that I am a bot I do have an actual day job as an Ice Technician making ice for curling events and halls all over the world. It is essentially my dream job and I truly love what I do. 

When I moved to Switzerland it took me a while to get back into golf. Changing countries, different languages and all made it quite difficult. However I have found a home at a course called Otelfingen Golf Park near Zurich Switzerland. 
I played a lot of golf this season despite my wife and I welcoming our second child (Audrey) in June. It was an up and down season, however a little later in the year I started to find a groove and play some proper golf. Now that the season is cold golf is still available, but I have enjoyed more practice with my son and using my at home setup more. This is where the Rapsodo MLM2Pro came in. 

My Initial Impressions were to be straight up stellar. I had the original MLM and gifted it to a colleague as while I enjoyed the unit, in the end I found it to be a nice to have device and not something which I found had a lot of longevity to its use. 
The ability to work with android was also a game changer for the MLM2PRO. Although I have an ipad and other apple devices, my daily devices are all android based. 
In terms of setup, the setup of the unit couldn’t be easier. With phone in hand everything is marked and within a matter of seconds you can have the whole unit aligned for your session on the range or at home into a net.
The carry case is awesome too. I am not sure if anyone mentioned it prior, but I love the size and how it keeps everything organized has a little pocket to hold charging cable or other devices you may have. Only pitfall is maybe it would be nice to be a shade bigger so it could hold a couple of the RPT Golf Balls. 
The app is largely the same and I do have some suggestions for improvement, some of which have been addressed, others I am still waiting on which I will go over later. 
The unit itself is very sturdy and feels like a high quality build. The change in color and out of the box is everything I had been hoping for. With that I am awarding the Rapsodo MLM2PRO a 8/10 for First Impressions. 
Aesthetics

So I covered a bit of this prior in my first impressions, but I want to touch on a few other things other than the build of the unit itself. 
I got so many looks and questions at the range with this device. I had dozens of people wanting to try it out and see how it worked. This included a pro coming up to me and asking if we could take to the Trackman and compare the data. Unfortunately I was packing up and didn’t have time so we are going to try and do that later. 
Bottom line this thing is an eye opener and with it grabbing so much attention there is definitely a lot of positives to say from that. 
The build again and looks as well as color scheme is exactly what I like. Not too flashy, but solid and the fact it is as small as it is and can fit in the bag is an extreme positive. 
Truly nothing to knock here 10/10!
The Numbers -

Let’s be honest here we could go on and on for days with the numbers. Several of our other testers have done an excellent job of highlighting the accuracy and finer points. So here are my highlights.
On the Range
Data points are really good. Whether comparing to top tracer or shooting yardages with my range finder I found what Rapsodo was showing to be extremely accurate and following the ball flight with great accuracy.  Missed shots? Yes there were a few, but  not enough to make note of. The additional updates to chip shots has made a big difference as well.  This is both a good and bad thing for me. There are 13 data points available for your viewing. On the screen (phone or tablet) it will show you the 4 which you select. If you want the other pieces you need to stop and press and hold or highlight the shot to view the full data. It is all there, just takes a bit extra viewing.  Into the Net
Some found data to be a little less reliable here, but the key is the RPT balls. Use them and this thing is money. I have spend the majority of my time using the MLM2PRO into my net and love it. I will say I don’t 100% know about the driver data. I do trust it, however sometimes I felt it left me a little short. Or maybe that is more my ego.  While I did struggle for a bit of time on shorter chips this was remedied with the most recent app update.  Simulation
Again I used this into the net and Csiders13 did a great job of highlighting the options available. However I loved the simulation feature and this was the complete game changer for me.  Of the 3 options I have stuck mainly to the Rapsodo courses. I have played several rounds all on various courses, some I have played some I have not. Most importantly I used the MLM2PRO as a warmup for a tournament at a course that I had never played. The course design overall was great, however I noted the elevation changes didn’t come off as accurately and trees acted like walls and there was no chance to get through them. However I can honestly say that it helped me prepare for the round and without question saved me several strokes. Options within the simulation and for the price is just top notch. I will have more updates on this as the season progresses. 
Overall the numbers here are very reliable and at the price it gives any purchaser a lot for their money. The main thing again is use the RPT balls. It makes a world of a difference. 
Given all the above I believe a fair rating of 17 out of 20 is fair. 
On Course - Adapted
I will admit I haven’t been able to use this on course as yet. Between rain, course density and availability has been too limited. 
However I will take this space to share my thoughts on the cameras and features. 
The ability to take one swing and have 3 different and usable camera views of the same swing was game changing. Being able to breakdown and analyze your swing from down the line, impact and face on using your phone or tablet is simply the best.
Being able to see deflection on the club face via the shot vision is astounding and humbling. However it is the ability to go slowly frame by frame that is the difference marker. I can breakdown my swing, release, takeaway and strike frame by frame and see the changes that cause each action. As someone who has been working on swing changes this is another standout feature which all golfers can benefit from.
The App

While there is so many great features on the app, it may be the area where I am most picky. The basic features are there and carry over from the original with some obvious additions. There are a few things I would maybe tweak or change with the app, however Rapsodo has continued to push through regular updates that addressed any initial qualms I had. These include in their most recent update a bulk club add feature. The one time I had issues connecting it was remedied by a quick app update and off we went!
So what I liked

Cloud Storage! The ability to hold and go back view previous sessions for reference is a true standout.  Session insights - When finishing a session if you have taken at least 5 shots with a single club it will provide you with a insights which gives you additional data comparing your game vs a pro or handicap of your choosing. It will help you know where to focus your next practice session with those clubs.  Dual cameras I have already messaged, but should be said again. So good.  Gapping sessions and overall data available to dive into.  Simulation which again I have gone over.  What I didn’t like as much

Adding Clubs and switching club inventory. This is where I think the most can be done. While some updates have added being able to do bulk clubs. I haven’t found how to use the inventory as I wish to.  Simulation club input. Now maybe I need to do some more digging, but when I have done simulation and just simply played. When I ended the round all the clubs were listed as driver. Not the end of the world, but I think I need to select each club each time which I understand.  I did not have any other issues or hiccups throughout the testing period. 

Other questions I have seen asked are about battery life and for the phone. I use a Pixel 6 Pro and could use it for a full hour session or simulation on HD and only lose 35 to 40 percent of phone battery life. The unit itself I charged once every 3 sessions which seemed suitable. 
We also have a section called The Good, The Bad, The In between. I have covered a lot and rather than rehashing I will trust you can understand what I see as good or bad so far. Therefore I am going to skip through a little bit and go straight to the Play it or Trade it?
Is there any question? No, I am playing this. I am thrilled with this device and it is becoming a centre piece for training, my swing changes and my home setup as well as range practice. 
Easy 20/20 here. 
Conclusion
I am going to sum this up quickly by saying I really enjoyed the original MLM, however the MLM2PRO has taken Rapsodo from a nice to have to a must have piece of equipment for me.
The data you get, the video analysis, cloud storage, price, camera options and simulation have made this a go to device for me and I will highly recommend it to anyone considering this device for all facets of their game. 
Final score is 92/100
Update: November 20, 2023
I have touched on this prior, however the addition of the new R-Cloud system is a deal breaker for me. If there was anything or anyone on the fence that kinda made me feel that the MLM2Pro was falling short it was that there was no way to view my stuff on PC and limited to the app. This changes that for the better in every way. 
 

Introduction:
Let me start with a big thank you to Garmin and MGS for this opportunity, I am super excited to be selected!  I am 49 and have been playing golf since I was 15.  I didn't play any formal golf growing up and didn't get serious about golf until 12 or 13 years ago.  I am not a long hitter, but if I'm playing from around 6000 yards, I usually have a chance to break 80.  I am located about an hour east of St Louis and play 2 leagues through the week and usually at least once on the weekend.  I also have a simulator in my pole barn, so I hit balls out there most days when I'm not at the course.
For the past 3 golf seasons, I have used the Shotscope V3 watch, so I will be doing a lot of direct comparisons.  I also use a Bushnell Tour V5, so I will be checking the yardages of all 3 units.  I wear a Galaxy watch 3 was my everyday watch and have been looking for a watch with enough features to be my every day watch as well as my gof watch.  I had watched several youtube videos about the Garmin S70 prior to this testing as it seemed to check all of the boxes.  I am really looking forward to the hole maps and extra details the S70 provides as well as the virtual caddy feature.  I am usually pretty good with club selection, but a 2nd opinion never hurts!
 
Unboxing:
Some of the other testers got shipment notifications yesterday, but I did not. Imagine my surprise when I got home from work yesterday to a small box sitting on my kitchen table.
In the box you'll find the watch, user manual, and charging cord.  The charging cord is a proprietary connection on 1 end and USB C on the other.  It does not come with a charging block which is not suprising in this day and age, but I don't have a USB C charger so it is a bit of an inconvenience.  I do have a USB C port in my truck, so I plugged it in there to charge. The watch was already fully charged, so I downloaded the Garmin app and started setting it up.

 
Here is a picture of the S70 next to my Galaxy S3.  It has a 2mm larger face and looks every bit as premium as the S3.  While setting it up there were 12 watch faces to choose from and an add more button that showed 2 more faces.  I don't know if more faces can be added as of this writing, but there was a decent variety included out of the box.  Once you select a face, they are very customizable.  You can choose from several different data points depending on your needs and change all of the color features to what suits your eye.  I set up the notifications and was able to select which notifications I wanted sent to the watch.  At first it was sending everything, so my phone was going off everytime I got an email which is a lot. I was glad I could continue to get texts and phone call notifications without getting emails.  I am not a hardcore smart watch user by any means, but so far the S70 does everything my old watch was doing.  I had a busy night last night, so I didn't get into it much past the basic setup.  I have my Tuesday night golf league tonight and I am excited to see how it handles on the course.
 
Final Review
 
First Impressions (8 out of 10)
 
The Approach S70 is the latest in a long line of golf watches from Garmin.  This model has an upgraded AMOLED screen and builds on the S62 platform by adding even more sensors and health monitoring options this time around. 

The screen is gorgeous as advertised and seems to be the major upgrade from the previous model. I do not have experience with the S62, but you can see in the stock photos that the S70 AMOLED screen is much more colorful and detailed than the MIP display on the S62.  I initially had issues with seeing the screen outside, but it turned out to be a faulty backlight on my original watch.  Luckily, Garmin took care of me and replaced it. I work in manufacturing and understand that sometimes things happen, and small defects can make it out the door, but I would consider this a critical failure as it basically made the watch unusable outside. (-2 Points)
 
The health monitoring sensors seem to work as they should.  I am not a workout guy, so I did not try the numerous workout activities available on the S70.  I tried wearing it at night so I could see the data and make use of the body battery feature, but I sleep better without having anything on my hand or wrists, so I only did that a few nights.

 
Aesthetics (10 out of 10) 
 
I loved the look of the S70 right out of the box. Coming from a Samsung Galaxy watch 3 as my every day watch the S70 had a similar style so I was right at home.  I have the 47mm version which fits my wrist perfectly, although Garmin does offer a 42mm version for those with smaller wrists.
 
Out of the box there were about a dozen watch faces to choose from, but once you download the Garmin Connect IQ app onto your phone there are hundreds more to choose from.  You can customize the layout and color scheme of the faces till your heart’s content. The Connect IQ app also has many apps available for the S70.  Everything from workout tools to garage door openers.  If you can think of it, it’s probably there.
 
The S70 is also built like a tank... well, a lightweight tank. It seems to be very durable and extremely well made but is still light enough to be worn without interfering with my golf swing.  The included silicone band looks great and very comfortable, but is also very durable so the S70 can be worn during pretty much any activity you find yourself partaking in. One thing in particular about the band is the loop that holds the excess band in place has a nub in it so it locks into the band securely.  This might be a common feature in sports watches, but I have never seen that before.  I see no signs of any wear at this point and expect to get several years of use out of the Garmin S70.

 
The Numbers (15 out of 20)
 
The yardage numbers from the S70 are very consistent with what I am used to seeing on my ShotScope V3.  Some holes they were dead on with each other and other holes there would be a few yards separating them.  I would attribute the variance on how the hole was mapped by each company, but I have a friend who also has a V3, and we have seen up to 5 yards of difference between our V3’s on the same hole so it could just be a variable of using GPS.  That’s why I ultimately depend on my Bushnell Tour V5 range finder for precise distances for approach shots into the green.  (-1 point)  Where the S70 had a huge advantage was the ability to move pin locations to match what I was seeing from the laser range finder.

The ”plays like” distance is another nice feature I found very useful.  There were times when it was giving me wind readings that were definitely not consistent with what I was feeling so I still used my own judgement in those cases.

Another favorite of mine is being able to check layup yardages for hazards.  While I love my range finder for shooting pins, I never quite trusted the numbers I would get when trying to shoot the ground in front of a pond.  With the S70 I can move the anywhere on the map I like whether it is for layup or forced carry shots.  I have tried to do this with golf apps on my phone in the past, but the convenience of being able to do it from the watch is hard to beat.
 
Setup of the watch was straight forward although the included instruction manual was not very user friendly (-1 point).  I initially had issues getting wind readings on the watch which ended up being user error on my part as I had not allowed all location permissions when I set it up. Luckily one of the other testers helped me with that issue.
 
I mentioned earlier that I had issues viewing my original watch outside.  The MGS team worked as a mediator between me and the Garmin technical staff, which was a painless experience. I also posted the issue in their forum, but the moderator just responded with a canned response about how AMOLED screens naturally dim in sunlight. (-2 Points) Before I reached out for help, I did countless searches online for this issue hoping I had something wrong in the settings that was causing the problem but could not find anybody else that had seen this problem.  Hopefully than means that it was an isolated event and no other watches with this issue have made it out into the wild.
 
I also had an issue at one course I play where the layout had changed and needed to be remapped.  I searched online and found a remapping form to fill out and send to Garmin.  I filled out the form and noticed at the top that said they only do updates quarterly.  This was a bit disappointing coming from ShotScope that usually remaps courses within 48 hours. (-2 Points)
 
In my opinion the most impressive feature of the S70 is the battery life.  Garmin claims battery life of 16 days in smart watch mode and 20 hours in GPS mode and I believe it.  I have used multiple GPS units over the years and could maybe get 2 rounds at most out of them.  My 1st week with the S70 I played 63 holes of golf and still had 18% battery left granted that was the watch that had back light issues that that probably saved some battery life.  The 1st week with the new watch I played 36 holes and was still at 28% battery at full brightness.  My Galaxy Watch 3 must be charged every 2 days.  I don’t know how Garmin does it, but it is impressive.
 
On-Course (18 out of 20)

On the course the S70 really shines.  The watch vibrates when a swing is detected prompting you to select the club you used for that shot.  Sometimes this happens withing seconds after the shot, but sometimes I am almost to my ball before it prompts me. I am not sure why that happens, but it does.  It also prompts you to enter your score and number of putts and penalties after you leave the green.  I do have one hole at my course where the tee box if very close to the previous green and the watch will add my drive from that hole to the previous hole if I have not entered my score before I tee off. (-1 Point)  Both take just a couple of taps to do and do not interfere with my normal routine.
 
Like I said earlier, I have been a ShotScope V3 user for the past 3 seasons.  I am very impressed with the club data I am getting from the S70 without having club tags like the V3.  Even with limited rounds on the S70, my numbers are very similar to the V3 numbers I have for the season.  I expect the few clubs that are off will normalize once more data is collected. Initially I was missing the chipping and putting data that I got from the ShotScope tags.  What I do not miss is all the editing I had to do after each round.  Moving putts around to the proper spots on the green and removing or adding shots that were tagged incorrectly is a common occurrence with ShotScope.  When I am done with a round with the S70, I am done.  The scorecard can be edited right from your watch if you accidently entered the wrong score on a hole during the round.  Garmin sells a 3 pack of their CT10 club sensors that I may purchase for my putter and wedges if I decide I can’t live without that data.  Shotscope does win in the data department.  There are stats and data there that I have not been able to find on my Garmin dashboard.  I’m not sure how necessary some of that data is as Garmin seems to give me all the data I need to make good decisions on shot selection.  But for the stat lovers out there it is worth noting. (-1 Point)
Garmin Club Stats

ShotScope Club Stats

 
The Good, the bad, the inbetween (18 out of 20)
 
I have not yet mentioned the virtual caddie, but that is another feature I find very useful.  I am fortunate to have a simulator at my disposal, so I have a very good idea of my club distances.  I know a lot of people that seem like they are guessing on club selection several times a round.  I think the virtual caddie would be an enormous benefit to that type of golfer.  Most of the time it is calling for the same club that I would normally hit, but it has been off a club either way a few times.   
 
The S70 is also very quick to lock onto the GPS satellites.  It has never taken more 30 seconds to lock on and usually its under 10 seconds.  On an overcast day my old watch could take several minutes to find the satellites.
 
One last feature I want to mention is the Tempo Training.  I have always considered my self as having a smooth swing, but I really struggle to get the 3:1 tempo they are looking for.  I am always looking for ways to improve my swing and I never had a way to measure tempo before. I plan on continuing to work on my tempo with this feature as I feel it is a very useful tool.

There is not much bad to say about the S70, it is a great piece of tech.  Some of the user interfaces could be combined as I have 3 different apps on my phone for this watch. (Garmin Golf, Garmin Connect, and Garmin Connect IQ) I know I’m getting older, but I still consider myself somewhat tech savvy, but this confused me for a while. (-1 Point)
 
I would also like to see a manual chipping and putting option for those that want short game stats without buying the club sensors.  There is a manual putting option on my V3 that is actually more accurate that using the putting tag on the green.  Once you’re on the green you simply hit a button on the watch to tag your putt.  Simple but effective. (-1 Point)

 
Play it or Trade it? (18 out of 20)
 
This is a tough one for me as I really love everything about this watch except for one thing and that is the price.  I am absolutely going to continue using it, but I’m not sure I would buy it at $700. (- 2 Points)  I feel like you need to be both a power smart watch user and an avid stat loving golfer to justify that price.  For me, I want all the golf side has to offer but would be happy with just notifications from my phone and the changeable faces for the smart watch side of things.
 
 
Conclusion
 
The Garmin Approach S70 is a great smart watch and an amazing golf watch all wrapped up into one.  It also has battery life for days unlike any smart/GPS device I have ever seen. The price point is high, but if you are looking for an all-in-one solution for your smart watch / golf watch needs this is the watch for you.
 
Thanks again to MyGolfSpy and Garmin for this amazing opportunity.  I thoroughly enjoyed the whole process and hope I was informative and helpful to those that followed along.

 
Final Score (87 out of 100)

Introduction:
Hi all fellow spies! I am very excited about this opportunity! I'm a relatively new spy but have been playing golf off and on for the past 15ish years. I picked up golf while I was in college and worked at Sports Authority. I had about a 7 year gap where I did not play much golf, if at all but I'm getting back into it. Grint has me at a 20-2 handicap and looking to get down to at least 15.
My name is Joe Higgins and I'm 37 years old, married with 2 little boys (4 and 2) and live in San Diego. My family is everything to me. I'm a Gold Star brother, the single most defining event in my life. My brother USMC LCpl James W. Higgins Jr. was killed in action on July 27 2006.

Now my golf life, my first set of clubs was a crap Ram set. Can't tell you much beyond that. I miss my first good driver, the Nike Sumo 2. Being young and dumb, I had my 3 most unforgettable drives with that monster. 360/350/350. I still remember each of those drives. Estimates since carts and phones didn't have GPS back then but i have witnesses. Now, I feel like I crushed it if I hit 260. I play mostly early back 9s on the weekends so that I'm back home with my kids either before or right after they wake up. My 4 year old will sleep til 9 if you let him. I am also spoiled as being a San Diego resident, my home course is Torrey Pines.

Finally, why Garmin, why this challenge? I use to sell luxury watches for a living but I have yet to dip into the smart watch world. I've been very interested in smart watches, specifically Garmins. If you want a luxury timepiece, buy a Rolex because thats all they do and they're one of the best at it. Want a GPS device, buy a Garmin because thats what they do. If I made the jump, I wanted a watch that was high quality and met my needs. I wanted a watch that would help improve my golf game but would also be a complete athletic watch and track other activities. I run races while carrying the flag in memory of my brother and the 10 other Marines who were killed during his deployment. I believe the Garmin S70 will be an effective watch to track my golf game and hopefully improve it while also tracking my other activities and my overall health. I'm very excited to put this watch through its paces when it comes to golf, running, biking, and overall health. I am really intrigued by the virtual caddy and as a 20 handicap, want to see if it can help me play smarter.

If you are interested in following my journey, I will also be posting my golf and running adventures to the following Instagram accounts.
@beer_and_sports52 
@running.for.the.fallen
Unboxing and First Impressions:
First Impression Score: 8 out of 10
Positives: It looks and feels like a quality product. A ton of useful features that go beyond golf. Comfortable fit. Highly customizable display.
Negatives: Initial issue with Bluetooth pairing, useless physical manual, and a strange good morning message at 10pm.
Aesthetics Score: 10 out of 10
Positives: Overall, a great looking watch. I really like the brushed ceramic bezel with the burnt orange color on a black case. The actual watch display is highly customizable to meet the preferences of the individual.
Negative: This could be that I'm used to traditional watches, however, your higher-end watches typically have an anti-reflective coating on the crystal. The glass for this watch seems to be fairly reflective of lights around it. There might not be much smart watches can do in this regard but so not penalizing it but something I noticed.
The watched arrived late this afternoon. I was very excited when I heard the door bell ring and saw the box sitting outside my door. The box was a little damaged so I had to hold my breath. My son's were also excited about th3 new watch and had to be around me as I unboxed it, as you will notice in a picture below.
I'm not saying a T-Rex damaged the box during shipping but you can't rule it out.

The packaging for the watch was nice and clean (no damage) . Looks and feels like a quality product. Inside the box was the watch with a user manual that was practically useless, a charging cable, and a rather thick safety booklet. While the user manual that came in the box is useless, there is a QR Code on the manual that will take you to a digital manual. The digital manual is worth going through.
The watch has a sharp looking satin brushed ceramic bezel. The burnt orange accent color looks great between the bezel and black case. The watch and rubber strap are incredibly light. I went with the 47mm and was a little concerned about the size but it's certainly not an issue.

VID_64650329_082802_603.mp4 There were some minor hiccups in setting up. The app and phpne said that the pairing was a success but the watch kept saying that the pairing had failed. I had to remove the pairing and do it a second time. No issues since. I am impressed with all of the features and how customizable the dial of the watch is. This watch seems to be jam packed with features and uses. I've been adding all the activities I plan to try to use this watch for into the accessible menu (golf, tempo training, running, biking, bike commute, treadmill run, strength training, snowboarding). I won't be able to do all of these activities within the review period, such as snowboarding but will try to do as many as I can. Final Review
Summarize the Garmin Approach S70 in 1 sentence: A great golf watch that is an amazing complete health and fitness smart watch.
The Numbers (18 out of 20)
The watch does exactly what you would expect from a watch by Garmin. It is a very powerful and useful golf focused watch with all around usefulness. The battery on this watch is incredibly impressive. On average, I have to charge the watch every 8 days and it only takes about 1.5 hours to charge. The charging cable is a proprietary connection and the cable provided is a USB-C cable without a the charger base. So you will have to either already own or buy the base. Not a problem for most Android users but could be a minor inconvenience for an Apple user. Set-up was relatively easy minus an issue that I had with the initial set-up (-1 point) and the utterly useless physical manual (-1 point). The virtual manual was better but still lacked some usefulness. I turned to it a few times hoping to find in-depth information for a feature, only to find basic information. 
The accuracy of the GPS seems to be spot on. Yardages always seemed to be correct and were incredibly helpful, especially when I played courses that I was not familiar with. The distance to traps were very helpful and it was nice to be able to zoom in on a spot to pin point the distance. A handful of times, I'd give the distances to the guys I was golfing with and would sometimes show them the distances to hazards or the plays like distances displayed on the watch.
On Course (18 out of 20)
On the course, the watch performed exactly as expected. It effectively tracked most shots and even tracked some shots around the green which I didn't fully expect it to track. The watch would connect to the GPS signal very quickly and would almost always be on point. One time, it had me on the 13th hole when I was starting on the 9th which caused a minor issue that was easily corrected by manually changing the hole. Additionally, the tee box colors were off on some courses. For Torrey South, only 2 of the 5 tee box options were correct (-1 point). Another issue seemed to be with the Pin Point feature (-1 point). When I would pull the feature up to look at it, there were times when it was completely off. As you can see in the photo below, I'm facing the green but the Pin Point feature said it was to my back left. Thankfully, I never truly needed to use that feature to find the green.

Other than some of these minor issues, the watch was incredibly useful on the course and a joy to use. It would prompt me almost immediately after every shot to input the club I used. It even captured some green side chips that I did not expect. I got so use to the ease of the watch in a limited amount of time that I completely stopped or would forget to use the apps I typically used on my phone. I'm someone who plays with my phone in my pocket so pulling it out after a hole or to get a yardage was not a problem. I got to the point where I exclusively used the watch and fully trusted it. The Plays Like feature proved to be incredibly useful on holes that had drastic elevation changes. I'm not someone who plays with a range finder so I found the watch to be incredibly helpful.
Lastly for On Course, there were some concerns raised about the fit while wearing a glove. Certainly, some gloves proved to be more watch friendly than others. Mizuno was probably the best fitted glove I tried that provided plenty of room between the glove and the watch. I bought and played a FootJoy glove that was less friendly and did not notice any issues with the overlap of the glove and the watch. If you prioritize your glove over your watch, then you might run into issues. If you're flexible with your glove of choice then I'm sure you can find one that works with the watch.
The Good, The Bad, The In-between (18 out of 20)
Let's talk about this watch as a non-golf watch for a minute. If you've been following this forum and the post from the testers, you've likely learned a great deal about how great of a golf watch this watch is. But if you're buying this watch to exclusively be a golf watch, you are truly missing out on its full potential. This watch is a full fitness/health/lifestyle watch. It can track every fitness activity that you engage in. Below is an example of the stats in collected and averaged out for the past week.

From the 5k run I did in the screenshot above.

It's also interesting to look at the general stat differences between two courses. This is Balboa Park Golf Course on the left on 16 holes of Torrey South on the right.

Additionally, it has a lot of fitness activities that it can track to include weight lifting. It does seem to figure out what movement you did and will try to pre-populate the activity with the movement it thought it might be and the number of reps. While it did a decent job at this, it was not 100% and is not great with a HIIT workout that doesn't allow much time to manipulate the watch. It does have pre-loaded workouts and will even show you a video of how to do the workout if you are new to lifting which is a nice feature.

There are so many non-golf features to this watch that I cannot possibly discuss them all here. Want to monitor stocks, you can add that to the menu to quickly see. Weather, calendar, sunrise/sunset, steps, oxygen levels, heart rate, jet lag, steps, floors climbed, respiration level, and stress levels can all be monitored and easily swiped through among many other features. You can even download playlist to it and connect Bluetooth headphones so you can listen to music without your phone.
The minus 2 points for this category comes from the hiccups the watch has had. Set-up required a second run through to get it to work properly, had an issue where it wouldn't exit sleep mode before I tried to play a round of golf and had to manually restart the watch mid-round to get out of sleep mode, had to do a similar manual restart to get the watch to recognize my headphones that I had paired to it before I went for a run. Some technical hiccups are expected but I have experienced 1 minor issue that was solved through minor problem solving per week so far. Not a major issue but could be problematic if these issues continue.
Play It or Trade It (17 out of 20)
The biggest setback for me for this watch is the cost. At $700 and playing as a 20/21 handicap, I find that price a hard one to go with. The features are great and I really like going through the data. At $700, I would like to see some companion sensors, at least 3 for putter and wedges around the green. I had been using the free GRINT and GolfShot apps. I have stopped using both but I would happily use either of those free apps and receive similar on course features with some greater effort. I had also considered the Shot Scope $100 sensors which required some manual effort to track shots but if combined with the GRINT app, would provide similar stats at a much more reasonable price. See below for an example of the stats that the golf app provides.


However, I do believe that this watch earns its high price point by being something so much more than a golf watch. If you are someone who is strictly looking for a golf watch, there might be options at a lower price point. If you are looking for a golf watch that can serve as your range finder, stat tracker, running watch, biking watch, total fitness tracker, calendar, music player, and general health tracker, then this watch is for you.
Conclusion
The Garmin Approach S70 watch is your go to watch to replace your range finder, golf app, smart watch, and fitness tracker. This watch will do it all with a very impressive display that is highly customizable. I wish this watch would have come with at least 3 sensors or would be compatible with non-Garmin sensors to help justify the price point. If you are looking for a do-it-all golf watch that is much more than a golf watch, then this watch is for you. If you are simply looking for a golf watch then you might be able to find something at a lower price point.
Final Score 89 out of 100
Possibly, my best hole while playing with this watch.

Please ignore the duplicate image below. No matter how many times I try to delete it, it just keeps coming back.

Introduction
Hello, everyone!
First, I want to thank MyGolfSpy and Garmin for this amazing opportunity! If you couldn’t tell from my super creative username, my name is Josh, and I’m 33 years old. I work in the golf industry for Edison Golf and I’m the biggest Georgia Southern alumni/fan/supporter you’ll ever meet. I live in the beautiful North Georgia Mountains and play most of my golf at the course where I live, Whitepath Golf Course. I’ve been swinging a club since I was old enough to hold a cut down 7-iron my dad made for me as a little boy, but started to take it seriously at 14 years old. I’m a pretty competitive person and am constantly working to better my golf game. I finally got back to a 5 handicap last year before tearing every ligament in my ankle and missing nine months of golf. The game is starting to come back to me and I’m still chasing that elusive scratch handicap. My top goal however, is a shared goal I have with my 9 year old nephew to play golf in all 50 states (pictured below is us crossing off Alabama). I’m looking forward to my third official review for MGS (2020 SkyCaddie LX5 and 2021 MaxFli Tour and TourX) and couldn’t be more excited that it’s for this particular product.

I’ve skipped signing up for quite a few really nice review opportunities because I was hoping this watch would pop up. As many know, I suffer from some cardiac issues that require me to monitor my heart rate and other metrics when things aren’t feeling right. Up until I was picked to test a different watch for MGS, I had to keep different devices around such as a pulse oximeter so I could log my heart rate.
This watch will not only be tested for golf accuracy, but also for its health monitoring accuracy as well. On the golf side of things, I will be testing this out on multiple different courses and comparing it against the SkyCaddie LX5 that I previously reviewed and also comparing yardages with a Bushnell rangefinder. One place my last watch lacked was that a lot of the courses I played were “Member Mapped” meaning they were lacking any details, had plain layouts, and were very inaccurate. I’m hoping to see huge improvements on that front. The Virtual Caddie is something I’m very intrigued by and I have no experience using anything like it. Almost every few holes here in the mountains have some sort of drastic elevation change so that should be interesting to see how accurately it calculates the distance. I’ve watched a lot of videos about this watch already and I’m excited to give this watch a thorough breakdown.
On the health side of things, I really want to track my heart health more than anything. I’m sure there are others out there that may be in a similar situation as me so I want to do my best to give good feedback on the accuracy of the readings this watch gives out.
I chose the 47mm version of this watch, and for it to earn a spot in my daily life and in my golf bag, it needs to be a premier product that I can fully trust. How is battery life and do I spend more time charging it than wearing it? Are the readings accurate for distances and health metrics? Is the watch easy to use both in terms of quickness and UI? The biggest advantage to a GPS for me is that I can see yardages to the front and back of greens and hazards, something that can be difficult for my rangefinder. 
I hope you’ll all follow along and ask plenty of questions for us testers!
First Impressions (9 out of 10)
In what has to be one of the quickest deliveries ever, the watch showed up last night and I was able to charge it, get it set up, and check some things out! It was evident right away that the build quality was premier. I could do without the red accents, but I love the look of the watch. With the proper band attached (more on that later) the fit is perfect and the size is exactly what I want in a watch. The buttons are tactile and easy to press, and even with me putting a tempered glass protector on the screen, the watch is very responsive. I love that the watch goes to sleep and wakes when I lift my arm to look at it.


 
Garmin says "If golf is your world, this is your watch" and they describe the Approach S70 as "the premium GPS golf watch with the tools and insights you’ll need to improve your game both on and off the course." In my almost 24 hours of use, I can say this seems to be accurate so far. The data I've been able to track and learn about my health has been incredible and somewhat overwhelming at first. We're talking sleep tracking, heart variability, calories burned, etc. For people who are usual smartwatch users that's probably not a big deal, but I've never had this data available to me before. 
For golf, we had rain roll in shortly after I got off work so I wasn't able to get out. Living on the course has it's perks though, and I started a round of golf on the watch to see what the hole looked like. The display was stunning, had good graphics and was vibrant. The distance was spot on when compared to my rangefinder from the back porch, even the "Plays Like" distance which was factoring in slope. The best part so far, was that the green was shaped properly and actually had the bunkers around the green. The SkyCaddie I had featured a circle green and no sand on the same hole. The GPS is very fast, as is the watch in general.


The only "issue" I had, and I knew it was one going in, was that the band wasn't big enough for my big wrist. After being selected I purchased a couple of aftermarket bands for bigger wrists and thankfully they fit well and we're good to go! The original band fits, but it is a little too snug and that's on the very last hole of the band. I think it'd be a good idea if they had a small and large band included with the watch like some others have.
Aesthetics (9 out of 10) 
I’ll be honest, I’m being nitpicky when deducting a point here. To begin with, I love the size of this watch as far as the watch face goes. It fits my wrist perfectly and is big enough to provide a good view of the data I’m looking at whether it’s while golfing or checking health metrics. The watch is well put together and seems that it’ll be able to last a long time. It took a football helmet square to the screen during a practice I was coaching and there isn’t a mark on it anywhere. I’m impressed by the durability because I just knew it was a goner.
Where the point is deducted is because of the red accent color. I wish that the red color wasn’t there and was something that could be customized or just left as black to match the rest of the watch. Again, it’s nitpicky but I wasn’t a fan of it at all. It’s not a bad look, I just don’t do the color red. Thankfully the watch is highly customizable with the watch face so I was able to cancel some of that red out with a Georgia Southern background.

The Numbers (17 out of 20)
Alright, the most important part of a GPS watch is going to be the numbers. What good is a watch if it isn’t accurate and can’t be trusted? Well I have great news there, because in my experience the watch was spot on in each round I played. I compared any yardages I got to the yardages from my Bushnell rangefinder and was pleasantly surprised. I have tried GPS apps on my phone in the past and never found them accurate enough for me. Even more impressive were the “Plays Like” distances where slope and wind were taken into account. Now I never found myself playing with anything more than an occasional breeze so I can’t speak on that, but with the slope version of my rangefinder I was able to see that it calculated those numbers very well. In fact, the last couple of rounds I found myself not even touching my Bushnell for most of the round because I had complete confidence in the Garmin. It was that good!
One thing I have always wanted a GPS for was for the ability to get accurate yardages for targets other than the flag. How far to carry the water? Can I reach that bunker from the tee box? These are questions that were oftentimes difficult to answer with a rangefinder, but are a breeze with the S70. 
The only numbers that for me haven’t been “accurate” so to speak, have been the yardages it says I hit my shots. Many know, but I live in the mountains and there is a ton of elevation change. Sometimes it can be two to three clubs worth and it’s only nearly every hole at many courses around here. This has led to the watch inaccurately assigning distances to my clubs because as the crow flies it is one distance but in reality it is another. I personally don’t need the virtual caddie to recommend clubs for me, but in my brief experience with it the numbers are way off. It’s not really any fault of the watch as it can only measure the distance between two points, but it’s something to keep in mind if you live somewhere similar and are looking forward to that feature. I've included a photo below that shows Garmin's measurement of my average and max with my clubs, and I added in the bigger number that shows my actual yardages based on gapping sessions I've done recently. The discrepancies are completely slope based because I've hit my shots well and played some really solid golf in while testing this.

Before moving on let’s quickly talk about battery life and charging. During the insanely easy setup, it says to charge it full before first use. Mine was almost full so I went ahead and used it. It has come off of my wrist only for showers and football practice (after it took the hit I decided not to chance it anymore). I’ve had the watch for over a month and I have only charged it twice with the third time coming later today. The battery life is very impressive considering how much I’m using it and it charges rather quickly, usually in around an hour.
On-Course (20 out of 20)
For me this watch really shined on course. It was very easy to use, found the golf courses way faster than my SkyCaddie, and looked really good graphics-wise. I know some of my fellow testers had issues with the watch interfering with their glove, but I didn’t have that issue. It definitely was up against it, but it wasn't anything I noted until others mentioned it. The watch is so light that I neve even noticed it was on and it caused no issues for me at all. I became so confident in the data that it was providing that I all but ditched my rangefinder and relied completely on the Garmin. It could be argued that a golfer would play better with a product like this vs only a rangefinder because you have access to much more data like yardages to obstacles and how far to hit on a dogleg hole, etc. I can’t imagine a better product or anything being easier to use. A bigger screen like on a handheld would be nice, but this is just more convenient for me.

The Good, the Bad, the In-between (18 out of 20)
I figured this was a good section to talk about the health portion of this watch. For many who are users of smartwatches, this likely is data you’ve got access to and isn’t anything exciting for you. But for me, I thoroughly enjoyed the data I was provided with. I have used the Sleep Score and Body Battery daily to monitor my overall readiness to take on any tasks, and the accurate heart rate readings have been amazing for tracking my heart issue. I was able to avoid a problem with syncope because the watch alerted me that my heart rate was getting too low. That alone is worth everything to me.

I’d also like to note that while the charger is proprietary, the bands are not. There are a lot of options out there and I like that they are easily swapped in and out. That’s a big plus for me.
Other than the little things mentioned earlier, there really wasn’t anything bad about the watch in my experience other than the hole layouts on my home course need to be slightly updated. There are bunkers and water that no longer exist on the course, but still show up on the watch. They’ve been gone for quite a few years so I was surprised to see them on the watch. I also had a weird thing come up where the watch would register a shot between my tee shot and my next shot, so it was throwing off my club distances even more than normal. It only happened on two holes, and my best guess is that when I hit a rough place on the cart path while driving, it picked up the impact as a shot. I'm not as big on all the shot tracking and post-round data so I didn't worry with it too much. It does provide some very useful data in the app on your phone and it's similar to Arccos in that regard. Here's an example of what you can see in the app. My 4-wood was my longest drive of the day since I never pulled driver, and there is a breakdown of how my stats look compared to others. Notice there aren't any putting stats as they aren't available without the sensors that go in the clubs.

Play it or Trade it? (20 out of 20)
This is easy, I’m keeping this until it no longer works which I hope is years from now. The health benefits are a given for someone like me, but I love the golf aspect of it which is why everyone is here to read this. Accurate yardages, easy to look at hole layouts, and the ability to move the pin make this a no-brainer. It does everything I want a watch to do and then some.
Conclusion
If you’re just here to read the conclusion, I’ll make it simple. I love this product and Garmin may have the industry leading watch on their hands. I have been able to fully rely on this watch during my rounds and haven’t been misled yet. While dealing with a lot of slope can skew my club data that it tracks, the watch is able to account for that where it matters most and that’s giving you the yardage you need to play to be successful. For someone who has never had a smartwatch other than a SkyCaddie golf watch that didn’t do 10% of what this watch does, I have been blown away at everything this is capable of and I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface of some of the features it has. I’m going to continue using this daily and exploring more of what all it can do, so if you’re reading this and have questions, please don’t hesitate to comment and ask away!
Final Score (93 out of 100)

Seems odd that you seem surprised about the 4 way top and how 4 way bags are meant to be lightweight but in no way a Sunday bag.  Didn’t you realize there would be 3-4 clubs in each slot?
I have a bit different setup than you, I find tbd flowing works well 
P,58,54,48 
P,9,8 / 7,6,5
4h,7w,5w,D
Thats  very easy for me to keep them in order   And I have midsize grips on most clubs and yes they do occasionally get tangled going in   But nothing that is a real inconvenience  
I I generally don’t carry more than 6 balls and always take them out of the box and sleeve.  That way no need to mess with that during the round if I need a new ball  
sorry to hear your disappointed as Stitch makes a great product    You just have to realize what it’s designed for.
in any company PING among them  yo he’ll find a big difference between a 14 way DLX and the Hoofer  I know as I have both and use them differently 
 
 
 
 

So I got to take the bag out for a round with full intentions of walking 18 and putting it through its paces to see how it performed. Here are a couple of photos of my bag on the first hole tee box.

As you can see, the water bottle/beverage pocket is really small. The Kirkland Signature water bottle is tall but the pocket is so small that it sticks out really far. Far to the point that when I put the bag on my back, it is right next to my hip and would actually bump my body while walking. The pocket itself is secure, I never felt like the bottle was at risk of falling out but it's definitely not very deep.

 
I am almost ashamed to admit it but this is my bag at the end of the second hole.

 
I absolutely hated walking with this bag. To the point where it was actually upsetting me and ruining my mindset. I'll give a few positives and negatives about the bag below.
First, the positives:
1. The bag looks really pretty and is of high quality build and materials.
2. The bag and shoulder harnesses are comfortable while walking. The clubs were mostly quiet while walking. I don't particularly care for the sound of clubs rattling while strolling down the course.
3. The stand mechanism works well and the bag feels sturdy while the legs are out.
That's all.
Now, the negatives:
1. I really dislike having only a 4 divider bag. You have to group your clubs together and that allows them to rub up against each other and rattle. The rattling wasn't bad but it's the principle of it. Along with having to put all the clubs into only 4 spots, it makes it hard(ish) to find the club you're looking for. Without having a dedicated putter spot, I found myself having to pull the other clubs out of the bag a little bit so that I could get my putter in and out of the bag.
2. The pockets are pretty much terrible. I don't know any other way to put it. There aren't any easy ways to access any of them. The zippers and pockets are tight so it's hard to get anything in or out of them. Because the pockets are so small, it's hard to see inside for what you are looking for. I had to pull things out of the pocket in an attempt to find what I was actually looking for. I was mindful to not jam these pockets full of stuff even though I really wanted to put more things in there.
While walking, there isn't a spot to easily put a range finder or phone. Because of this, I put my phone in my back pocket and I kept feeling it interfere with the bag when trying to take it off of my shoulders. One of the other testers uses a range finder and had to dangle the carrying case off of the bag. That is not ideal.
3. In the pockets department but a slightly different complaint, there isn't any good place to put loose balls or tees while on the course. If there were a dedicated, loose fitting, pocket on the outside it could have been so much better. I'm assuming that I'm like most people where you break open a fresh sleeve of balls at the beginning of the round. You toss the sleeve in the trash, put a ball or 2 in your pocket, and then the 3rd ball should go into the bag or into the golf cart. I couldn't find any good spot for this. I found it annoying.
4. Did I mention my beefs with the pockets? I feel like this was a complete fashion over function design. None of the pockets are well thought out or user friendly. This bums me out.
I will be very curious to hear what my fellow testers think  about the layout of this bag.

CMO, I read your first impressions and you and I are on the same page. Beautiful bag, high quality, not enough storage, don't dig the 4 divider layout.
Putters are usually not very long and don't stick out from the top of the bag very far. They are usually about as long as a wedge (or so) but you wouldn't want to stick it in the same divider as the wedges. Putter heads are big enough that they end up taking up a lot of space in the divider so it's hard to get other clubs in/out. That's why I VERY MUCH prefer to have a dedicated spot for my putter. If this had a dedicated putter spot it would actually bump the bag up at least a full grade. They have a 5 way divider on their Cart Bag that would have been perfect.
Right now I feel like I have to be too selective on what I have in the bag and it's annoying. This is definitely more of a Sunday Carry type of bag. You will not be carying anything other than stuff for the round that day. What's kind of funny/crazy is they actually have a smaller bag called called the SL Sunday and it has even less storage space.

So I believe that most of us received our bags in the last few days and I have a few first impressions.
First, the bag is pretty and definitely feels like it is well made. It is cool getting to have a small amount of customization and have your initials on your bag. I dig it.
This is my old bag.

I went through the process of taking EVERYTHING out of my Taylormade Supreme 15 Cart bag and taking inventory of it. I will admit that there were things in there that I didn't actually remember I had put in there. Once I saw them, I realized WHY they were in there but they don't do you any good if you have it, need it, and don't realize you have it. I guess it's good protocol to go through your bags every now and then. As I started putting things back into my bag, I quickly realized I was going to have to be selective on what made the cut and what was going to be left on my simulator room floor.
Below is what was in my bag to start.

 
Below is what was left over because I couldn't fit it.

Now I realize that in any given round of golf, I SHOULDN'T need 4 dozen golf balls. It is always nice have a few different types of balls to play depending on how things are going or maybe a playing partner needs some balls as well. I was barely able to fit 2 boxes of balls in the bag. I think that if I took the balls out of the big box and just put the sleeves in individually then I could maybe fit more or make it easier to get access to them. The zipper did not want to close easily around these boxes of balls.
A few photos of my pretty new bag.



Below is my bag ready to go for my Friday round.

 
Initial thoughts on why would want a bag like this and why. This is not a cheap bag so it is probably for the more well-to-do player who likes to have unique gear. This player isn't worried about having whatever you need, whenever you need it. I could see this being a great bag to carry on an executive type course. Don't need a ton of balls, a spare hoodie or rain jacket, or any other odds and ends. Just the necessities.
 
I have a round scheduled for Friday where I will actually walk the course with the bag so we will see how it performs. I am in Vegas and it is hot so the single spot to fit a water bottle will probably be insufficient.

Stitch Golf SL2 Golf Bag - Official MGS Forum Review by Q22Golf
First Impressions (9.5 out of 10)
Honestly - wow! The first thing you will notice when unboxing is the quality! Stitch Golf put a lot of care into their design and craftsmanship of the bag. Immediately when grabbing the top of the bag to pull it out I thought, "wow, this material is nice!" As I took off the shipping bag, this theme continued- the craftsmanship is just great! You can tell Stitch Golf is focused on their materials and manufacturing to ensure this bag is nice. It made me really excited to dive in further!
First impression TL;DR: overall, this first impression is a solid 9.5 out of 10! It starts strong, is high quality, and uses great materials. However, I dock it a half point for the storage options, which I get into below in my full first impression details below. I didn't dock it more because Stitch Golf wants this to be a "weekend golfing warrior" bag, so they seem to be making design decisions to this effect. I am excited to get this bag out on the course!

       
Next for me was answering the question "can this bag fit all the golf stuff I have?" I tend to over pack and then use maybe 25% of the stuff on the course - like who needs the entire pack of 300 tees in their bag? Seriously 🙂 When looking at the bag pockets, this is where Stitch Golf has really gone with the "weekend golfing warrior" description of their bag. The optimal storage pockets they describe are a valuables, water bottle, pencil, and two large pockets. At first glance, this seems like not enough storage for a round of golf, but I am keeping an open mind - I unloaded my old bag, broke out some golf essentials, and loaded up the SL2 Fadeaway bag. Ultimately, the storage left some to be desired. Again, I am keeping an open mind to see "do I really need 300 tees in my bag for a round of golf!?" Probably not, so more to come as I play a few rounds with the SL2 Fadeaway!
Last two things- straps & connectors and the hanging ring. I really like the straps and their connectors. Again, these screamed quality like the rest of the bag as I played around with the single and double strap and how they connected to the bag. They just feel sturdy and are very easy to change out. Since I really want to test this bag both while I walk & in a cart, the connectors are great because I can quickly change out double or single strap or remove them completely if I want for a cart. The hanging ring is a bit small but aligns with the "weekend golfing warrior" that Stitch Golf is going for. The hanging ring will truly fit optimal use, such as a towel, brush, and of course the MGS Forum tour card! If you want to hang anything else, then you'll definitely have to build out some hanging real estate with your own clips on the ring.
 
 
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Introduction
First time writer! HUGE thank you to MGS and Stitch Golf for this opportunity. I am excited to test out this bag and do the review!
My name is Ryne - Q22Golf on here. I have a young family- wife of 7 years, 4 & 2 year old boys, a pup, and a 3 week old baby girl. I hear she will steal my heart! 
I play weekly with my brother-in-law, mostly in central Indiana. We like trying new courses! I have been playing 20+ years. One of my favorite golf memories is hitting balls into the fields on the family farm. I play for fun but I am way too competitive - I go out to have fun but I usually have the most fun if I am playing well! These days I am a 12 handicap.

Today I have a 2016 Top Flite Gamer Cart Bag. I went from a walking bag to a cart bag thinking I would enjoy it more...I don't know that I have. I am interested in getting back to walking and seeing how the Stitch SL2 bag is! I went with a black SL2 Fadeaway. I want to test this bag both walking and in a cart, comparing the convenience of it walking and its ability to fit well in a cart for the lazier days. I also have too much in my bag so I want to see how the pockets are for balls, tees, etc. I am most excited to try the bag out for its material. It seems very nice and I am curious how it will hold up. Out of the gate I know little about the Stitch Golf SL2 Fadeaway, only seeing it through Instagram. I have high expectations for this to be a great bag! If it can straddle being a good walking & cart bag and carry my accessories, then it will earn a permanent spot in my golf outings. So, in summary, I plan to specifically review:
How this bag holds up both as a walking & cart bag How the pockets are fitting all a golfer's accessories, as well as how the clubs do in the four compartments How the material holds up and how comfortable it is  
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Aesthetics (20 out of 20)
The Stitch Golf SL2 Fadeaway is a great looking bag! Stitch Golf delivered on a sleek, clean bag that delivers on overall functionality, comfort, and quality. The bag is clean cut top to bottom. Several color options simply fit the brand and make it a fun bag! One of the best aesthetics is the personalized ingot - having your initials or any other 2 or 3 letter inscription is a nice touch. Plus, this personalized ingot is easily changeable if you ever want to move on - gift it to family or upgrade later! These all combined give it a perfect score in aesthetics!
   
  
The Numbers (20 out of 20)
This category is all about how the golf bag improved my game. I am comfortable giving this a perfect score as the bag didn't change any of my game. The bag served its purpose well whether that was a round walking or in a cart. 
On the Course (18 out of 20)
The SL2 Fadeaway does exactly what Stitch Golf intended - it is lightweight, comfortable, and functional. The golf bag is noticeably lightweight, even when full. It is very easy to pick up one-handed to move around. The golf bag's high quality is the next noticeable part with its thick, comfortable padding in the shoulder straps and the hip pad. Lastly, the functionality jumps out with it being delivered with both one and two shoulder strap options and how easily you can swap them back-and-forth. 
Ultimately, the two points lost here were for the pockets. While Stitch Golf is marketing this to the "weekend golfing warrior," the pockets leave a bit to be desired. Keeping in mind this is for the weekend warrior, I only docked two points and not more. 
(-1) Once the smaller pocket has golf balls and other golf supplies, the water bottle pocket becomes very tight. The pocket seems measured to your everyday plastic water bottle and not to personal water tumblers. Fitting my Yeti or MiiR ramblers were tight, but did fit with some push.  (-1) The pockets are restrictive overall. I was hopeful after several rounds of being in-and-out of the pockets, they would stretch some. Since they didn't, in a way this speaks to the overall quality. However, trying to get a spare ball, extra tees, etc. becomes a bit burdensome mid-round. But again, keeping in mind the "weekend golfing warrior" aspect, this begins to make sense to keep the bag lightweight for weekend trips or the every-round walking golfer.   
 
The Good, the Bad, the Inbetween (9 out of 10)
The good - in my three original review goals, two of them are in the good...that is great in my opinion! I hoped to answer the use in walking and cart rounds and how comfortable and durable the golf bag was. The lightweight and functionality of the golf bag stands out! Additionally, the bag is versatile with walking and cart rounds.
The bad - this is where the point is lost in this category. The pockets leave a bit to be desired, even for a "weekend golfing warrior" bag. There are a good amount of pockets- small and large, valuables, water bottle, and pencil pockets. After putting in the golf necessities, the pockets become tight, making them hard to use during the round. The valuables pocket doesn't easily fit a phone but I didn't worry too much about this with how phones have become the scorecard and rangefinder in today's game. And lastly, the water bottle pocket is meant for a plastic water bottle, not your reusable rambler. 
The inbetween - the club dividers. The 4-way divider works well. I personally could not find a reason to dislike it. It really comes down to personal preference and club selection. I do like having the 14-way divider but recognize that means more weight. Then, with my WITB, my desire for symmetry takes a hit. I end up with 3 irons in the left divider and 4 irons in the right - it is uneven! Ha. But that is me and probably not everyone so I leave this neutral and no points removed. 
Play it or Trade it? (15 out of 20)
I will play it! The Stitch Golf SL2 Fadeaway is a truly amazing bag! It is worth giving it a try, especially if you have any plans to do any golf trips or walk more rounds. I love how lightweight it is and so I will play it, making sure I restock golf balls, tees, etc. before each round. I also love how compact it is making it easier to fit in-and-out of my truck. 
I docked five points here because this bag is not one I would take into a big tournament or any other serious play. It simply doesn't hold enough (back to the pockets). If you are wanting a bag to hold extra stuff for a big tournament, then you may look elsewhere. However, that said, this bag looks so so good!! So then again, maybe you would be proud standing on the podium with it sitting right next to you! 
Conclusion
The Stitch Golf SL2 Fadeaway is an amazing golf bag for their target customer- the "weekend golfing warrior." The bag is very lightweight, durable, and functional. The quality of the bag jumps out at you from the moment you unbox it. There are no major red flags with this golf bag, only minor "I would have done this differently" (but you will get that with any product when looking at it this closely). 
I plan to make this my main golf bag. I want the flexibility to walk and ride. With the single and double shoulder strap options that quickly change out, this bag will be great. I would recommend this bag to the everyday walker, the weekend traveler, the stylish golfer, or simply, someone that wants a high quality bag that will hold up in any condition you throw at it!
Final Score (91.5 out of 100)

Stitch Golf SL2 Golf Bag - Official MGS Forum Review by ChiefMikeOfficer
Final Review
Alright everyone, it’s time for the final review. Back when I was looking at bags for the year, this bag was in my top 3 – I hesitated on this one based on size, and opted for a Vessel instead (comparable size/weight). After this test, those concerns were validated. I only carried for the test – I will be using it on 9/22 on a cart, so will post any meaningful updates from that round, but I’m guessing it won’t change much, because this is meant to be a walking bag.
Overall / Conclusion / TL;DR: 80/100
This bag is the “Perfect Fair Weather Resort/Caddie Bag”. Does that sound oddly specific? Well, that’s intentional – in that situation, you basically minimize what’s in the bag (caddie provides rangefinder, water provided on various holes, snacks probably purchased or carried by caddie, minimize the number of balls, etc.). As long as you’re keeping the bag really light and restocking before each round, you’re good. But, as soon as you start adding things to the bag that you might need during the round (rangefinder, rain gear, etc.), it goes downhill, and diverges from the more broad "Perfect Walking Bag". In specific situations, this bag is incredible, but it lacks versatility, which is kinda a dealbreaker for me, at least as my everyday gamer.
Aesthetics: 20/20
Amazing. Probably the best looking bag I’ve carried. I got so many compliments while using this bag. I heard similar comments with the Vessel VLX, but It’s a very different look, and this one gets the edge – it’s incredible. This is the highlight of the bag. Bring this to a high-end course, and it’ll fit right in.

The Numbers: 18/20
Lightweight, easy to carry, can walk all day with this bag on my shoulders. Did just about everything I need a carry bag to do, but with three things hurting the experience (more on pace of play / attitude, rather than actual performance): I had to change my routine around things like getting yardages, because the rangefinder and other items were not as accessible as other bags; my phone almost had to be in my pocket; depending on which water bottle I used, it could affect the walking experience (Yeti 18oz impeded access to things in the pocket; the taller, slimmer Sic Cups bottle jabbed into my hip). After actually adapting to these things, it wasn’t a big deal.

On the Course: 13/20 (some overlap with Numbers, so trying my best not to double-dock points – focusing storage more here than in Numbers)
There’s a lot to consider here. First of all, it’s super comfortable – it came with both a double strap and single strap, both of which are comfortable and easy to carry. It’s very light, so 9, 18, or 36 are all in the mix. The stand is easy to use and seems sturdy. I didn’t take the single strap on the course, but I did try it, and it seems great if that’s your style (or for a caddie). The 4-way divider is actually very roomy, easily fitting 14 clubs plus the (I’d even go so far as saying the middle slots are too big, and there’s room for a 5th, which I’d prefer to separate the putter into it’s own spot). I played one round with the umbrella in the slot, and it wasn’t even noticeable (which is great!). But…
“I’ve grown accustomed to a certain lifestyle”. Storage is the big downfall - it definitely can be worse, but this is why I can’t make it my everyday gamer.  There are only four total pockets – small (“ball”?), large (“clothing”?), valuables, and water bottle. The two main pockets are tight, and just solo pockets – no attempt at organization within them (e.g. other bags have a pocket inside the pocket, but this does not). The valuables pocket is kinda small, but not too bad (would benefit from another half inch to inch of depth) – most rounds I carried my phone in my pocket instead of in the valuables pocket. The water bottle pocket totally interferes with the smaller pocket when there’s a water bottle in there, so it reduces the storage even further – it either needs to move, or get re-angled. This made it very difficult to organize, and forced me to take things out or store them differently from how I’m used to – for example, the rangefinder didn’t fit really anywhere, so I had to dig the hanging case out of storage (my preference is to have it in a pocket that’s accessible with the bag on both shoulders); gloves don’t have a logical place (it’s either in with the balls, or lost in the larger pocket); etc. Even after attempting organization by getting a glove caddy, travel bag for sunscreen, and a valuables bag for divot tools/ball markers, it was tough to get things in/out of the pockets and find the items among the other things. This feels like a significant step back for me compared to recently used bags / bags currently in my rotation, all with comparable size/weight (high-end like Vessel, trendy like Jones, and even lower priced like Sun Mountain all beat the Stitch in this category, and it’s not even close). I didn’t even try with the weather gear – if rain is in the forecast, I add the rainsuit, extra towels, possibly a couple other things – even though I have rain gear that packs down small, I can’t even imagine stuffing these pockets with that stuff (seems like I’d be better off packing them down and hanging from the bag).

The Good, the Bad, and the In Between: 8/10 (miscellaneous stuff - trying my best to minimize overlap, but again, there’s some)
Good:
Personalization options – lots of colors to choose from, and the one I picked I’d probably pick again. I noted my flaw with the ingot in one of my previous updates – I love the look of the stock SG / Stitch ingot, but it turns out they are inexpensive and very easy to swap out (I didn’t try this, just taking their word for it). Came with both styles of carry straps!! This seems minor, but it’s a step above the rest. The double is my preferred, and the single is preferred for double-bagging caddies, and it’s super easy to swap between the two. Bad:
Organization. This is a knock on storage again, but I just could not figure out the best way to use each pocket, and each new attempt didn’t seem to work for me. I think this either needs more pockets, or some kind of organization option added to it – mesh internal pockets have helped on other bags, or Stitch could design an after-market organization insert for the big pocket or something. Related: especially with the lack of pocket storage, I think it needs a more logical place to hang something – the loop I used felt more decorative, whereas other bags seem to have a bigger loop in addition to the one I used. In Between:
Rain hood. At this price point, it would be nice to include a hood to complement the bag color, not just stock black (which doesn’t match my chosen color at all). Ingot flexibility – your options are two initials (top & bottom), or three (left-to-right, removing the line). Quite a few companies are expanding their customization options to include things like images, and I think that would be a positive addition here too (now, would I do that? Probably not…unless I could actually choose a legit custom image and not just a stock option). Play it or Trade it? 12/20
I want to love it, but I just can’t get there. That said, I do have a spot for it in the rotation – likely will be going back to Sand Valley and then playing the Straits later this Fall, and as long as weather looks OK, this will be the bag for those rounds. It also works well for quick/fun evening rounds, where you might not need as much stuff (e.g. we have a Par 32 that we might go play at like 6 or 7PM in the summers – great for that round). In the meantime, I’ll be handing it off to a family member who plays less often and with less stuff in the bag each round.  
Thank you again to both Stitch and MGS for picking me for this opportunity! Even though it didn’t work out as well as I wanted, I still enjoyed the process and hope the feedback helps both MGS members and Stitch!
 
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First Impression
Alright, after some FedEx delays (which made the bag miss two rounds ☹️ ), I got the bag. Reminder that I chose the Fadeaway White version (which ahs blue trim), and I opted not to get the ingot customization -- why? Well, I actually think the Stitch Golf / SG reference looks great, and I didn't want to get it customized if I didn't know that I'm keeping it (had an awkward moment where I sold my HS irons to a college teammate, and they had my full name engraved on the hosel, which just felt odd, so I usually don't get name customizations) -- turns out the ingots are very easy to replace and are only $10, so probably should've just done it... Now, this is a nearly $400 bag, marketed as "the perfect walking bag", so I'm keeping those in mind when assessing it. Here goes:
Quick unboxing video: 

PXL_20230817_004302378.TS.mp4 That is niiiiice! 10/10 so far. The colors pop. The materials seem high quality. It looks amazing. The packing was top-notch (note the "Fragile" sticker 🤣 ) -- but really, inside the box, it was very secure, the straps were stuffed inside the bag, and it included both a single and double strap (I quickly installed the double -- that's what I'll be using). 

Now, on to loading -- keeping in mind I'm coming from a Vessel VLX, which is comparable size, it started out nicely -- like I kinda said in the intro, I prefer at least a 5-way divider (at least a 5th slot for the putter), but the full-length dividers are nice, and the top is very roomy (it's almost too roomy, at least in the two middle slots, but can't complain about that). Some quick pics of the loaded clubs: 

Still 9.5-10/10. Loving it. With the clubs in place, tried it on, and after a few adjustments, it's comfortable and lightweight. Buuut....
Then I looked closer at the rest of the functional features, and it's a bit disappointing. I don't know if this is exactly the right word, but in terms of features, it's quite...minimalist. And that's not really me on the course, so this is a big step back for me -- Vessel, Jones, and Sun Mountain (my three most recent brands) are all more "full" featured, IMO. 
Things I typically have in my bag, at least in transit, but also on the course (very not minimalist): balls, tees, ball markers, divot tools, Sharpie(s), gloves (3-4), rangefinder, scorecard/yb holder, water bottle, wrench, sunscreen, koozies, snacks, phone, wallet (but not keys! Thanks Ford for the keyless entry options). I also have both a brush and a speaker hanging on the bag. On some days, I also include, a greenside towel, rain gear, and/or the rain hood. I've also gotten used to how I split these up among the pockets (balls/tees in one, gloves and koozies in another, ball markers in with the rangefinder, etc.).
The SL2 only has two functional pockets (excluding water bottle & valuables), and they're just solo pockets (no interior pockets or mesh pouches, at least not that I've found) --  I currently have balls/tees in one along with ball markers & divot tools in a valuables pouch, and "everything else" in the other. I'm asking some of the other testers how they're setting it up, but on night one, this is a bit of a struggle for me -- I might even look around to find some kind of dividers I can add into the pockets to work around this. One example of the struggle is gloves -- I had to choose the ball pocket or "everything else", but I don't like either (balls can be wet or dirty; things like sunscreen could leak). For the rangefinder, I had to dig my case out of storage to dangle on the bag (which took me a while, because I haven't used it in years), because there's no dedicated rangefinder pocket (step back from my recent bags), and it is a squeeze to fit it in the valuables pocket (which I'd use for other things anyway). 
Other notable things: There's not a great place to hang things -- I now have speaker+brush+rangefinder hanging from a small metal loop (the three are barely coexisting on that little loop - might need to add something else to make it work well), while other brands seem to have a bigger feature for hanging. Umbrella slot is a leather strap rather than the typical elastic, which is nice, but minor. The rain hood was in one of the pockets, and is just a typical black hood with Stitch-logoed features (at this price point, why not make it match the bag in some way?). The water bottle pocket seems good and insulated, but the placement competes for space with one of the two pockets. 
I'm keeping an open mind, but my gut says this will be a comfortable carry bag that won't fit all situations. E.g. I am struggling to see myself using this on a day where I need to carry full rain gear. But, maybe I'll find some good ways to adapt and the bag will change my mind. Final First Impression Score: 9/10. 
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Intro
Hey everyone - big thanks to both Stitch and MGS for giving me the opportunity! I legitimately came very close to buying this bag a couple times, but hesitated on size, so I'm pumped to be part of this one to see how it actually stacks up.
Starting out, the intro: probably gave a way-too-long-winded intro in my last test (naturally, this one will also be long-winded…), so if interested in some deeper history, that's still available (link in my signature). But first, some basic info: I've played pretty much my whole life, low-level competitions through college in upstate NY, and have been in Madison, WI for the last 15 years. Currently playing to a 1.9 - first time ever under a 2! I have two boys (4 and 2) that are both getting obsessed with the game, and will likely use this test as even more of an excuse to take them out to the local Par 3 course (note: also grooming them to be walkers).  

For the rest, I'll focus more on things related to bags to keep it more directly relevant:
I'm a walker. Always have been, and will continue as long as I can. Thus far, I’ve resisted the recruiting efforts of the local push cart posse and still carry my bag. I will ride in certain situations, like scrambles, drinking rounds (bachelor parties, etc.), or riding-only events/courses (I’ll do my best to include a cart in the test too, but no promises on that). I think that makes this this the ideal bag test for me because I've always used somewhat comparable bags (never got something bigger than a stand/carry bag). Plus, the fact that I always tinker with my equipment means that I have used a lot of different carry bags over the last few years (for the longest time I was a Hoofer guy, but the 2017 Hoofer 14 ruined it for me – so I’ve branched out more recently, and am still searching for that perfect bag).
I’m currently on Vessel. I have a Player II 14-way that was relegated to my travel bag because of size/weight (most storage and easier to keep the clubs secure, but gets heavy quickly), and then picked up a VLX 2.0 as my lighter option this year – got the Green/Gold as a Masters-like theme (not Packers – Let’s Go Buffalo!), and the gold trim is…gaudy. I think the VLX vs. the SL2 will be a great comparison – I was actually debating between those two as the lighter-weight option, and chose VLX because of “size”. Apparently I didn’t look closely enough at the specs, because they’re not all that different and some were false perceptions – I was concerned with the SL2’s top dividers, but both bags are 4-way, and the SL2 top is actually bigger; I was also hesitant on the number and types of pockets, but for that, it looks like the VLX might still hold an edge.
For this test, I opted for the Fadeaway White color – risk of getting dirty, but I think it will pop the best on the course, and will be more versatile with various accessories (switch between a wide range of things like towels and headcovers).

Went for my very first fitting back in January of this year. Club Champion was running a special on a complete bag fitting so I went with it. First and foremost I would recommend a fitting to anyone who is even remotely thinking about it and is somewhat serious on game improvement.  Now it will not be an instant game changer no matter what anyone tells you. It will however give you the opportunity to have a professional, who understands what your swing data is showing, make setup changes to improve the performance of your swing. They are NOT there to work on any swing mechanics or point out swing flaws. They may make minor suggestions but don’t go into it thinking they will “fix” anything with your swing. A golf coach is what you are looking for if that is your goal. 
 
As far as your actual question I agree with the previous comments on here that all are beneficial, but like @GaDawg I would focus on what part of your game you think needs the most improvement. I went with the total bag because I was mostly happy with my game but I wanted to see what the numbers were actually saying. Turned out that I was able to be fitted into a driver and irons that both improved my then current numbers.  Decided to purchase the driver as I felt this area was my weakest. I liked my distance off the tee prior to fitting but my dispersion was less than desirable. After 5ish months of playing with the new driver I am amazed at how consistent my accuracy as well as distance have become. All without changing a single swing mechanic. 
 
So the fundamental question really is “what are you looking to get out of a fitting?”  If it is someone to analyze your swing mechanics then pivot to looking into lessons. If you are fine with your swing and looking to optimize your equipment to match that swing then I would go all in on a fitting. The type is up to your particular needs. 

Congratulations to you and to all the forum staff. A leader is not someone who makes people do things, a true leader inspires people to do things. From what I have seen in only a month as a member you all are a great team, and that starts from the top. Good luck in all your future endeavors and thank you for your dedication to growing this wonderfully frustrating game!

Can’t say that I fully support this comment. Even minor improvements can increase one’s enjoyment of the game and make one feel better about themselves as a player.  Ultimately that is all us amateurs are looking for.
The best advice I have received actually came from this forum.  How I play on the course doesn’t affect my life off the course. It doesn’t increase or decrease the love I give or receive from my family and friends. It doesn’t affect my job or ability to provide for my family.  I am not, nor ever will be a pro, so trying to hold myself up to the standards that are seen on the TV weekly is only going to bring frustration and disappointment in my game.
I agree that instruction from a professional coach is the best way to improve if you are interested in total game improvement. However, if you are a weekend hacker just looking to make yourself feel better about your game then relish the small improvements. Celebrate a round with no triple bogeys. Reflect on those couple great shots you had.  Allow yourself to build on the small positives rather than tearing down your game from the negatives.
If there is a specific area of your game that is really bothering you then focus only on that area for the time being. Bogging yourself down with to many swing corrections, ball positions, club changes, etc, etc, etc, will only breed more frustration.
I fully believe that increased game enjoyment leads to game improvement. 

Plastic. Prefer the durability and can’t stand the paint swapping on my driver when using wooden. And due to them not being biodegradable I think it makes me a little more self conscious of picking up broken tees and disposing of them properly rather than letting them lay. I have a superintendent buddy who can’t stand broken tees. I prefer the Pride PTS tees and have never had any issues with marks on my clubs. 

I wouldn't sell.
Even with a GI set there will still be misses and bad strikes..a GI iron won't solve all of that. 
Selling you'll get a decent return, but not enough to buy a full new set so you'll then be spending more money on something you're not playing much. 
With a little more practice and time I'm guessing the swing will come back and you'll feel right at home again. 

My advice would be to hold onto them for now. I keep a set of Callaway Apex MBs, for the following reasons: They are gorgeous. I can play them periodically to remind myself both that I am good enough, but also that the added forgiveness of my current clubs is nice. 
 
As Jamie pointed out, you are unlikely to recoup what you paid for them. Another path, depending on your financial situation, may be to take a look at some of the DTC offerings from Takomo, Sub 70, Caley, etc. a set of their gi or pd irons can be had at a reasonable price, without feeling like you have to sell one to finance the other. Takomo and Caley have had member testing this season, so there is a wealth of information available in the corresponding threads to help you determine which set might be a good fit. Good luck in whichever direction you head, but if you do decide to try something new, as always, pics and details, because we like that sort of thing.

Plastic. They don’t break after one to two hits. Much better value for the money.