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My son and I old this on a local course for the first time and it performed immense. No more looking for markers or taking the time to wobble off an estimate (er, OK - especially when I'm not in the fairway) . We have some great greens thankfully and being able to simply disappear the flag on the blueprint for a grand more just reading is smart. Also, those few tall drives I had - the G5 made it simple to net the real yardage (did not demolish any records though) . Only 1 of my 7 (regular home position) courses is not programmed in yet but I gaze it's on schedule in the next update. If yours isn't, simply let Garmin know like I did. Huge unit, now if only my golf got better 
Update note: Today (4/26) I downloaded Garmins latest course database to the way and now all my courses are available.
It's Sunday night as I type this review. I have had my Garmin a total of three days now. It arrived on Friday, so I achieve in batteries, connected it to my PC, downloaded the OS upgrades and most modern course file (about a 76MB file) . I played with the preview function, using it to check my local courses, and also checked out Warwick Hills, where Tiger was storming support on day 2 of the Buick Originate. Very icy being able to preview 1000s of courses across the country!
Saturday morning I woke up shimmering and early and took it out to a course I had never visited before to gape fair how well this investment would pay off. Looking at the top-down, color belief of every hole from tee to green, I knew everything I needed to know to advance the green in regulation--it didn't matter that I hadn't been here before.
On a par 5 with a consuming left dogleg, I obsolete the Garmin to decide the distance to the middle of the left bend. I touched the camouflage and pinpointed a dwelling 190 yds to the center of the fairway, with bunkers on the left. I grabbed my 3I hybrid and let 'er rip. Perfect shot! Legal in the center of the bend, and a straight shot at the green 250 yds away. A 3W got me to about 50 yds, and then a (lucky) itsy-bitsy pitch and I was up and down for birdie!
A few holes later, the Garmin showed me a par 4 that goes out straight and level for about 200 yds. There the fairway ends and it's about 100 yds up a hill to the fair with about 20 yds elevation disagreement to the green. Again, I grabbed my 3I hybrid and whacked the ball about 190 yds unprejudiced short of the fairway's extinguish. Then I grabbed my PW and knocked the ball up the hill to the elevated green and 2-putted for par. Sweet!
Eventually, it's the 18th hole (par 4) and the spacious finale--there's water on the proper and fronting the green, with bunkers on the left of the fairway and unhurried the green. The center of the green itself is about 260 yards off, and while the other 3 golfers in my foursome settle to atomize out their drivers and go for it, I customary the Garmin to decide the best lay up point--about 180 yds to the widest fragment of the fairway past the water. I grabbed my 4I hybrid, plopped the ball perfectly in the fairway, and I had an easy wedge shot to the green to par the hole, while two of my compadres were flailing away in the bunkers, and the other was digging his ball out of the deep rough beyond and left of the green (I was willing to part my Garmin with them, but they'd all played the course before and "knew" what to do!) .
Those are the three "highlight" holes of my first round at this course. The Garmin does everything but hit the ball--that allotment is mild left for me to do, and, unfortunately, I don't always hit the ball so perfectly, or there would have been more highlights!
Nonetheless, the Garmin was the perfect aide for course management, and I know it saved me several strokes. Even though I had never visited this course before, each time I walked up to the tee box I was filled with confidence because I knew exactly what club to employ and where to aim. I could search for the shape and depth of every green, and I knew where my margin of error was when making my reach.
Sunday morning, I got up early again and took the Garmin out to a course I have visited several times before. Unfortunately for me, my shots were rather inconsistent, to say the least, and I shot a heart-broken round. However, that was entirely my fault--the Garmin was quiet an generous guide throughout. On the rare occasion I did hit my shot straight and correct, my distances perfectly coincided with what the Garmin was telling me. And again, each time I made an advance shot, I knew the depth of green and the locations of the hazards, and whether I should err long or short, left or just.
Additionally, I should mention that I've had a competitor's golf GPSR for a couple years now. It's been adequate for the job and was half the initial grasp notice of the Garmin, but it was severely lacking in many ways because it:
-- required an annual subscription to download courses;
-- only held 10 courses in memory at a time, so I would have to connect to my computer and download courses if venturing out of my "home" area;
-- only showed distances to a handful of landmarks, e.g. bunker, end-of-fairway, water hazard, etc.;
-- had a monochrome LCD;
-- was NOT a Garmin (I admit, I have a pro-Garmin bias, as I've had two of their hand-held GPSRs and an in-car unit, all of which I've been impressed and contented with)!
On the flip side, the Garmin:
-- does NOT require a subscription;
-- provides a touch hide (no confusing manual buttons that do different functions at different times) ;
-- holds THOUSANDS of courses across the US;
-- shows the ENTIRE hole from tee to green with bunkers, hazards, and distances clearly marked;
-- has a COLOR display;
-- allows me to target specific locations through the fairway, with distance to the target from my recent situation and remaining distance to the green from the target.
Both units were basically equivalent in the following ways, both suited and bad:
-- explain shape of green;
-- expose front, center, and befriend green distances;
-- allow movement of pin area for more true estimate to pin itself;
-- last about 2 complete rounds using AA rechargeable batteries;
-- allow measuring of shot distance;
-- do not prove trees or other obstacles;
-- do not indicate elevation changes.
I am incredibly gay with my initial experiences with the Garmin Reach this weekend. I'll be using it on many more outings this summer and tumble, but I especially recognize forward to visiting more unusual courses. Now that I'm no longer restricted to 10 courses in memory at a time, I can seize up and go anywhere on a whim, and with the ample top-down plan of the entire hole from tee to green I'll know exactly where to aim and what club to hit, as if I've visited the course dozens of times before.
A few other notes:
-- I did not utilize the scorekeeping function--I engage to exhaust a loyal scorecard to track some stats.
-- Need to change batteries in the middle of a round? The unit will remember what "page" you were on and return you to it.
-- Manually navigating the holes when previewing a course is a bit awkward--there are "next" and "previous" buttons on the page, but no contrivance to jump from, say, the 1st hole to the 14th without pressing the "next" button 13 times. I reflect Garmin could improve this by popping up a menu if the user were to press and gain the "next" button for example. This would also be a astronomical support if the course you're visiting decides to flip the front 9 to the succor 9, so you can launch on the moral hole.
-- In the Settings page, the unit lets you enter what type of batteries you're using, e.g. alkaline, NiMH rechargeable, etc. Enchanting...
-- When previewing a course, go to the "about course" (hole number) button to scrutinize the address and phone number of the course, convenient for making your tee time!
-- The ability to target anywhere on or about the fairway is Pleasurable! Most GPSRs fair give you the distance to the green (front/center/back), but that does you no gracious if you've got a tree or other obstacle in the plan. Brilliant what the distance is to any piece of the hole can really set your bacon when you score yourself blocked and need to pick up serve to the fairway.
-- The blueprint will zoom in automatically as you are playing the hole, showing your new place (a golf ball) and the remaining fairway to the green, so you are not stuck with a notion of the entire hole as you come the green.
Bought the unit after reading kindly reviews here. I downloaded the latest database and was gay to earn that it covers all local courses. Very easy to exhaust with touch conceal, collected have not had to read the manual yet after 5 rounds Vivid accurate distance (to target, hazards, etc) seems to benefit invent confidence and my game has improved significantly. Played a local private club today (Fazio beget), the Advance G5 was so convenient and true that our caddy ended up using my GPS instead of his laser range finder. Have not tried Lithium batteries yet, Energizer Max AA lasted 27 holes, Duracell Coppertop lasted longer, 2-3 rounds. Only thing I have not figured out yet is that since my home club has 27 holes, I had to pause each time after first 9 and restart the round by choosing another 9 hole course instead of playing 18 continuously. Maybe time to read the manual
Update (7/1/09) . Tried Lithium AA batteries from Energizer, after 4 rounds the indicator unruffled shows 3/4 power left. Also, the latest database has 9400 courses!
