Using Drones to Enhance Disc Golf Courses

[GodSpeed Aerials]

Hello all,

I love the game of disc golf and played for many years! I know disc golf courses are somewhat similar to PGA golf courses. Golf is a dying sport. However, disc golf is something more affordable and can gain much more popularity than PGA one day!

Anyways, I am wondering if any of the disc golf course designers ever utilized drones to help design courses. I am experienced in using drone mapping which could produce precise 3D models with accurate measurements. In addition, some of the new drones are pretty spiffy to navigate in highly wooded areas or the pilot has the extra precision to produce amazing video footages. Does anyone see this could be highly beneficial?

 

[hiflyer]

I know disc golf courses are somewhat similar to PGA golf courses.

Ummm, Ive never seen a PGA cup directly surrounded by trees or water.

 

[GodSpeed Aerials]

I said "somewhat." The theory of course designing is very similar.

I´d love to see a PGA game where golfers are stuck because they could not hit around a hole with tons of trees in the way. They need to update the game with some interesting challenges besides the normal bunkers, water hazards, and small amount of trees.

 

[Casey 1988]

Ummm, Ive never seen a PGA cup directly surrounded by trees or water.

no but one of the PDGA tournaments has an almost Island on it almost in the way the one signature hole is at the Glass Blown open on the non traditional ball golf course. The ball will roll off the skinny strip of land used to connect course to the island so you have to play from the tee to the island.

 

[hiflyer]

I said "somewhat." The theory of course designing is very similar.

Yeah. I know. Sorry, I was being a bit snarky.

 

[Gblambert]

We used Google Earth for overhead views while designing our courses, but I've often thought some drone footage for marketing purposes would be useful. I'd also like to have a drone flyover video for each of our holes, then put the QR code for each video on the tee sign so players can watch the flyover before teeing off.

 

[DavidSauls]

I don't know that drones would be particularly helpful in design. When walking a property, you need to look in all directions, all the time; drone footage wouldn't do that. A drone-produced map wouldn't show specific features well enough.

One real benefit of maps is showing the relationship of one hole to another, to figure routing, available space, conflicts, etc. A better map is better, of course, but I'm not sure it would be enough better to warrant the effort.

 

[biscoe]

I don't really think drone footage is more useful to me as a designer than the maps commonly available through google or the various gis systems. Having the drone at hand during the process to simply check on some spatial relationships probably would be once I got familiar enough to make good use of it.

Where it is useful is doing something like they have at Muddy Run in PA where they have QR codes linked to drone footage on the tee signs. This is something we are intending to incorporate as an offering in our design packages.

 

[GodSpeed Aerials]

It all depends. If anyone is in the Midwest, I´d be happy to test it out and see what is capable of it!

 

[thenomad]

We used Google Earth for overhead views while designing our courses, but I've often thought some drone footage for marketing purposes would be useful. I'd also like to have a drone flyover video for each of our holes, then put the QR code for each video on the tee sign so players can watch the flyover before teeing off.

I've seen this before but I thought it was pretty much pointless and going overboard. Plus, do people actually have their phones out like that on every hole?....sounds like a chore more than anything. Just post the drone footage on a website.....the sign itself should be telling you what you need to know

 

[nate22]

I utilise google earth to zoom in on areas I havent been able to reach yet, see if any features stand out.

 

[mopar]

Wildcat Bluff has added QR codes to the new teesigns so you can scan them and see drone videos of the hole. Not sure what other courses have this option.

 

[kenjiac]

I've seen this before but I thought it was pretty much pointless and going overboard. Plus, do people actually have their phones out like that on every hole?....sounds like a chore more than anything. Just post the drone footage on a website.....the sign itself should be telling you what you need to know

I don't think I would do this at the tee but I would definitely check out drone footage of a course I was heading to for a tournament if I hadn't played it yet or to see if it was worth going on a road trip to. The addition of a QR code to a tee sign is pretty easy though for those that might use it.

 

[curmudgeonDwindle]

Late to the party, but agree w/ the consensus.
Designers generally do not 'relate' to the course's land via drone footage, but customers often do...I believe this is because drone footage can obscure the human scale of a golf course, as well as critical details, like prevailing winds or the perceptions of depth, for example...

As to islands in golf and the utter ridiculousness of what's already out there:

#17 at TPC Sawgrass is a pretty famous island green...think they've hosted some majors there...

Then there's: http://www.golfcda.com/the-floating-green/

read about what this island can do, then imagine what they're doing in Dubai...

Trump also built a huge waterfall near a green at his course in Los Angeles...just a taste of reality for the overly hopeful...some disc golfer really needs to get close to Elon Musk...

 

[elmexdela]

Late to the party, but agree w/ the consensus.
Designers generally do not 'relate' to the course's land via drone footage, but customers often do...I believe this is because drone footage can obscure the human scale of a golf course, as well as critical details, like prevailing winds or the perceptions of depth, for example...

As to islands in golf and the utter ridiculousness of what's already out there:

#17 at TPC Sawgrass is a pretty famous island green...think they've hosted some majors there...

Then there's: http://www.golfcda.com/the-floating-green/

read about what this island can do, then imagine what they're doing in Dubai...

Trump also built a huge waterfall near a green at his course in Los Angeles...just a taste of reality for the overly hopeful...some disc golfer really needs to get close to Elon Musk...

finally found a ball golf course i would play

looks awesome and beautiful

 

[Doofenshmirtz]

Ummm, Ive never seen a PGA cup directly surrounded by trees or water.

Have you never played golf?

 

[hiflyer]

Have you never played golf?

Once. But Im not talking some trees surrounding a green. I mean trees nearly pressed up against the cup, or the hole literally being in the middle of a stream. Not simply theres a tree about 15' behind you and some water about 20' away