Using Drones in Golf Course Design
Ever since drones began to become popular in 2012 we have seen more reports about their use. When Amazon mentioned they wanted to use them to deliver packages, people got more intrigued. Today we see drones being used all over the place. You see them being used for news reports and sporting events. Soon you won’t be able to go to a park without seeing someone piloting their drone.
Lately I've thought about the possible uses of drones in golf design. Ever since we saw a blimp view of a course on TV we always wanted to see our own courses from the air. Golf course superintendents have started to use drones to show their members information about the course you can only see from the air. Drones have started to become a good tool to help them out.
In the design business we haven’t seen much use to date. Once DJI, the brand of drone I use, came out with first person view from their drone while in flight I finally made the purchase. Not only does the use of a drone allow you to get a good perspective on a golf hole, we can now use it to help sell our projects.
I've worked with a few Clubs on completing drone images. The latest is with Countryside Golf Club in Mundelein, IL. The course is owned by the Lake County Forest Preserves and I’ve been working with them since 2005. We recently decided to complete bunkers on a couple of holes as a taste of the changes that could be made. We have a 1939 aerial of the course to use as a blueprint. As part of this project they asked me to fly some of the holes, as they saw previous videos I completed for St. Charles Country Club. You will see from the attached video how the changes will come about. Once completed and sent to the staff the response was overwhelming. This tool will be a great way for the course to show patrons the opportunities for future improvements, and the seventeenth hole will be one of the next holes completed.
Hopefully you take a look at this video and see how we can use technology to help put these projects together. Whether you’re looking to complete work on the entire course, or just a select number of holes, putting together the proper selling material can help push the project through.