Heads Up: How Golf Courses Can Use Drones

Golf courses are among the biggest clients for drone pilots. Along with advertising agencies, construction firms, oil companies, farms and real estate agents, golf courses have found that the aerial photography and video services drones provide are extremely useful in their business.

In turn, UAS pilots have become excited about the ways in which they can utilize drones for marketing golf courses. More than ever, drones offer unique ways to help golf course owners bring customers in. Even more, mapping and modeling technologies are slowly shifting the way that golf is played, making the age-old game even more engaging for it’s players.

If you’re a pilot looking to fly drones for the golf course industry, here are a few services you might want to offer:

AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Ever since aerial photography became a mainstream form of advertising, golf courses have loved using drones to showcase their courses. Whereas golf course owners once had to market their properties through traditional, ground-level images and video (or hire a helicopter), drone footage enables them to advertise through gorgeous shots of the entire property.

A good drone pilot can provide a golf course with stunning images to be used in both print ads and online. Aerial video reels accompanied by music are one of the strongest tools used to entice lovers of the game to visit the course. Because of the luxurious nature that golf courses have to offer, drone pilots love spending their day shooting aerial footage of the green.

AERIAL PATHWAYS

As an upgrade from traditional drone footage, aerial pathways are an increasingly popular form used to showcase golf courses. Whereas traditional aerial video might provide a bird’s eye view of the course, pathway footage can function as an overview of each individual hole.

Essentially, an aerial pathway is a document of the hole from the ball’s perspective. Taking off from the tee, an aerial pathway shot will elevate right around the same point that the ball wood, flying higher as it travels over the course and deescalating as it approaches the hole. Aerial pathways are a great way to give golfers a look at what each hole looks like before they arrive at the tee. These dynamic shots are great for advertising purposes and we don’t recommend creating a golf course drone reel without one!

3D MODELS AND INTERACTIVE MAPS

At the moment, drone mapping and modeling technologies are capable of producing visual content of an unprecedented quality. Maps and models can not only showcase the course for marketing and ad purposes, but bring a whole new experience to the game of golf.

With the use of golf course mapping software, drone pilots can create 360-degree images of each hole from above the green. This data can then be used to create interactive maps, viewable from the golf course’s website. In turn, golfers can tour each hole of the golf course before they ever step up to the tee.

Even further, courses can now equip their golf carts with screens that are connected to the internet. If you were to map an entire golf course, for example, you’d have the ability to make these maps visible through programs like SketchFab. Basically, this would make it very easy for golfers to pull up a model of each hole on their screen. Even further, SketchFab would allow for the annotation of each model. The golf cart’s screens would showcase information about each individual hole, allowing players to browse the features of the terrain and plan their shots.

If you really want to make money flying drones for golf courses, you have some work cut out for you. After all, the hardest part is not the acquisition of data. You’ll want to learn the necessary software, but you’ll be able to provide real value when you can deliver the data in a form that is useful to them. Don’t forget, a client can’t do anything with a giant heap of data. Any footage collected on the green needs to be something they can use.

With proper training and the right equipment, however, you can use your drone to provide immense value to golf courses everywhere.