Practical Use of Consumer Drones: Improving and Expediting Your Golf Game

Do you love watching PGA Tour events because of the great documentation that the aerial cameras are able to obtain of the players' shots? You can now document your own golf event with your own personal drone, and others are already starting to do so.

Drone technology and golf technology seem to be on a similar pace. Last week the University of Illinois released a study detailing the significant uses of consumer drones for farmers and crop progress. Last month, Golf Digest documented the myriad uses of the new RoboGolfPro - a robotic golf swing coach.

In this month's issue of Golf Digest, the use of consumer drones is elaborated upon, and the drones in the article are the same ones that the University of Illinois researchers used in their study. The Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 and the DJI Phantom 2 provide practical use for a variety of consumers, and Laird Small, the director of the Pebble Beach Golf Academy, has found that out for himself.

"Drone-based maps can give an exact elevation profile of a hole," said Jon-Pierre Stoermer, DroneMapper's chief technical officer, in this Golf Digest article. "Not only do you know how far it is between any two points, but what their relative elevations are."

DroneMapper is a company based in Colorado that builds software programs to create intricately detailed 3-D aerial maps. Golfers and golf course owners can use one of these consumer droids, attach a camera to them, and record videos and pictures of each hole. Then that information can be put into the DroneMapper software and it will provide every last 3-dimensional detail on the aerial view of the course.

This next-to-none topographical data provides golfers, course owners, and golf instructors with pertinent information regarding course terrain as well as one's swing mechanics because so many angles are achievable with the operation of the drones. And it's all relatively simple: you can control the drone on your smartphone or tablet with a GPS-based system, like the Google Maps-based app. Hovering at 100 feet in the air, there isn't much that the unmanned aerial vehicle can't document.

Experts believe this is the future of golf course design, golf training, and even caddying. The Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 costs only $299 and can maintain Wi-Fi connection up to 165 feet away. You can begin your foray into the new consumer drone world by checking out the new drone technology.