GOLF COURSE OF THE FUTURE
As I mentioned last month, one of the more interesting presentations I attended at the recent Golf, Inc. conference in San Diego was “Course of the Future” moderated by Forrest Richardson, along with Mark Jackson of Davey Golf, Robert McElreath of ClubCar and Dana Lonn of Toro.
Their focus was on the “marriage” of high tech and design, how technology enhances the entertainment factor of golf and robotics impact on golf course maintenance costs.
Using GPS technology, Marc Davey illustrated how the future may (if not will) see fully autonomous, all electric greens mowers and rough mowers reducing the need for human staff. He also introduced the concept of drones for observing and mapping problem areas without the need for human visits to all points on the course. These tools are also electrically powered using lithium batteries thereby reducing energy costs.