USGA Embarking on 3 Month GPS Tracking Project to Shorten Golf Rounds
1 Jul 2014Golfers are being tracked with GPS units to determine ways for improving their game.
Fleet vehicles, endangered animals, and personal belongings have all been tracked with GPS tracking technology, and now golfers are going to have their movements tracked. As part of a three-month project by the U.S. Golf Association, golfers are going to be carrying around a small GPS tracker to help improve their game.
The trackers will be equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) technology that tracks their playing habits and movements throughout their game. The end goal is to improve their game by encouraging them to play faster and get from hole to hole in a more expedient fashion.
The U.S. Golf Association (USGA) is concerned with how long it takes some golfers to get through a traditional game. They are hoping to speed up the playing experience. As of now, the average is 22 minutes for each round and a minimum four-hour game.
The time commitment makes it difficult for golfers to commit to the sport over a long period of time. This new project has thousands of golfers in the United States holding onto a GPS tracker in their pocket whenever they play. The tracking unit is about the size of a thumb drive, and can record their movements and playing behaviors just by sitting in the pocket of their shorts or pants.
This project is going to last for three months while the USGA looks through the data they receive from the GPS trackers. Some things they are considering are changing start times to speed up the overall averages for golfers, as well as possibly widening the fairways.
Rand Jerris, the senior managing director for the USGA, told reporters: “There is increasing tension between the amount of time people have for recreational activities and the amount of time that it takes to play golf. Whether true or not, the perception that it takes too much time is preventing people from entering the game.”
Some of the concern over the game comes from the fact that the National Golf Foundation reported a drop of 400,000 players in the last year alone. Numbers did go up for women, with an additional 260,000 women playing golf, but 650,000 less men are quitting the sport. Much of this is due to time constraints of the recreational activity.
Engineers at the USGA will look at the tracking data from the golfer’s GPS devices, including the course setup and design features, as compared to their playing times and various behaviors. If they believed some of the behaviors and time it takes to complete a 9-round or 18-round game is due to the setup of the course or improperly-sized fairways, they will ask golf course owners to make some adjustments in order to improve their business and encourage more people to play.
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