By Brandon Wilfore

GOLF DRONES: A NEW WAY TO PLAY THE GAME?

Most golfers like to take pictures and videos when they go golfing. Capture the memories and maybe your buddy chunking a ball. Usually you do this with you phone, or maybe even a GoPro. But with the popularity of drones growing, is it something golf will have to address soon?

Whether it is on social media or YouTube, it seems like more and more people are using drones to film rounds and courses.If you think about it, it makes sense. You fly the drone low during your shot and then you can literally have the drone follow your ball. You get a shot of the entire hole, and your swing. You can’t do that with a GoPro unless you have a really good throwing arm. What is wrong with the drones?

The old, “traditional”, purest… I could go on, probably hate seeing them flying around. I mean they are critical about range finders and GPS’s, imagine if they knew you had a drone on the course? They’d have you removed from the course. “If you wanna play with your stupid toys, don’t do it while golfing!” “Why the hell do you need a video of you golfing, I’ve golfed for 40 years and I’ve never taken a damn picture!”

This also is great for courses. Instead of having rough drawings of holes online they can hire someone to fly over each hole and have videos instead.

Although there are many perks to drones, they will have to have rules for them eventually. Courses can’t have people just flying drones all over the course with no rules and regulations. One of the foreseeable problems with this is pace of play. If you are spending ten to fifteen minutes a hole using the drone, simple math, 15X18=270. 270 minutes is four and a half hours, about what it should take you just to play 18. So adding that time would be a huge problem.

All that being said, the pros defiantly outweigh the cons and it is just a matter of getting golfers to accept it and maybe even let them experience it to see how cool these can make the game. The game is changing and the ones that don’t accept that are going to be left in the dust.

SSS
The Golf Content Network is a network of golf websites, newsletters and magazines that provide golf companies and their agencies a platform to tell their story through editorial, video, photos, and advertisements.