Google Earth

[pmgolf]

I'm working on my first course, Kinloch Golf Club, but I've got to mention something cool I just discovered. Google Earth. Others may already know about it, but I didn't.

I've never played Kinloch, but I was a member of the club next door to where it sits for 15 years - back before it was built. Not it's ranked as the #1 course in VA!

Here is the front 9 of the course as I first zoomed in on it. The sun is shining on half of it.

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I was so impressed by it that I went searching for other courses out of curiosity. The Golf Course at Red Rock in Rapid City, SD, The Old MacDonald Course at Bandon OR, some course down in South Africa (I forgot the name - starts with Dur...), the Pete Dye Course in WV. Anywhere you can think of. Amazing!

But...

[pmgolf]

Then I started fooling around with the features of Google Earth. Now comes the amazing part. Bear in mind that I've never seen the Kinloch course - I've just heard of it. This is what I got when I tried to zoom in on the 4th hole:

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It's unbelievable what tools we have at our disposal here in 2020!

Pete

[Danny D]

I was so impressed by it that I went searching for other courses out of curiosity. The Golf Course at Red Rock in Rapid City, SD, The Old MacDonald Course at Bandon OR, some course down in South Africa (I forgot the name - starts with Dur...), the Pete Dye Course in WV. Anywhere you can think of. Amazing!

But...

"But" ???
I wasn't aware you were not familiar with Google Earth. Man are YOU gonna be amazed. Note that down on the bottom right side of the screen, there is a tiny row of text that shows the co-ordinance, and the height. The altitude will change as you run your cursor over the terrain. You can measure bunker depths, water levels, building height, ditch depths etc., all within 1 foot of accuracy. I suggest using a lot of altitude points while setting your course elevation. The more points you create, the more accurate the course will end up.

While going around the planet looking at courses, what you will notice is that not all of them will be in 3D hi-rez format. The 3D rendered courses are really accurate within 1 foot for elevation references. You can even hover over a tree top and see how tall it is. Or buildings an other structures. The non 3D courses are made of rolling scenery that has no 3D views, and there's no possible way to get accurate measurements from it. That's the reason I refuse to try to do a course unless its in hi-rez format in Google Earth.

Best of luck with the course. It will keep you busy for a while.

Dan

[72Animal]

Yup the tools of 2020 for a 2002 Golf Game!! You may also be able to find that the Google Walking Camera has browsed some courses. I accidentally came upon a 'walk-through' of Durban Country Club in South Africa. Someone walked the course and so can you! Needless to say I used it to design the course and it's another one sitting in development on my hard drive. To see what I mean just use GE to go to Durban CC, drag and drop the Street View yellow man on a cart path on the course and voilà!

[pmgolf]

I am in Virginia, and I actually stumbled across Durban CC and looked it over a year or so ago. I'll have to go back and take the walking tour!

Pete

[Jimbo]

I'm no designer (as I've gone out of my way to say before) but this certainly looks like a useful tool for our "Masters".

[jwgriffingca]

Some recent photos of Kinloch here:
https://twitter.com/sbrittonturf/status ... 31136?s=20

[pmgolf]

Thanks, JW! Every picture helps!

Pete