Golf course drainage and slope mapping, from a drone flight.

Five terrain layers come out of one capture.

Drainage work starts with the line the water actually takes. Flow paths show where runoff gathers and where it ends up, so you can see what feeds a wet spot before deciding where a drain or a regrade belongs.

Slope maps put a number on the ground. You can see which banks are over 10%, where a fairway is flatter than 2% and slow to shed water, and how grade lines up with wear and mowing trouble. Argue from the model, not from memory.

When something needs attention, pin it on the hole and assign it. See course issue tracking.

Every layer is computed from a drone photogrammetry capture of your course. Slope and flow are worked out on a half-meter grid.

Photogrammetry records the surface the camera sees. On mown turf that is the ground. Under tree canopy and in tall native grass it is the vegetation, so treat a flow path there as a reason to go and look.

The layers model surface flow from the shape of the land. They know nothing about pipes, catch basins, or soil. A wet area the model cannot explain is its own finding: it points below the surface. Our guide on finding drainage problems with elevation data walks through reading those mismatches.

Slope classes and drainage are staff layers. They sit behind sign-in, with roles the club controls. Golfers and website visitors open the same twin without them.

The layers show the pattern. The measuring tools answer the specific question: the grade between two points in percent and degrees, or the elevation profile along a line you draw across a swale. They are covered under renovation planning.

All of it is indicative, not survey-grade. Use it to find problems and set priorities, and have engineered drainage design checked against a licensed survey.