How we capture your course, and what the model can and cannot tell you.
Every Course Correct twin is built the same way. A mapping drone photographs the course, and the photos are processed into a 3D model and its terrain layers. Here is each step, what the numbers mean, and where the limits are.
The flight
A mapping drone photographs the course hole by hole, in overlapping passes, early in the day and around your tee sheet. The flight is planned with your superintendent, and the flying is usually a morning or two.
The drone stays high and quiet. If a hole needs to be clear for a few minutes, we arrange it ahead of time.
From photos to a model
The method is drone photogrammetry. Software finds the same points in many overlapping photos and works out the shape of the ground from them. The result is a textured 3D model of each hole and an elevation model of the ground beneath it.
Slope, contours, flow paths, and the green guides are all computed from that elevation model. Processing takes days, not weeks.
What the numbers mean
Three figures describe the detail in every twin.
0.5 m contours
Contour lines are drawn at a half-meter interval, and slope is worked out on a half-meter grid from centimeter-scale elevation data.
Four slope classes
Each hole is shaded under 2%, 2 to 5%, 5 to 10%, and over 10%. See slope and drainage mapping.
A one-yard green grid
Each green is read on a one-yard grid, with a slope and a fall direction at every yard. See green guides.
What it cannot see
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 the model there shows the trees and not the ground beneath them.
The drainage layers model surface flow from the shape of the land. They know nothing about pipes, catch basins, or soil.
The twin shows the course as it was on the day of the flight. After earthwork or a rebuild, the affected holes need to be flown again.
What “indicative, not survey-grade” means
The twin is working detail for maintenance, planning, and play. It is good for finding problems, setting priorities, scoping a project, and briefing people.
It is indicative, not survey-grade, and it is not a licensed survey. Design, staking, and construction quantities should come from your architect or engineer, working from one.
Questions about the capture.
Drone photogrammetry: overlapping aerial photos from a mapping drone, processed into a 3D model and an elevation model with 0.5 m contours and a one-yard green grid.
No. It is working detail for maintenance, planning, and play. It is indicative, not survey-grade, and engineered work should be checked against a licensed survey.
Rarely. The drone flies early in the day, stays high and quiet, and works hole by hole. If a hole needs to be clear for a few minutes, we arrange it ahead of time.
The flying is usually a morning or two. Processing takes days, not weeks.
Ground hidden under tree canopy or tall native grass, anything below the surface such as pipes and soil, and any change made after the day of the flight.
Golf course digital twin: your course as a 3D model
A golf course digital twin is a measurable 3D model of every hole, built from a drone flight. What is in one, how it is made, and who at the club uses it.
ReadPlatformGolf course drainage and slope mapping
Drone mapping for golf course superintendents: slope classes, 0.5 m contours, water flow paths and wet areas, drawn from elevation data of your own course.
ReadGuideHow to find golf course drainage problems
A method for finding golf course drainage problems with elevation data: trace the flow paths, find where water stops, and read what the wet spots tell you.
ReadBook a demo.
30 minutes, on a live twin, with your team. We'll show the staff tools, the golfer experience and the website embed, then map out what your course would involve.
- A live twin in the browser, not a slide deck
- Issues, terrain layers, and measuring tools on a real course
- The golfer experience and the website embed