LoRaWAN’s Role in Golf Course Maintenance and Monetization

As a lifelong technologist, I tend to evaluate places and experiences as opportunities for technology to provide benefits. I live in an area surrounded by magnificent golf resorts, and I’ve been an avid golfer for years. I will share how LoRaWAN can provide a beneficial, low-cost technology to manage course maintenance while also providing an opportunity for monetization.

People all too often evaluate technology within a narrow scope rather than considering the broader picture. It’s usually a cost/benefit ratio, but seldom considers possibilities. I’m using a fictitious scenario in this article to demonstrate how LoRaWAN can stretch those ratios in a simple, low-cost scenario.

Challenge to Improve Management

As with all things technology, one must first define the needs before suggesting an idea or solution. I think the biggest challenge golf resorts have which prevents them from using technologies to improve the management of the course maintenance is their size. They are big. And the expense of adding traditional infrastructure to cover the entire course would be prohibitive.

So instead, most courses still use manual processes for tasks which could be improved through the use of simple, low-cost sensors and data to measure things like soil moisture, nutrients, etc. This is where LoRaWAN shines.

It can allow the deployment of sensors throughout a large golf course (or even an entire resort with multiple golf courses). A single antenna would likely cover the entire resort due to the incredible range of LoRaWAN (up to 10 miles in rural “line of sight” applications) in outdoor environments.

Hole Location Tracking

To keep things simple and brief, I’ll propose a single-focused solution for this article. Hole location tracking for greens maintenance. To keep the greens healthy, the holes on the greens must be moved frequently to prevent damage to the grass (from heavy foot traffic).

In most cases, this is a manual process and based on a schedule. To ensure manual process compliance, physically inspect greens and confirm hole movement by the grounds crew as scheduled.

What if we inserted (or attached) a simple, low-cost LoRaWAN sensor to the flagstick on each green? A small, rugged, low-cost sensor with long battery life would track precise locations and report via LoRaWAN at set intervals. Data would confirm schedule compliance and optimize rotation/placement schedules efficiently.

This simple solution could even be monetized. As an avid golfer, I know how far I hit each club. Yardage markers often fail to provide accurate distances to the hole when standing 150 yards from a green. They only tell me the distance to the center of the green (usually).

It is difficult to guess the accurate distance to the flagstick from the fairway. It can sometimes be as much as 2 club distances depending on the actual hole location. Embed hole location data into an interactive course map for simplified management.

We could charge a small fee for access to the interactive map (either via an app or a web-based solution) as part of a greens fee or membership, or even as a licensed interaction with any number of mobile golf course applications.

Streamlining a Manual Process

LoRaWAN streamlines processes, validates compliance, saves money, improves customer experience, and monetizes low-cost solutions.

All is done without the need for expensive infrastructure that would be cost-prohibitive and timely to implement. This is just one example of how we think and partner with you at Klika Tech. Leveraging LoRaWAN, we can aggregate data into an accessible platform, opening up numerous possibilities for enhancement.