Golfdom, January 2017

2 017 Golfdom Report Destined for drones Only 40 percent of readers think a birds eye view of the course might be in their future HOW LIKELY ARE YOU TO USE A DRONE FOR AGRONOMIC REASONS AT YOUR GOLF COURSE IN 2017 61 Not at all likely I plan on it 34 5 Its possible berg says First my greens chair wanted to get one as a marketing tool to take some picturesque photos of the course to add to the website We also bought it in hopes of using it for progress report updates and to take different photos of the project He adds that he also checks the way the rough is looking from up high and likes having the different angles It is a great investment for us because I bought the Colin Seaberg best piece of technology I could at the time but were going to get a lot of use out of it over the next two years with the project Seaberg says My advice to someone thinking about it is to just buy one to have it because you will find uses for it G NDVI Normalized Difference Vegetation Index technology and GPS spraying you know mixing all of this together is great but taking that information and making it real and usable is the most difficult part I think you need to have people who know what they R Sean Reehoorn are doing and can teach you how to use it Its hard How do you make it real Reehoorn believes the technology will become more valuable to him once the price comes down and pesticides become more restricted because hell need to know the exact areas that need to be sprayed But Colin Seaberg CGCS at Barton Hills CC in Ann Arbor Mich is in that rare 5 percent He already owns a drone and proudly flies it as his course regularly We are about to start a major project on the day after Labor Day next fall We bought one for a couple of reasons Sea Another hot topic in Golfdom has been the use of drones on golf courses to better help maintenance teams identify areas of stress Drone technology was the subject of the October 2016 cover story The Sky is the Limit by David McPherson and weve seen presentations from researchers such as Bill Kreuser Ph D at the University of Nebraska and our own Clark Throssell Ph D touting the technology But readers for the most part arent ready to buy in Of the 500 plus respondents only 5 percent planned on using a drone on their course while 34 percent remained open to the idea However 61 percent essentially told us to go fly a kite before flying a drone over their course R Sean Reehoorn superintendent at Aldarra GC in Sammamish Wash is in the 61 percent skeptical of the value of adding the cost of a drone or a drone service to his maintenance budget The biggest question for me is How do I use it and how much of it is for fun and how is it for work Reehoorn asks With The biggest question for me is How do I use it and how much of it is for fun and how much is it for work You need to have people who know what they are doing and can teach you how to use it R SEAN REEHOORN 22 Golfdom January 2017 Golfdom com