BY SEAN ZAKSurvey Says: Course mapping
is critical for Tour-level success
We know our favorite
courses better now than
we ever have. In fact, we
know all courses better
than ever, even those we haven’t played
yet. The reason: course-mapping.
What was once a do-it-yourself
project for your home track has become
its own corner of the golf industry. It
stretches from hand-drawn sketches
to laser-scripted vectors in the apps
on our phones. Course mapping has
gone big.
One of the people behind its rise is
Mark Long, president and founder of
Long Yardage Books. Long caddied on
the PGA Tour for 25 years, so he’s a man
of many yardages, but he took that one
step further by creating books for other
caddies and their pro golfers.
Back in the late ’90s, Long bought
surveying equipment—the same kind
used by architects building bridges—
and began charting everything on a
course. It’s a pain-staking process
that today, even with a team working
together, still takes about 30 hours.
The payoff is worth it. Long makes
books for golf organizations and
courses, selling intensely detailed ver-
sions to caddies and players for $165
apiece. “They’re willing to put down
some money, because they’re going
to multiply their return if they make
one [extra] putt.”
It’s that type of data that amateurs
like us use almost every time we play.
To determine the distance required
to carry the bunker, we look down at
our phones for detailed GPS maps.
We raise our wristwatch to our eyes
to understand how the green is shaped.
Is that all the work of Long? Not
really. There are legions of sophisticated
course-mappers both in the air and on
the ground doing their thing across the
globe as you read this (see sidebar).
Even you can join the fray: Take a spin
on any course in Google Earth, where
satellite images can help calculate the
distance to, well...take your pick.
74 GOLF.COM / S e p t ember 2019
GOLF/Technology 2019
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