Hundreds of golf courses were damaged by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Drone pilots and Turf.Solutions have come together to help golf management companies assess the damage and plan for remediation.
“From what we can surmise, approximately 450 golf courses have been seriously damaged by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma,” Turf.Solutions CEO John Tull said. “In addition to countless human tragedies and home loss resulting from the hurricanes, golf course owners and operators must assess the damage and assemble a renovation plan to get back into operation. Turf.Solutions can help by providing the tools needed for golf courses to efficiently make course assessments, generate insurance claims and plan remediation efforts.”
Several industry experts have noted that many golf course superintendents are simply overwhelmed with the scale of the assessment process – what has been damaged, measuring and quantifying impacts to turf and facilities for insurance claims, and quantify debris removal efforts. Before a damaged course is fully operational, superintendents will need to assess impacts to irrigation and drainage systems, which may not be obvious on Day 1. “We are encouraging golf course superintendents to gather aerial imagery immediately to capture this moment in time, measure damage in its original form and identify known problems on a high-resolution map,” Tull said.
Although drones have been prominent in the news, most superintendents have viewed drones as a marketing video tool, not a measurement and analytical tool. “In our experience, many golf courses have not seen a strong use case for drones, except marketing videos,” Tull said. “Most courses damaged by Hurricane Harvey and Irma have a clear reason for employing drone flights to create damage assessments and track remediation efforts over time. Virtually any insurance claim will be many, many times larger than the cost of the drone flight and software tools. In this circumstance, using drones is a no-brainer.”
“From what we can surmise, approximately 450 golf courses have been seriously damaged by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma,” Turf.Solutions CEO John Tull said. “In addition to countless human tragedies and home loss resulting from the hurricanes, golf course owners and operators must assess the damage and assemble a renovation plan to get back into operation. Turf.Solutions can help by providing the tools needed for golf courses to efficiently make course assessments, generate insurance claims and plan remediation efforts.”
Several industry experts have noted that many golf course superintendents are simply overwhelmed with the scale of the assessment process – what has been damaged, measuring and quantifying impacts to turf and facilities for insurance claims, and quantify debris removal efforts. Before a damaged course is fully operational, superintendents will need to assess impacts to irrigation and drainage systems, which may not be obvious on Day 1. “We are encouraging golf course superintendents to gather aerial imagery immediately to capture this moment in time, measure damage in its original form and identify known problems on a high-resolution map,” Tull said.
Although drones have been prominent in the news, most superintendents have viewed drones as a marketing video tool, not a measurement and analytical tool. “In our experience, many golf courses have not seen a strong use case for drones, except marketing videos,” Tull said. “Most courses damaged by Hurricane Harvey and Irma have a clear reason for employing drone flights to create damage assessments and track remediation efforts over time. Virtually any insurance claim will be many, many times larger than the cost of the drone flight and software tools. In this circumstance, using drones is a no-brainer.”
