How Using Drones Will Increase Your Bottom Line

Golf course owners are steadily looking for new ways to promote their beautifully manicured courses to the masses. Getting aerial images was always a very costly endeavor and often wasn’t really worth the time and effort as the images were always from so high up that they lost their magic along the way…until now. Using drones to capture every angle of your golf course will soon be the standard in promoting it to your prospects. Here’s a look at what Drone Services Canada was able to do for one of their valued clients.

VERTICAL: Golf Resort

CLIENT: Stephen, owner of a top end Golf Resort in Muskoka, ON

Stephen owns a high-end golf club in the Muskoka area. His number 1 priority when it comes to his business is to be able to present it in a way that makes everyone who sees it want to sign up and play. Most of his target audience are elites and top earners in their industries and they want to feel they are part of an exclusive club that can cater to all of their requirements and expectations. Capturing all of this through imagery was a challenge.

Here were some of Stephen’s challenges:

• The old way of gathering footage of the course was costly and involved a lot of organization and was often a long-term process and the footage wasn’t always the best.
• Figuring out the maintenance of the course and how to make it make it more cost-effective is always a struggle and getting the data to even review this can be arduous for course maintenance managers. The quality of the data is often skewed and unreliable.
• Creating unique marketing content that appeals to our high-end clients can be a challenge.

We met with Stephen over lunch at his resort and he took us through the clubhouse and then the golf course. We listened to him define his challenges and how he was hoping we could bring some new ideas to the table. Below are the ways Drone Services Canada was able to bring those new ideas to life.

Here are 4 ways DSC was able to assist Stephen in increasing maintenance efficiencies, create unique content that captured his target audience’s attention and helped him develop an expansion plan for his next 9 hole development:

1)COLLECTION OF AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY/VIDEOGRAPHY FOR MARKETING

Our UAV/Drones made it easy, quick and safe to complete aerial photography & videography of each hole as well as the surrounding areas and the clubhouse. We were able to capture unique and stunning footage and images that would later be used in all of Stephen’s marketing and advertising content (online ads, website content, video marketing, etc…)

2) AERIAL 3D MAPPING OF EACH HOLE

Our licensed drone pilots were able to use our specialized equipment to gather data on each hole so that we could create 3D maps of each of those holes giving the customer that virtual experience to feel like they know the golf course and have played it. These maps will be made available on the client’s website so that they can create an interactive journey for the user, therefore, differentiating Stephen’s course from his competitors. A user will be able to review the entire course, one hole at a time, and know exactly how to play it when they finally show up at the course.

Creating this data also gave Stephen the tools he needed to potentially create a mobile app for his course that his members or prospective clients could download and review live as they played the course, giving them a unique advantage.

3) MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT EFFICIENCIES

One of Stephen’s challenges was to bring cost efficiencies to the maintenance of his golf course. We were able to give him the necessary data to assist him in doing just that in the form of photogrammetry maps. The data showed which hole need irrigation and which ones didn’t. He was able to see how the irrigation flowed from one area to the next and where irrigation would be needed on a more consistent basis. Just this data alone enabled Stephen’s maintenance manager to establish priority areas and make the entire maintenance schedule more efficient. We were able to show him certain volume calculations of items he wanted to be removed from the course and assist him in figuring the cost of this removal. 

4) EXPANSION & FUTURE BUILDS

Using photogrammetry maps and other types of tools we have at our disposition, Drone Services Canada was able to provide Stephen with all the data he needed to start developing the plans he had envisioned for an additional 9 holes. We were able to survey the surrounding land and give him topographic information that showed him the natural irrigation of the land as well as provide him volumetric surveys. We were also able to create a custom package for him that would have us survey the land, complete weekly flyovers to generate project progress reports as well as document the entire project for his stakeholders and prevent issues from going unseen.

Overall, the time and money we saved Stephen’s business by using our drones to address all of his challenges secured us a long-term commitment with this client. Our success on this mission solidified an annual contract where we deliver weekly inspections and reporting.

Here’s what Stephen had to say about his experience with Drone Services Canada:

“Working with Drone Services Canada was a breeze. This team is exceptional. They were able to supply me with solutions I didn’t even know were possible. The footage was incredible and all of their technical knowledge regarding how I could increase my maintenance efficiency simply blew me away. The money they saved me paid for their services tenfold. They have my business for as long as they want it!”