Building a model that visualizes strategic golf

8 days ago

The author spent a month and a half building a model to visualize strategic golf course architecture.
The model expands on Mark Broadie's strokes gained approach by incorporating strategic elements like hazards and contours.
The strokes gained approach benchmarks shots based on distance but lacks consideration for strategic positions on the course.
The author's solution involves creating an idealized benchmark where only distance matters and comparing it to real-world scenarios.
The model generates heatmaps showing the difficulty of positions on a golf hole, highlighting hazards and strategic advantages.
The model is currently theoretical and has computational limitations, such as resolution and shot distribution approximations.
The author acknowledges the need for improvements, including better player modeling and accounting for putting greens and trees.
The tool could be useful for golf course architects to communicate design ideas to clients.
The author is open to collaborations and further research to enhance the model's realism and applicability.

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