The United States Golf Association created a GPS service in the summer of 2014 to help courses track golfer movements in order to improve pace of play. Knowing how long rounds actually took and what holes were bottlenecks helped inform a better assignment of tee times.
At the 2018 PGA Merchandise Show, golf course architect and designer John Sanford approached the USGA booth and realized the technology could offer a different use. He had already created a preliminary plan to aid Florida’s Crandon Park in reducing natural turf and making the course more sustainable but wondered whether GPS tracking could enhance that effort.