Abstract:
A golf course monitoring system includes transmitters located throughout the golf course, a central receiver, and a processing unit for computing the speed of play on the golf course based on the signals issued by the transmitters and received by the central receiver. The monitoring system does not require any specialized inputs from golfers and can monitor the speed of play on the golf course based on signals generated as a result of natural actions of the golfers playing a round of golf.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The invention relates to a system and method for monitoring the speed of play of a golf course.  
           [0003]    2. Description of the Related Art  
           [0004]    There are thousands of golf courses in the United States. Even within one metropolitan area, there may be well over one hundred golf courses available to a golfer. A golfer chooses to play a particular golf course for a variety of reasons. These reasons include accessibility, because a golfer cannot play on most private golf courses without a membership or a member accompanying him. Another reason is price. Some golf courses charge in excess of $200 for a round of golf. However, a golfer may choose to pay a high price for a round of golf if the course has a good reputation, is a popular stop on one of the pro golf tours, is maintained very well, is located in a beautiful setting, is a historical landmark, is a tourist attraction, or for some intangible reason.  
           [0005]    Other than price, the most practical reason for a golfer choosing a golf course is probably proximity to his or her home, or place of lodging if the golfer is away on a vacation or visiting someone. A golf course which is 10 minutes away will look more attractive than one that is an hour away, especially because a round of golf generally takes anywhere from 4 to 6 hours to play. Thus, when the time to commute to the golf course is added to the playing time, a substantial part of the day must be allocated to golf and the golfer, to a certain extent, forgo other interests, e.g., spending time with his or her family.  
           [0006]    Inevitably, because a large block of time is dedicated to golf, the golfer is faced with a choice of playing the sport less frequently or playing the sport at the expense of his other interests. At any rate, even if the golfer chose to devote every hour to golf, the golfer&#39;s frequency of play will be reduced if too much time is wasted commuting to the golf course.  
           [0007]    Another factor that determines how much time the golfer must block out to play a round of golf is the speed of play. The faster the golfer can finish a round of golf, the sooner the golfer can direct his energy to other interests, or to the avid golfer, the more rounds of golf the golfer can fit into a single day. However, to date, there has been no system for informing the golfer of the speed of play of a particular golf course so that the golfer can evaluate whether or not it would be desirable to play that particular course in view of certain time constraints. Other information such as the greens fee, golf course accessibility as to whether it is public, semi-private, or private, the general layout of the golf course, the length of the golf course, the designer of the golf course, the difficulty of the golf course, the location of the golf course, tee time reservation information, and so forth have been available.  
           [0008]    Speed of play is important to a golfer for another reason. It affects the golfer&#39;s enjoyment of the sport. Athletes talk about rhythm, and, on a golf course where pace of play is slow, the golfer&#39;s rhythm is affected and often leads to degradation in performance. It also affects safety and camaraderie. When the pace of play is slow, a golfer is more likely to be impatient and hit into the group in front, thereby endangering the members of the group in front. Such behavior often leads to heated arguments, sometimes fights, and degrades the sport itself.  
           [0009]    Slow play is also hazardous to the golfer&#39;s health. During hot summer months, slow play exposes golfers to the sun for longer periods of time, exposing the golfer to possible dehydration and heat stroke, and to ultraviolet rays that may cause sunburn and worse yet skin cancer.  
           [0010]    Speed of play monitoring systems do exist, but they require golfers to either carry specially designed equipment or to perform special tasks for the purpose of obtaining inputs from them. The prior art monitoring systems that utilize GPS to track speed of play are generally cost prohibitive. The prior art monitoring systems that require golfer inputs are dependent on an affirmative action on the part of the golfers, i.e., not passive, and, in that sense, they may not be completely reliable.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0011]    Therefore, one object of the invention is to provide a speed of play monitoring system for golf courses, which is cost-effective and passive in nature, meaning that the system does not rely on golfers to carry any specially designed equipment or to perform specialized tasks for the purpose of obtaining inputs from them.  
           [0012]    The above and other objects are achieved with a speed of play monitoring system having transmitters mounted in each of the flag sticks on a golf course. The transmitters issue a signal each time they are returned to their respective holding cup, or in the alternative, each time they are taken out of their respective holding cup. The transmitted signal may be directly transmitted to a central unit that processes the transmitted signals to determine the speed of play or relayed to such a central unit.  
           [0013]    The monitoring system according to the invention does not require any specialized inputs from the user and can monitor the flow of play on the golf course without being dependent on any actions by the golfer that is unrelated to the game of golf. It is able to monitor the flow of play based on signals generated as a result of natural actions of a golfer playing a round of golf.  
           [0014]    For example, the system relies on the removal of the flag from its holding cup and repositioning of the flag therein. This act, although performed affirmatively by the golfer or his caddy, is part of the game. If the golfer does not remove the flag from its holding cup while he or she is on the green and in the act of putting, according to the rules of golf, the golfer is assessed a two-stroke penalty if the putted ball hits the flag.  
           [0015]    The above and other objects are also achieved with a speed of play monitoring system having passive detectors (e.g., motion detectors, noise detectors, heat detectors, etc.) located around the greens, or in the alternative, tee boxes. The detector is connected to a transmitter and, when the detector goes active, the transmitter issues a signal. The transmitted signal is transmitted to a central unit that processes the transmitted signals to determine the speed of play. This system also does not require any specialized inputs from the user and is able to monitor the flow of play based on signals generated as a result of natural actions of a golfer playing a round of golf.  
           [0016]    Additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description of preferred embodiments which follows. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0017]    The invention is described in detail herein with reference to the drawings in which:  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 1A is a schematic illustration of the monitoring system according to a first embodiment of the invention;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 1B is a schematic illustration of the monitoring system according to a second embodiment of the invention;  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 2A is a schematic illustration of a remote transmitter section used in the system of FIG. 1A;  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 2B is a timing diagram of the signals produced by the remote transmitter section of FIG. 2A;  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 3A is a schematic illustration of another type of remote transmitter section used in the system of FIG. 1A;  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 3B is a timing diagram of the signals produced by the remote transmitter section of FIG. 3A;  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 4 is an illustration of a flag stick having the remote transmitter section;  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 5 is a representative flow diagram of a computer program collecting the flow of play information for one hole based on the signals produced by the signal transmitter of that one hole;  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a computer program for displaying the flow of play information;  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 7 is a sample display of the flow of play information;  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 8 is an illustration of a flag stick having a remote transmitter section of another type; and  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 9 is an exploded view of the remote transmitter section shown in FIG. 8. 
     
    
       [0030]    The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate presently preferred exemplary embodiments of the invention, and, together with the general description given above and the detailed description of the preferred embodiments given below, serve to explain the principles of the invention.  
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0031]    In the following description, the term “speed of play” is defined as the amount of time it takes to play a round of golf, a round of golf typically being 18 holes. Also, the term “hole” is defined to generally refer to and include the area between the tee box and the green, and is not limited to the cup where the physical hole lies.  
         [0032]    [0032]FIG. 1A illustrates the flow of play monitoring system according to a first embodiment of the invention. The flow of play monitoring system according to this embodiment includes a plurality of remote transmitter sections  10  (which is described in more detail below with reference to FIGS. 2A, 2B,  3 A,  3 B,  4 ,  8 , and  9 ), only one of which is illustrated in FIG. 1A, and a host unit  40  comprising a receiver  50 , a CPU  60 , a memory  70 , and an I/O interface  80 . The number of remote transmitter sections  10  equal the number of holes on a particular golf course. For example, if the golf course is a nine-hole golf course there are nine remote transmitter sections  10 . On the other hand, if the golf course is an eighteen-hole golf course, which is more typical, there are eighteen remote transmitter sections. In the following description, it is assumed that the golf course for which flow of play is monitored has eighteen holes.  
         [0033]    When a golfing group finishes playing out a hole and a flag stick  20  is replaced in its holding cup  30 , an encoded signal is transmitted. The system may be alternatively designed so that the encoded signal is transmitted when the flag stick  20  is removed from the holding cup  30 . The encoded signal is received and decoded at the receiver  50  and processed by the CPU  60  to generate flow of play data for the golf course. The flow of play data is then stored in the memory  70  and transmitted through the I/O interface  80  to a display  85 .  
         [0034]    An optional signal transceiver  31  is illustrated in FIG. 1A. The signal transceiver  31  is a signal receiver-transmitter combination located in close proximity to the remote transmitter section  10  (e.g., near the green where the flag stick  20  is located) and is used if the remote transmitter section  10  is designed for short range transmission (i.e., a few hundred feet as opposed to a few miles for long range transmission). By using the signal transceiver  31 , the size of the battery used in the remote transmitter section  10  can be minimized.  
         [0035]    The signal transceiver  31  may be connected to a permanent power source (e.g., power line). When connected to a permanent power source, the signal is transmitted via the power line. The AN48 Family chipsets produced by Adaptive Networks having a range of up to 50 km may be used to transmit and receive the signals over the power line.  
         [0036]    If a permanent power source is not readily available, the signal is transmitted wirelessly, either by RF (using spread spectrum techniques) or by Cellemetry™, which is means of wireless data communications that taps the unused capacity of the cellular telephone network&#39;s overhead control channels and the SS7/IS-41 network protocol to deliver short data messages without affecting the voice channels of the cellular network.  
         [0037]    [0037]FIG. 1B illustrates the flow of play monitoring system according to a second embodiment of the invention. The flow of play monitoring system according this embodiment includes a plurality of remote transmitter sections  11 , only one of which is illustrated in FIG. 1B, and a host unit  40  comprising a receiver  50 , a CPU  60 , a memory  70 , and an I/O interface  80 . The number of remote transmitter sections  10  equal the number of holes on a particular golf course.  
         [0038]    In this embodiment, the remote transmitter section  11  is located in close proximity (about 40-80 feet) to the flag stick  20  and includes a motion detector (or a noise detector) that initiates signal transmission when motion (or noise) is detected thereby. For example, when a golfing group approaches the flag stick  20 , the motion detector located in close proximity thereto causes an encoded signal to be transmitted by the remote transmitter section  11 . When this golfing group leaves, the signal transmission ceases. The encoded signal is received and decoded at the receiver  50  and processed by the CPU  60  to generate flow of play data for the golf course. The flow of play data is then stored in the memory  70  and transmitted through the I/O interface  80  to a display  85 .  
         [0039]    The signal transceiver  31  may be connected to a permanent power source (e.g., power line). When connected to a permanent power source, the signal is transmitted via the power line. The AN48 Family chipsets produced by Adaptive Networks having a range of up to 50 km may be used to transmit and receive the signals over the power line.  
         [0040]    If a permanent power source is not readily available, the signal is transmitted wirelessly, either by RF (using spread spectrum techniques) or by Cellemetry™, which is means of wireless data communications that taps the unused capacity of the cellular telephone network&#39;s overhead control channels and the SS7/IS-41 network protocol to deliver short data messages without affecting the voice channels of the cellular network.  
         [0041]    [0041]FIG. 2A schematically illustrates a remote transmitter section  10  in more detail. The remote transmitter section  10  includes a power source  210  connected to a transmitter  220  through a switch  230 . The switch  230  may be a mechanical switch, a capacitance switch, a magnet-actuated switch, an accelerometer switch, a tilt switch that senses when an object has been positioned beyond a certain inclination angle, or any other types of switch generally employed in the electronics art. The structure of the switch used in the exemplary embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 4.  
         [0042]    When the flag stick  20  is placed in its holding cup  30 , the switch  230  closes and the transmitter  220  is activated to continuously issue an encoded signal until the flag stick  20  is removed from its holding cup  30  and the switch  230  returns to its open position. FIG. 2B illustrates the timing diagram of the encoded signals produced by the remote transmitter  220 . The ON level corresponds to a state where the flag stick  20  is placed in its holding cup  30  and the remote transmitter  220  is thereby transmitting an encoded signal. The OFF level corresponds to a state where the flag stick  20  is removed from its holding cup  30  and the remote transmitter  220  is thereby transmitting no signal.  
         [0043]    [0043]FIG. 3A schematically illustrates another type of remote transmitter section  10 . With this type, the remote transmitter section  10  includes a power source  310  connected to a transmitter  320  through a transistor switch  330 . The transistor switch  330  is controlled by an output signal from a timer  340  having a clock terminal (CL), a reset terminal (R), a trigger input terminal (TR), and two output terminals (Q 1  and Q 2 ). The first output terminal (Q 1 ) is connected to the gate of the transistor switch  330 . When the first output terminal (Q 1 ) issues a high signal, the transistor switch  330  is turned ON to connect the power source  310  to the transmitter  320 . Otherwise, the transmitter  320  remains disconnected from the power source  310 .  
         [0044]    The trigger input terminal (TR) of the timer  340  is connected to a power source Vcc through a pair of switches, a switch  350  which may be a mechanical switch, a capacitance switch, a magnet-actuated switch, a tilt switch or any other types of switch generally employed in the electronics art and a transistor switch  360 . The transistor switch  360  has a reversed polarity as compared to the transistor switch  330 . Therefore, the transistor switch  360  is normally ON and when a high signal is applied to its gate, it is turned OFF. The structure of the switch  350  will be described with reference to FIG. 4. The switch  350  is different from the switch  230  in that the switch  350  has two active positions—Positions 1 and 2.  
         [0045]    In Position 1, the switch  350  connects the power source Vcc to the reset terminal (R) of the timer  340 . This connection resets the timer  340  so that is counter is made to be zero. In Position 2, the switch  350  connects the power source Vcc to the trigger terminal (TR) of the timer  340  to cause the first output terminal (Q 1 ) to issue a high signal. However, when the timer  340  reaches its maximum count, its second output terminal (Q 2 ) goes to a high level and causes the transistor switch  360  to be non-conductive since the second output terminal (Q 2 ) of the timer  340  is connected to the gate of the transistor switch  360 .  
         [0046]    When the flag stick  20  is placed in its holding cup  30 , the switch  350  moves into Position 2 and the timer  340  is triggered to generate a high output for a predetermined number of clock cycles. As a result, the transistor switch  330  is made conductive to connect the power source  310  and the transmitter  320  and to cause the transmitter  320  to issue an encoded signal for the predetermined number of clock cycles. The predetermined number of clock cycles is chosen such that an encoded signal of a sufficient length is transmitted by the transmitter  320  for receipt and decoding by the receiver  50 . When the timer  340  expires, i.e., the timer  340  has reached its maximum count, the second output terminal (Q 2 ) of the timer  340  issues a high signal to cause the transistor switch  360  to be non-conductive and disconnect the power source Vcc from the trigger input (TR) of the timer  340 . Consequently, a low signal is issued from the first output (Q 1 ) of the timer  340  to disconnect the power source  310  from the transmitter  320 . As a result, the transmitter  320  stops transmitting. FIG. 3B illustrates the timing diagram of the encoded signals produced by the remote transmitter  320 . The ON level corresponds to a state wherein the flag stick  20  is placed in its holding cup  30  and the remote transmitter  320  transmits an encoded signal. The OFF level corresponds to a state wherein the flag stick  20  is removed from its holding cup  30  and the remote transmitter  320  transmits no signal.  
         [0047]    [0047]FIG. 4 is an illustration of a flag stick  20  having the remote transmitter section  10 . The flag stick  20  is shown with a corresponding holding cup  30  and a spring-biased movable lever  25 . When the flag stick  20  is placed in the holding cup  30 , the movable lever  25  slides inwards against the force of its bias spring. When the flag stick  20  is removed from the holding cup  30 , the movable lever  25  slides out by the force of its bias spring.  
         [0048]    When the remote transmitter section  10  of FIGS. 2A and 2B is used, the switch  230  is connected to the movable lever  25  to be movable therewith. When the movable lever  25  is in its relaxed, outward position, the switch  230  is in its open position. When the movable lever  25  is in its compressed, inward position, the switch  230  is in its closed position.  
         [0049]    When the remote transmitter section  10  of FIGS. 3A and 3B is used, the switch  350  is connected to the movable lever  25  to be movable therewith. When the movable lever  25  is in its relaxed, outward position, the switch  350  is in Position 1. When the movable lever  25  is in its compressed, inward position, the switch  350  is in Position 2.  
         [0050]    Referring to FIG. 5, a representative flow diagram of a computer program FLOW OF PLAY which collects the flow of play information for one hole based on the signals produced by the remote transmitter section  10  of that one hole will be described. The flow of play information for other holes is collected in a similar manner.  
         [0051]    In Step  510 , N is initialized with the hole number. For example, if hole number 1 is being processed, N=1. Also, i is initialized with the value of 0 and j, the group number, is initialized with the value of 1. Step  520  checks to see if a signal is received from the transmitter section  10  of hole number N until the signal is received. When it is received, the flow proceeds to Step  530 , where i is incremented by 1. In Step  540 , the variable X(i) is assigned a value equal to the current time, t. For example, if the current time is 1:00 p.m., X(i) is assigned 13:00 as its value. Step  550  checks to see if i is greater than 1. If not, flow returns to Step  520 . If i is greater than 1, then flow proceeds to Step  560 , where the variable At is assigned a value equal to the difference of X(i) and X(i−1). Using Step  560 , the time difference between the last two transmissions from the transmitter section  10  of hole number N is obtained. If this time difference is less than 5 minutes (Step  570 ), it is determined that the same group is playing hole number N and the program waits for another transmission by returning to Step  520 . On the other hand, if this time difference is greater than or equal to 5 minutes, it is determined that the current transmission is by a different group and that the previous group finished playing this hole at time X(i−1). Therefore, in Step  575 , the time X(i−1) is stored in the variable Y(N,j), where N is the hole number and j is the group number. In Step  580 , the group number j is incremented by 1. Step  590  checks to see if it is the end of the day, i.e., current time is greater than dusk time. If not, the program returns to Step  520  to await another transmission. If it is dusk, the program ends.  
         [0052]    At periodic intervals, e.g., once every minute, an UPDATE DISPLAY routine is executed by the CPU  60  to display the flow of play information. FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of the computer program for displaying the flow of play information. FIG. 7 is a sample display generated by the UPDATE DISPLAY routine. The display may be located centrally at the pro shop where the golf course management can monitor the flow of play. The display may also be made available to golf course rangers who are enforcing speed of play out on the golf course by providing them with portable electronic devices that is capable of such a display or a simpler version of such a display.  
         [0053]    In Step  610 , the variable N, representing the hole number, is initialized with a value of 0, and in Step  620 , N is incremented by 1. Step  630  checks to see if N is greater than 18. If it is, this means that all of the holes have been processed and the UPDATE DISPLAY routine is exited. If N is less than or equal to 18, then flow proceeds to Step  640 , where j, representing the group number, is initialized with a value of 0. In Step  650 , j is incremented by 1. Step  660  checks to see if there is any time stored in the variable Y(N,j). If not, this means that no time has been collected as of yet for hole number N and group number j and flow returns to Step  620 , where the hole number is incremented. If there is time stored in the variable Y(N,j), that time is displayed at cell(N,j), where N is the row number of the display illustrated in FIG. 7 and j is the column number of the display illustrated in FIG. 7. The cell values in FIG. 7 represent the time that a group number j finished playing out a hole number N. After displaying in Step  670 , flow returns to Step  650  where the group number is incremented.  
         [0054]    The invention may also include have the following additional features.  
         [0055]    First, the power source may be a battery that is installed at the base of the flag to serve as a stabilizing weight. The battery may be connected to a low power indicator which causes the remote transmitter to issue a predetermined signal when the battery drains down to a particular level.  
         [0056]    Second, the system may also include a speed of play indicator installed at each tee box. The speed of play indicator includes a set of three colored lights—a green light, a yellow light, and a red light. One of the three lights is turned ON a predetermined time after a group has finished playing the previous hole. If it is determined that the group is playing at a fast or normal pace, the green light is lit. If it is determined that the group is playing at a slow pace, one of three things may happen. The yellow light is lit to warn the group that it is playing too slow. If the group has been warned once before, the red light is lit to ask the group to skip its tee shot. If the group was asked to skip its tee shot previously, the red light is caused to flash to ask the group to leave the golf course.  
         [0057]    The speed of play indicator is controlled by the CPU  60  based on a program that pinpoints the slow groups on the golf course in accordance with the speed of play information that the CPU  60  is continuously compiling. The CPU makes a comparison of playing time estimates with the actual time incurred by a particular group to determine whether that particular group is behind the preset pace. A transmitter (not shown) is connected to the CPU  60  to provide this information to each of the speed of play indicators and each speed of play indicator is equipped with a matching receiver.  
         [0058]    The speed of play indicator may also be controlled by the golf course management that is monitoring the speed of play with the display of FIG. 7. In FIG. 7, any group that is currently behind schedule is indicated by a bold face (e.g., Group 1), and any time a group completes a hole behind schedule, the corresponding time entry is indicated by a bold face (e.g., Group 1, Hole 8 and Group 10, Hole 1).  
         [0059]    [0059]FIG. 8 illustrates the flag stick  20  having a remote transmitter section of another type. This remote transmitter section, designated as  840 , has an upper side which is spherical in shape and a bottom side which is flat. The bottom side includes an opening  850  with internal threads (shown in FIG. 9) that mates with (i.e., screws onto) an extension  830  having external threads. The extension  830  is typically used with a corresponding cap to hold the flag  820  in place. The remote transmitter section  840  is intended to replace this cap and will perform a dual function: (i) hold the flag  820  in place and (ii) transmit signals to a receiver.  
         [0060]    The remote transmitter section  840  is illustrated in greater detail in FIG. 9. It includes a plastic housing  860 , a power source  870 , a switch  880 , a transmitter  890 , and an antenna  895 . The power source  870  is preferably a coin cell battery. The switch  880  is preferably an accelerometer switch and is designed to trigger when the flag stick  20  is removed from its holding cup and returned to its holding cup. The transmitter  890  is preferably a TRF4900 RF transmitter chip produced by Texas Instruments and the antenna  895  is selected so that transmission range is about 100-200 feet. The remote transmitter section  840  is intended to be used with a signal transceiver  21  and other components of the monitoring system shown in FIG. 1A.  
         [0061]    The speed of play information can be used by the golf course management to pinpoint those groups who are slowing up play in the above manner. The information may also be used to identify parts of the golf course where play is unreasonably slow, thereby creating a bottleneck of groups at these locations. The golf course management can use this information to identify the sources of delay and take corrective action. For example, it may be determined that the cause of delay may be related to the difficulty of a particular hole. In this instance, the management may want to move up the tee box to make the hole shorter or, if this is not practicable, provide an easier pin placement especially during days when the golf course is crowded.  
         [0062]    While particular embodiments according to the invention have been illustrated and described above, it will be clear that the invention can take a variety of forms and embodiments within the scope of the appended claims.