Adistance measuring apparatus related to one exemplary embodiment includes: a display unit; a memory, in which map information about golf courses is stored; a location acquiring sensor configured to acquire a current location; an azimuth sensor configured to measure an azimuth; and a control unit configured to read map information of a golf course corresponding to the current location from the memory, and display a course map image, in which an object corresponding to the current location and a virtual line corresponding to the azimuth are displayed, on the display unit by using the map information.

A golf system includes a plurality of striking areas, each striking areas being associated with a respective set of targets. The golf system includes at least one sensing device for sensing one or more parameters regarding the travel of a physical golf ball. A processor is configured to: access a database including golf hole data, the golf hole data defining relative positions of a tee-off location and a pin location for a virtual golf hole; based on the one or more parameters regarding the travel of the physical golf ball, update a virtual location of a virtual golf ball; generate signals to provide an indication of which of the plurality of striking areas or corresponding set of targets a next shot is to be struck from or to; and generate signals to provide an indication of which target in a set of targets represents a direction of the pin location.

A game of golf deviates from USGA rules by use of a special marker that may be placed anywhere on a golf course, such as in a sand trap. A group of golfers initiate play from a location proximate the special marker. Play thereafter proceeds according to USGA rules until all players are on the putting green. Ball on the putting green are not marked and removed, but left in place where they can interfere with shots made by members of the group. Predetermined special events are associated with a reduction in points that are used to reduce the USGA score.

A golf course management tool receives location information from devices associated with golfers as they play golf. The location information includes ball-striking locations and periodically determined locations of the golfer. The location information is stored in a database and is linked to the appropriate golf course. A user is presented with a graphical user interface which presents the location information overlaid on an overhead image of the golf course. The location information is presented in various ways under the control of the user. Statistics are also calculated for the holes and rounds played and presented to the user. The location information can also be filtered in a variety of ways under control of the user to alter the graphical presentation and statistical calculations.

A drainage assembly is disclosed. The drainage assembly has a subgrade material having a bottom surface and at least one side surface that forms an angle with the bottom surface, a first layer of a first material disposed on the bottom surface and the at least one side surface, a passage disposed on or in the first layer, and a second layer of a second material disposed above the passage and the first layer. The first material is coarser than the second material. An angle of repose of the second material is equal to or steeper than the angle.

A publicly accessible urban beach entertainment complex is disclosed, with a man-made tropical, pristine-clear lagoon as the centerpiece of the complex. The lagoon includes a surf feature and surrounding the lagoon are entertainment, educational, sports, and commercial facilities. The complex has a controlled public access and provides the look and feel of a tropical beach with clear waters and sandy beaches. In addition a method for efficiently utilizing facilities and land that are vacant, underutilized, have limited uses, or that are contiguous to or nearby recreational, educational, sports, or commercial venues is disclosed. The method providing a publicly accessible urban beach entertainment complex with a centerpiece man-made tropical-style pristine-clear lagoon having a surf feature. The method allows for generating revenue and increasing efficiency by pairing vacant sites, underutilized sites, limited use land, or sites that are contiguous to entertainment, educational, sports, and/or commercial venues with urban beach entertainment complexes. The complex preferably has a controlled public access, thereby allowing entrance upon payment of a fee.

A mixed-reality golf simulation system includes a ball-tracking sub-system to generate ball-tracking data when a golf ball is hit by a user, a near-eye display, a storage device to store images of a hole of a golf course associated with location coordinates of a plurality of locations along the hole, and a controller. The controller may direct the near-eye display to display a mixed-reality environment from the perspective of a location on the hole based on images associated with the location, receive ball-tracking data including a landing location of a ball hit by the user, alert the user if the landing location is a target pin, and direct the near-eye display to display a mixed-reality environment from the perspective of the landing location based on images associated with the landing location if the landing location is not the target pin.

A computing system retrieves historical hole-by-hole data for a plurality of holes for plurality of golf tournaments for a plurality of players. The computing system clusters the plurality of holes into a plurality of clusters of hole types. The computing system generates a strokes gained metric for each hole type of the hole-by-hole data for each player. The computing system adjusts the strokes gained metric for each hole type. The computing system generates a probability of player performance of each player for each hole in the target tournament based at least one the adjusted strokes gained metric. The probability of player performance includes a probability of each player achieving each possible score for each hole. The computing system generates a projected outcome of the tournament by simulating player performance using the probability of player performance of each player.

A golf system includes a striking area; a target area including a plurality of physical targets positioned at different locations relative to the striking area; and at least one sensing device for sensing one or more parameters regarding the travel of a physical golf ball. A processor is configured to: access a database including golf hole data, the golf hole data defining relative positions of a tee-off location and a pin location for a virtual golf hole; based on the one or more parameters regarding the travel of the physical golf ball struck from the striking area, update a virtual location of a virtual golf ball on the virtual golf hole; and generate signals to provide an indication of which of the plurality of physical targets represents a direction of the pin location based on the virtual location of the virtual golf ball and the locations of the physical targets.

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer storage media, for providing a golf simulator comprising a computing system with real-life golf courses stored in memory, a projector, and a screen; projecting a simulation of a real-life golf hole stored in memory on the screen with the computing system to provide a simulated golf hole that simulates the real-life golf hole; and using one or more lights to indicate a location of the ball after a simulation of one or more golf shots.