Why We Built PINS
The Need for Precision in Golf
Golf is a game of precision where accuracy is key, and the lower a player’s handicap, the greater the need for precise information. While technology continues to advance in areas like club and ball development and data analytics from swing analysis, the method to record pin positions has barely moved for decades.
Challenges with Traditional Pin Placement Methods
For a long time, many golf clubs and Tours have relied on physically measuring pin positions with a tape measure to record the pin placement that is shared with players each day, which can create a number of challenges to officials and players alike:
Key Challenges:
Inaccuracies when taking the initial pin position
Discrepancies when siting a pin at the measured location
Delays to play while taking the measurements
Inflexibility when needing to make a pin placement change at short notice as course conditions change
Damage to greens if pin positions aren’t accurately rotated
A poor player experience for low handicap players if the pin position isn’t in the precise position
While some courses use off-the-shelf GPS, this isn’t centimetre accurate and its accuracy can vary by as much as thirty feet.
Jeff Collington and the Origins of PINS
Jeff Collington, co-Founder of PINS and Director of Number 1 Golf, has been working with professional Tours since 2008 and is a market leader producing high quality yardage books and pin sheets for professionals on the largest global Tours.
Having used technology within Number 1 Golf to improve the accuracy of yardage books and green contour mapping, Jeff turned his attention to extending this development to improving the process for capturing, changing and sharing pin positions for professional Tours.
As Jeff says “Accurate information doesn’t need to be complicated. At PINS, our goal is to make precision easy and accessible for every golf course and player.“
How PINS Solves The Pin position accuracy problem
To address the challenges of pin positions, we created a new system called PINS. PINS was developed with the benefit of Number 1 Golf’s 17 years of experience and with input of leading professional Tours to help set, change and share pin locations more accurately and consistently than ever before.
PINS uses location positioning from more than 30 satellites to measure pin locations down to just 1cm. This means pins are recorded and cut in the exact location measured by the officials so that golfers always know exactly where the pin is.
As a Rules Manager for one of the world’s longest established Tours noted “You're not getting in the way of golf by running a tape... You're literally just going onto the green, finding the spot, and within 25, 30 seconds, you've been and gone, and you've got the pin for the next day. I think it's awesome.”
User-Friendly and Efficient
We designed PINS to be easy to use for Tours, and we are now extending this capability to courses around the world. With our simple mobile app, workers can quickly map out greens, penalty areas and pin locations in seconds. This saves time, helps staff do their job more efficiently, and saves money for the golf clubs.
PINS also makes it easy to change pin placements when needed at the tap of a button, like when the weather changes or during special events. This helps keep the game fair and the course in great condition.
customizable pin sheets
A key benefit of PINS is that, because accurate green data is captured live so that it is available in the office, users can create professional-looking pin sheets for each days hole locations. Golf clubs can customize these sheets with their own branding and look-and-feel, which can help attract sponsors and make extra money through advertising.
Our Commitment
Our goal with PINS is to help golf courses manage their greens in a modern and precise way. We believe that pin placements should get the same careful attention as other parts of the game, such as equipment, player training, and course design. By fixing these issues, we are helping golf courses provide a better experience for everyone who loves the sport.
Join the Pin High Community
With the PIN High blog, we want to connect with golfers, golf course managers, and anyone interested in golf. We'll share information about PINS use cases in addition to tips, stories, and useful information about improving golf course management and enjoying the game even more.
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