US 12,458,842 B2
System and method for estimating final resting position of golf balls
Barry Walker, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (US); Jeremy Craven, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (US); Jonas Henrik Gredenhag, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (US); Walter Kenneth Lovell, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (US); Kevin Kerr, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (US); and Spencer Border, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (US)
Assigned to PGA TOUR Enterprises, LLC, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (US)
Filed by PGA TOUR Enterprises, LLC, Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (US)
Filed on Dec. 10, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/976,002.
Application 18/976,002 is a continuation of application No. 18/669,793, filed on May 21, 2024, granted, now 12,161,913, issued on Dec. 10, 2024.
Application 18/669,793 is a continuation of application No. 18/238,234, filed on Aug. 25, 2023, granted, now 11,986,699, issued on May 21, 2024.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/428,309, filed on Nov. 28, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2025/0099808 A1, Mar. 27, 2025
Int. Cl. A63B 24/00 (2006.01); A63B 69/36 (2006.01)
CPC A63B 24/0021 (2013.01) [A63B 2024/0028 (2013.01); A63B 2024/0037 (2013.01); A63B 69/3691 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for predicting a resting position of a golf ball, the method comprising:
obtaining a predicted first impact location and predicted first impact physics of a struck ball by a golf on a golf course calculated from ball flight data collected by sensors of a ball tracking network positioned around the golf course;
utilizing one or more prediction models, each including a coefficient that incorporates a surface property of a location on the golf course;
inputting, with a physics simulator, the predicted first impact physics into a first prediction model including the coefficient incorporating a surface property of the predicted first impact location to predict a predicted next impact location and predicted next impact physics and repeating the inputting into the first or a subsequent prediction model that includes the coefficient that incorporating a surface property of the predicted next impact location to predict subsequent predicted next impact locations and corresponding subsequent predicted next impact physics, as necessary, to model bounce and roll of the ball from the predicted first impact location to a predicted initial final resting position;
obtaining an actual final resting position of the ball; and
updating, with an update engine, one or more coefficients of the one or more prediction models that result in the least amount of error between the predicted and actual final resting positions by comparing predicted final resting positions generated for multiple struck balls to actual final resting positions for the multiple struck balls for a sliding window of historical shots.