How far do you really walk on a golf course?

[jvincent]

Ever wondered how much extra you walk? I have a new toy (HTC Magic) and one of the apps is a GPS tracker so I turned it on for my round at Loch March this morning.

Walking off the 18th green it gave a reading of 8.4 km or 9186 yards.

We didn't play the tips today but the full measurement for the course is 6917 yards so that's an extra 2200 yards or so.

As an added bonus the app records a KML file that you can view in Google Earth. The overlay is a little off since in a couple of spots it shows me walking on water, but it gives you a good idea of where you go.

I've attached the .kml (but added a .gml to the file name so it could be uploaded) if you want to have a look.

EDIT: Thanks Dan, I re-uploaded the file so people could load it automatically.

[Kilroy]

Cool stuff. I have now added .kml & .kmz extensions to the allowed attachments.

[Kilroy]

I see you had a beverage at the turn!

[jvincent]

Diet Pepsi and a cookie sandwich (double chocolate + white chocolate and macadamia nut) actually.

I just used the default settings for the app this morning. Looking at it when I got home I think it's possible to record more fine grained data. I'll probably give it a shot next time I play.

[mpare]

John, what program should I use to view this file? My computer has not figured it out.

[Kilroy]

Google Earth - File - Open

[jvincent]

Like Dan said, Google Earth. I've uploaded a new version without a .gml so you should just be able to double click it if you have GE installed.

[jeffc]

now that is pretty cool. can you put a marker everywhere you took a shot? actually there are some rounds I'd rather not share my path. Between the zig zags and forgetting the odd putter cover and going back to get it it could get a little ugly.

[kekchose12]

You sure can register your shot. I do it sometimes with a Garmin GPS. All you have to do is record the position of your shot as a waypoint and voila. Here is a screen capture of GEarth I posted earlier this season. This was a round at the Canadian end of June. In terms of walking, the Canadian is also 8-9 K

http://forum.ottawagolf.com/showthread.php?t=46204

[jvincent]

now that is pretty cool. can you put a marker everywhere you took a shot?

I'm pretty sure I could. This one was simple to do because the Magic is so small (slightly smaller than an iPhone) that I just started it on the first hole and just left it on for the round.

When I do it the next time I'll set the recording interval to something shorter and see what it give me.

[gbower]

Did you find your ball in the trees on #5????

[jvincent]

I was actually looking for mjf's ball over there. Mine was past the bunker on the left.

I just realized that the Google Earth image for LM is a few years old since it doesn't have the new bunker on the right hand side of #5.

[Marcos]

Sweet Jesus!!!!You can walk on water too?Thats pretty cool toy for sure.

[mjf]

Did you find your ball in the trees on #5????

For the record, I made a par on that hole. Although... I had to hole a pretty long putt!

[jvincent]

OK, second round with the GPS tracker in the back pocket today. Played Eagle Creek with habsfan. Here are the stats:

We played the blue tees: 6695 yards.
Actual distance traveled: 10.71 km or 11,712 yards. Ouch!

This is quite a bit more than at Loch March. I think the data is a little more accurate because I captured more points this time, but there is also more distance between holes and several holes where we had to walk back to the tee.

I also used a tool to offset the kml data to line up better with the map so you can see where we went to the water coolers, etc.

Definitely interesting to see where you go in a round.

[adam]

That's a lot of walking. I played La Cite this morning and then Nation in the afternoon. Not sure I even want to know how much I walked. All I know is that it was 3 Litres of Gatordade and about a Litre of Water with Lunch worth of sweating.

[big mac]

Good grief guys Does that thing tell you when you visited the nearest tree as well ?

[Kilroy]

Looking for a ball on #2 I see

[kekchose12]

My round with jvincent this morning at Outaouais.
6.4 km. Gps attached to my pull cart.

Good thing we started at 8am ...

[jvincent]

Looking for a ball on #2 I see

Looking for two balls in fact since both habsfan and I put our tee shots there.