PGA Tour Introduces Drone AR Smart Tracing, Reflects on 2025 Sports Emmys Win
SVG Rewind
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17m
During the 2025 RBC Canadian Open at TPC Toronto, the PGA Tour debuted a new wrinkle to their drone AR activations. Built upon their proprietary moving drone technology, Smart tracing allows fans to see where a tee shot will land in relation to the fairway based on the ball trail's color. Nearly a second after the ball is struck, real-time probabilities are calculated and delivered every 100 milliseconds until landing on the ground via a cloud-based physics engine. Smart tracing will also be available during this weekend's Travelers Championship, Rocket Classic (June 26-29), and all three FedExCup Playoffs events.
In this edition of SVG Rewind, PGA Tour's SVP, Media Broadcasting, Jon Freedman, and VP, Production Technology & Analytics, Alex Turnbull, detail why this iteration of their drone tracing technology was needed, the technology and challenges that come with this innovation, how their broadcast partners are implementing it, and how their work with drones and augmented reality led to winning the George Wensel Technical Achievement Award at 46th annual 2025 Sports Emmys.
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