[0005] The game of golf is enjoyed world-wide by both men and women from a variety of diverse cultures. Recent estimates indicate that there are currently over 32,000 golf courses in the world with approximately half being in the United States. Despite the popularity of the sport, it is estimated that in the United States, the number of people who play golf 25 times or more per year fell from 6.9 million in 2000 to 4.6 million in 2005. A smaller decline in the number who played golf at all was also reported, falling from 30 million to 26 million over the same period. The golf industry has identified time as the biggest barrier to participation in the sport.

[0006] A number of venues have been offered for individuals who cannot find the time to play a traditional round of golf but would like the satisfaction of doing so. For example, several driving ranges which include features to simulate a real round of golf and other golf simulation platforms have been previously described. However, there are four critical functions that a venue must perform in order to reasonably duplicate the golfing experience. Those include: accurately measure a full length golf shot taken in the "real world"; measure many shots simultaneously taken from many tee boxes; provide measurements for all shots without requiring the shot to hit a target; and differentiating between carry and roll so that the experience of playing across hazards (as found while playing a golf course) can be faithfully re-created.

[0007] Unfortunately, a system that provides these basic capabilities has yet to be described. Thus there is a need for an improved golf gaming system that offers time convenience while more accurately re-creating real golf play on the course of the player's choice and additionally allowing multiple players to compete.
[0008] The present invention provides a golf gaming system capable of accurately re-creating golf play and competition on multiple known courses with multiple players in a three-dimensional environment.

[0009] The invention relates generally to the game of golf and more specifically to improvements in golf gaming systems allowing for more accurate re-creation of the traditional game and dynamic competition between multiple players. In specific, the present invention relates to methods, locations, installations, devices and systems adapted and arranged for observing, processing, analyzing and communicating data and images of individual or group golf gaming performance with respect to golf balls in play in three-dimensional environments.

[0010] The present inventions integrate a launch monitoring system with a ball trajectory or flight modeling algorithm, operating with respect to data sets obtained from one or more launch monitors, to predict the flight path and landing position of a struck golf ball. This prediction is then used to identify with specificity the one struck ball of a particular player from all other balls which land in a target area or zone. These, and other, data sets are thereby used to filter out, and thereby exclude, all other balls in that area or zone from the struck ball being tracked. In another aspect, the inventions provide one or more impact detection systems, grids or sensor arrays to detect the impact of the struck ball. The impact data sets are integrated and compared with the struck ball/trajectory data sets (i.e., the calculated flight model) to confirm the identity of the specific ball, and to match it with the particular player who struck that specific ball. These integrated data filter systems and processes are software-mediated and provide predictive and detected data redundancy to such a high degree that, ball-to-player matches, and ball to stroke matches, are instantaneous and virtually error-free.

[0011] Accordingly, in one aspect the present invention provides a method for evaluating a golfer's performance and facilitating a golf game. The method includes: a) providing a golfing installation that includes a tee area incorporating a launch monitoring system (LMS) and a target field incorporating an impact detection system (IDS) that is configured as a network of one or more sensors of the same or different type, disposed within or proximate to the target field; b) detecting via the LMS one or more parameters of a golf ball struck by a golf club within the tee area, one or more parameters of a golf club swing used to hit the golf ball, or any combination thereof; c) analyzing via software for flight modeling the one or more parameters of the golf ball, the golf club swing, or any combination thereof, to determine a flight model comprising a predicted trajectory, a predicted landing position, and a predicted landing time of the golf ball; d) gathering impact data via the IDS, including a landing position and an impact time for each ball that impacts within the network; e) correlating the flight model with the impact data to determine a true impact position for the golf ball; f) generating additional positional data for the golf ball by analyzing the flight model and the true impact position; g) integrating the flight model, the true impact position and the additional positional data to generate a set of integrated performance data; and h) generating a representation of the integrated performance data and presenting the representation.

[0012] In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for evaluating, comparing and discriminating between a first golfer's performance and at least one second golfer's performance to facilitate a golf game. The method includes: a) providing a golfing installation that includes at least a first and second tee area, each incorporating a launch monitoring system (LMS), and a target field incorporating an impact detection system (IDS) that is configured as a network of one or more sensors of the same or different type, disposed within or proximate to the target field; b) detecting via the LMS one or more parameters of a first golf ball struck by a first golf club within the first tee area, one or more parameters of a swing of the first golf club used to hit the first golf ball, or any combination thereof; c) detecting via the LMS one or more parameters of a second golf ball struck by a second golf club within the first or a second tee area, one or more parameters of a swing of the second golf club used to hit the second golf ball, or any combination thereof; d) analyzing via software for flight modeling the one or more parameters of the first golf ball, the swing of the first golf club, or any combination thereof, to calculate a first flight model comprising a predicted trajectory, a predicted landing position, and a predicted landing time of the first golf ball; e) analyzing via software for flight modeling the one or more parameters of the second golf ball, the swing of the second golf club, or any combination thereof, to calculate a second flight model comprising a predicted trajectory, a predicted landing position, and a predicted landing time of the second golf ball; f) gathering impact data via the IDS, including a landing position and an impact time for each ball that impacts within the network; g) correlating the first and second flight model with the impact data to determine a true impact position for the first golf ball and the second golf ball; h) generating additional positional data for the first golf ball and the second golf ball by analyzing the first and second flight models and the true impact positions for the first golf ball and the second golf ball; i) integrating the first and second flight models, the true impact positions for the first golf ball and the second golf ball and additional positional data for the first golf ball and the second golf ball to generate a set of integrated performance data for the first golf ball and the second golf ball; j) comparing the integrated performance data of the first golf ball with the integrated performance data of the second golf ball to discriminate between the performance of the first golfer and second or additional golfer; and k) generating a representation of the results of step i), step j) or any combination thereof, and presenting the representation.