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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Florida – Today the PGA TOUR introduced PGA TOUR AR, a brand new augmented reality (AR) app bringing live AR tournament coverage to life for fans around the world on their iPhone and iPad. Live AR coverage on PGA TOUR AR will begin in conjunction with the opening round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard on Thursday, March 15. The PGA TOUR AR app is available for free exclusively in the App Store. Mastercard is the Official Launch Partner of the PGA TOUR AR app that will feature exclusive branding within the AR app and will showcase the app in fan areas at Bay Hill Club. “Exploring unparalleled technologies like AR helps the PGA TOUR reach new audiences around the world,” said Rick Anderson, PGA TOUR Chief Media Officer. “Tapping into ARKit in iOS 11 allows us to showcase real-time data provided by ShotLink and CDW in a rich, visual way for fans. The PGA TOUR takes pride in bringing new technology to the sports world as a way of communicating to a large, diverse audience.” PGA TOUR AR puts augmented reality golf experiences into the hands of hundreds of millions of iPhone and iPad users, allowing fans to interact with 3D featured holes and live 3D shot trails on any flat surface right in front of them. On featured holes throughout the season, fans will be able to select their favorite player on the golf course, compare shot trails from each round and compare the shots of different players. Starting at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the featured hole is the par-5 No. 6, while the par-3 seventh hole at Pebble Beach Golf Links will be available for fans to go back and review shot trails from this year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. THE PLAYERS Championship will feature Nos. 16, 17 and 18 live and in AR, and at the season-ending TOUR Championship, East Lake Golf Club’s No. 18 will be highlighted. The PGA TOUR plans to add more holes from other tournaments leading up to the TOUR Championship and ultimately plans to feature at least one hole at every tournament on the PGA TOUR schedule. “We are thrilled to partner with the PGA TOUR in bringing live AR to fans this week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational,” said Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Mastercard. “Mastercard shares a common bond with the PGA TOUR that revolves around innovation, and this technology aligns with our promise to our cardholders to provide Priceless experiences. We are excited about continued conversations on how the PGA TOUR’s AR app will rollout new enhancements and provide consumers from around the world a new way to engage with the game of golf.” An update to the PGA TOUR AR app later this year will enable an on-course AR experience where fans at a golf tournament can hold up their device in front of any hole and the technology will display shot trails for selected players live or during a past round of the user’s choosing. The development of the PGA TOUR AR app in collaboration with POSSIBLE Mobile, part of the creative agency POSSIBLE, was aided by existing data gathered by ShotLink powered by CDW, the TOUR’s longstanding state-of-the-art scoring system. ShotLink through CDW technology captures and reports real-time vital information on every shot, by every player, during tournament competition. Every shot is translated into thousands of statistics, changing the way fans watch – and now interact with – the PGA TOUR, bringing them closer to the action. ShotLink and CDW’s vision is to turn data into information, information into knowledge, and knowledge into entertainment. “This app empowers us to creatively display and share data captured by ShotLink and CDW with fans in an entirely new way,” said Devon Fox, PGA TOUR Director, Digital Platform Innovation, who was recently named as one of the Top Women in Digital by Cynopsis. “Utilizing the biggest AR platform in the world, we can instantly reach millions of new golf fans around the world in an exciting and fun style.” The PGA TOUR AR app was built using ARKit in iOS 11 to provide immersive AR experiences for the game of golf. ARKit helps app developers like the PGA TOUR blend digital objects and information with the environment, taking apps far beyond the screen and freeing them to interact with the real world in entirely new ways. For more information on ARKit visit: https://developer.apple.com/arkit/. The TOUR is considering several enhancements within the PGA TOUR AR app for fans who attend tournaments to help them locate their favorite venues, merchandise locations and concession stands, or finding their favorite player on the course. This allows the TOUR and its partners to develop creative ways to interact with fans to form a more enjoyable on course experience. As the technology progresses, the TOUR expects to work with sponsors to display their brands within the app in innovative ways. Possible enhancements include creating custom AR experiences such as displaying branded venues on each hole, video boards that show highlights from the event, or giving fans the opportunity to take full 360 views of a product. “New technologies are exciting, but only if they can add a new and valuable dimension to an experience,” said Ben Reubenstein, CEO, POSSIBLE Mobile. “Golf is a perfect fit for leveraging augmented reality by providing a cutting-edge way for fans to interact with the sport.”
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The PGA TOUR plays its tournaments at some of the most beautiful courses in the world. Thanks to its latest innovation, the TOUR has made watching golf feel almost like being there, even if you’re sitting on your couch. On Monday, the PGA TOUR announced a new AR app called PGA TOUR AR, available to fans for free around the world, on iPhone and iPad. It will allow fans of the TOUR to engage with ShotLink player data in a totally different way, plus attract new fans that might be interested in the technology first and golf second. “To be out in the market with this content is cool because we’re taking advantage of a new technology (AR) and we get to show people how great our sport is,” said Rick Anderson, the executive vice president of global media for PGA TOUR. “That’s what drives us.” The release of the PGA TOUR AR app marks the first time live sports data has been integrated into ARKit, Apple’s exclusive AR platform. It’s the perfect accompaniment to the TOUR’s broadcasts as users will, for the first time, be able to truly see how steep a downhill shot is, the depth a TOUR player sees while debating about carrying a water hazard, and more. What is Augmented Reality? Augmented Reality places virtual objects in your physical world. With ARKit, iPhone and iPad users don’t need any extra hardware in order to take advantage of the stunning graphics and the opportunity to see the depth of some of the TOUR’s most iconic golf courses. The PGA TOUR is once again pushing the boundaries at the intersection of sports and digital technology after its live 360 and virtual reality experience from the Waste Management Phoenix Open earlier this season. “Augmented Reality is the next stage in bringing our fans closer to seeing the details of the holes that test the best players in the world,” said Scott Gutterman, vice president of PGA TOUR digital product and operations. “It is another way for us to bring fans inside the ropes. We are very excited about the opportunities that AR creates for the sport.” How it works It couldn’t be easier. Fans of the PGA TOUR can download the app via the App Store for free starting March 12, and get into this week’s action from the Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Orlando, Florida at the start of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. Users select a hole and find a horizontal surface – a table or desk, for example – and via iPhone or iPad can follow along with the shot trails of their favorite TOUR players. “We’ve been getting really excited about this technology and how it will help us bring great content to our fans, and this technology is particularly cool because it allows us to create an experience for our core fan that’s really unique,” Anderson said. Data available via ShotLink and CDW is presented to fans of the PGA TOUR in a totally new way, as users are able to see physical characteristics of the golf course unseen on the broadcast – something fans could only get in the past by being on-site for a tournament. “We’re not just giving people something to look at, but in the context of our sport, we’ve got great data. We don’t just want to show the holes, but how the players perform on those holes. And if we can do it, do it live,” Gutterman said. “We think we’re pretty far ahead of the AR crowd by using live data in the experience, so we’re pretty excited about what we’re going to be seeing.” Starting at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the featured hole will be the par-5 6th, while fans can go back to the par-3 7th at Pebble Beach Golf Links to review shot trails from this year’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. THE PLAYERS Championship will feature TPC Sawgrass’ iconic three-hole closing stretch – including the par-3 17th island green – live and in AR, while at the TOUR Championship, East Lake Golf Club’s final hole will be highlighted. The TOUR is excitedly planning to add more holes from other tournaments leading up to the TOUR Championship, with the ultimate plan to feature at least one hole at every tournament on the schedule. How to get the app Step-by-step on how to download the PGA TOUR App 1. Open the App Store on your iPhone or iPad by tapping on the App Store icon 2. Type “PGA TOUR AR” into the search bar and tap on the blue “Search” button in the keyboard or by clicking here. 3. When the PGA TOUR AR app appears in the search results, tap on the “GET” button 4. Once the app has finished downloading, tap the app icon to launch the app 5. When the app opens, a series of screens and dialog boxes will appear. When the dialog boxes pop up, tap “OK” to allow the PGA TOUR AR app to access your camera and location How to use the app 1. After allowing the PGA TOUR AR app to access your camera and location, a screen that explains how to interact with the hole models will appear. Tap on the blue “CONTINUE” button at the bottom of the screen. 2. Find a flat, horizontal surface to view the hole models in the app. 3. When the blue box appears, tap the screen to lock the blue box in place on the horizontal surface. The hole models will appear in the area marked by the blue box. To choose a new area for the hole models, tap the white circular arrow in the top right corner to restart the surface detection process. 4. A hole model selection slider menu will appear. To view the available holes, swipe your finger left or right. When you find a hole model you want to view, tap the white arrow on the hole model. 5. Once the hole model has finished downloading, it will appear in full colour. Tap the hole to place it on the horizontal surface. 6. When the hole model loads, tap the arrow on the “SELECTED PLAYERS” navigation on the bottom left side of the screen. Tap the name of the players you want to view. Their shot trails will appear on the hole model. To turn off a player’s shot trails, tap on the player in the “SELECTED PLAYERS” area of the screen. The model will default to Round 1 but another round may be selected by tapping on the round number. 7. To view a different hole model, simply tap on “Hole Selector” in the top left corner of the screen and choose a new hole model to view. Some holes have unique changes in elevation and the hole models allow you to see them more clearly. 8. If an app rating dialog box pops up, feel free to give it 5 stars.
