System and method for estimating final resting position of golf balls

A system for predicting a resting position of a golf ball, the system comprising:

• a processor and memory storing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
• generating, with a flight simulator, a stroke trail polynomial of a flight of a ball after being struck using ball flight data collected by a sensors of a ball tracking network;
• predicting, with the flight simulator, a coordinate of a first impact location of the ball using the stroke trail polynomial relative to a coordinate map of the course;
• calculating, with the flight simulator, predicted impact physics of the ball using the stroke trail polynomial;
• selecting, with a physics simulator, a prediction model corresponding to a zone containing the first impact coordinate;
• inputting, with the physics simulator, the impact physics into the prediction model to identify a next predicted impact coordinate, next predicted impact physics, a prediction model corresponding to the next predicted impact coordinate to input the next predicted impact physics, and repeating to generate a predicted final resting position before actual impact of the ball, wherein the prediction model includes coefficients that incorporate surface properties of materials at coordinates the ball is predicted to impact, and wherein the coefficients include stimp, firmness, or both;
• and
• comparing, with an update engine, predicted final resting positions generated for multiple struck balls to actual resting position for the multiple struck balls for a sliding window of historical shots, and updating one or more coefficients of the prediction models that result in the least amount of error between the predicted and actual final resting position.

A system for predicting a resting position of a golf ball, the system comprising:

• a processor and memory storing instructions that when executed by the processor cause the system to perform operations of the system-comprising;
• a ball tracking network comprising a plurality of sensors positioned around a golf course to collect ball flight data of balls after being struck, the sensors comprising cameras, radar devices, laser devices, or combination thereof;
• a flight simulator configured to predict coordinates of a first impact location and impact physics of a ball after being struck using the ball flight data;
• and
• a physics simulator configured to select from a plurality of prediction models a first prediction model corresponding to a zone containing the first impact coordinate, input the predicted impact physics into the first prediction model to identify a next predicted impact coordinate and next predicted impact physics, and repeat to model bounce and roll of the ball from the predicted first impact coordinate and obtain a predicted first final resting position, wherein the predictions models include coefficients that incorporate surface properties of materials in zones the prediction models correspond, and wherein the coefficients include stimp, firmness, or both, wherein the physics simulator is further configured to generate a distribution with respect to the final resting position by modifying the respective prediction models to include one or more coefficient values that are greater and less than the respective current value used to generate the predicted first final resting position and using the modified prediction models to model bounce and roll from the predicted first impact coordinate to generate a distribution of final resting positions.

A system for predicting a resting position of a golf ball, the system comprising:

• a memory stores instructions;
• and
• a processor that executes the instructions to perform operations, the operations comprising:
• generating, with a flight simulator, a stroke trail polynomial from ball flight data collected by sensors of a ball tracking network corresponding to flight of a ball after being struck;
• obtaining or predicting, with the flight simulator, a predicted first impact location and first impact physics of the ball;
• applying, with a physics simulator, the predicted first impact physics to a prediction model comprising coefficients incorporating properties of surface material in a zone encompassing coordinates that include the predicted first impact location and modeling bounce and roll behavior of the ball from the predicted first impact location to a final resting position;
• and
• generating, with the physics simulator, before actual impact of the ball, a zone probability with respect to the predicted final resting position comprising creating a distribution of additional predicted first impact locations around the predicted first impact location, each with a probability of occurrence, and simulating final resting position predictions for each of the locations using multiple levels of one or more coefficients in the respective prediction model to obtain a distribution of final resting positions and corresponding zones encompassing the final resting positions to provide the zone probability.