Show HN: I mapped every US golf course

I got tired of Googling basic course info, so I made a free directory of every US course

Google filters for golf course results are terrible so I built a better way to browse courses using OSM as the backbone.... https://golfcoursebrowser.com/

It's a work in progress and mostly US for now, but I want to expand to the rest of North America, the EU, and the rest of the world ASAP.

It's free, no ads, no login, no bs. If you spot anything wrong (bad info, a missing course, wrong scorecard), you can flag it right on the course page. I actually read those and fix them.

Still a lot of missing info, but I'm filling out more and more each day. The goal is the most complete, and current golf course directory in the world, verified and maintained by actual golfers. I think is attainable in the next few months. The base layer is OpenStreetMap, cross-checked against course websites and enriched with scorecards, USGA rating/slope, and public/private status. User corrections from golfers who know their home course have beaten every commercial data source we check against.

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punnerud 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Nice job! When I zoom in on Google earth you can easily see if it’s actually a golf course or not, would been interesting to use this to draw up the areas with polygons and some more details.

Then you could start providing a lot more details about each one automatically.

	▲	rickmf 41 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		yeah i am pulling from OSM. I can probably draw those polygons. It;s been an OK source for number of holes etc but I need to cross reference to get other detailed info

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crossroadsguy an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I am not sure how it is in USA but in my country golf courses are abuse of public resources for (almost) private use. For a very few who can lobby enough for renewal of these leases and these are kept out of reach of the normal public, either by rule or by cost, sometimes both. Golf courses are lungs of many of the growing cities, across the world, but I do believe they should not be kept exclusive. Also, this comes directly from feudal/colonial times here. Those also require too much of other natural and public resources to be maintained.

	▲	rickmf 32 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		US is a mixed bag. Where i am from, Michigan, we have over 600 courses and 87% of them are open to the public.

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totetsu an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This is fascinating not because I’m interested in visiting any of these. But to see the communities in Alaska with courses, or to look at the most concentrated places and wonder what so many people in Florida get out of having a fairway and one hole right in their backyard..

	▲	rickmf 43 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		retirement communities in florida have a lot of these weird mini private courses.

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cheeaun an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Polygon areas would be cool to see how big they are. I made this few years ago for Singapore https://observablehq.com/@cheeaun/golf-courses-in-singapore

	▲	NSPG911 43 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		That seems slightly pointless no? I mean Singapore is small enough already, there probably is 10 courses maximum. The one I've seen is the Changi course, and I don't think it can compare to the average course size in the States
	▲	rickmf an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		good idea!

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postalrat an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Missed one: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Elizabeth+Lyle+Robbie+Stad...

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fsckboy 43 minutes ago | parent [-]

that's the University of Minnesota Les Bolstad golf course

https://www.uofmgolf.com/teetime

	▲	rickmf 26 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Its actually present, but listed as closed (auto toggled off). the tee time link is dead and google reports as permanently closed. However if its open i'd love to know!
	▲	rickmf 41 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		You can report these right in the site and they should get cleaned up in 24-48 hrs or so,

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thomasswift 39 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

This is badass. Thank you!

Near my area, there is a driving range and a simulator place as pins. both nice but not courses. Do you want reports on that?

	▲	rickmf 37 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Yes. You can report any missing or bad info right in the course info drawer that pops up when selecting one. There is a button for sending corrections with a few fields but you can also just make a comment.

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aren55555 35 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Would be sweet if it also had membership status (private/public/etc)

	▲	cortesoft 32 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		If you expand the filters, you can see it allows you to select public or private.
	▲	rickmf 34 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		it does! pins are different color and it should label them. Might be some inaccuracies, but its pretty close. report any if you see any wrong

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adm4 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

great! have you seen https://openskimap.org/ and https://openskistats.org/... maybe change name to open golf map?

	▲	rickmf 44 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Not a bad idea i have not heard of those

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mercurywells 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I was going to say you were missing this one but I'm not sure if it's still open after the county purchased it.

https://www.pga.com/play/ny/rome/mohawk-glen-golf-course/033...

Now add mini golf courses.

	▲	rickmf 36 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		yeah mini golf would be a nice add. I'd like to get all practice facilities and indoor/ sim golf as well eventually.

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markdown 20 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

FYI:

2101 Sneath Ln, San Bruno, CA 94066, United States

https://i.imgur.com/DP6SOtr.jpeg

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andrewstuart 22 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Why free? Golfers have money.

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proxy_skate 44 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

so thats why lebron wanted to go to philadelphia or miami

	▲	rickmf 43 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		100

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prologic 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Any plans to expand this to other parts of the world?

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rickmf an hour ago | parent [-]

Yes. Canada and Mexico next. Then will move to EU Asia etc. Want to work out all the hiccups in US first

	▲	prologic 37 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		How are you populating the dataset here? Anything we can to do help crowd source and contribute?

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elpakal 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

clicked on a website link for a course near me and it took me to a weird site wopraja

	▲	rickmf an hour ago \| parent [-]
		probably and old site that now redirects.. you can report issues right on the site. community reports are going to be the most reliable for me over time.

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ryan_lane 43 minutes ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It would be interesting to map this to parkinson's data.

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verdverm 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

are we able to estimate water usage and other statistics from this data set?

	▲	bruce511 an hour ago \| parent [-]
		The amount of water used is somewhat less important than what the source of the water is. And it's important to understand that "using water" isn't like "using coal". In other words, while coal can be burned once, water is in a cycle that means water can be "used" infinitly. But back to the source. A golf course near me takes effluent water (ie treated sewerage) destined for pumping out to sea. They spread it over a large piece of land. What is not consumed by plants, or evaporation, ends up in an underground aquifer. So it "uses" a lot of water. But it's not using tap water. Obviously this is not true for all courses. Hence the issue of "source", not "quantity" is material.