The most intriguing way AI can assist in golf course design is with routings, the process by which architects arrange 18 holes around a given property. In theory, there are uncountable combinations of holes, lengths, orientations and ways to use a given piece of land. AI has the power to analyse a topographical map and quickly produce the most optimal routing based on specific client desires (overall distances and par, returning nines, etc.), saving architects days or weeks playing with configurations and trudging through the bush.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To date, however, AI is not proficient at it. There is no vast database of golf course routings and topographical maps for it to learn from, and no design firm has spent the necessary time feeding the written theory and instructions necessary for it to be useful.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This is what architect David Kahn, of Jackson Kahn Design, has discovered by experimenting with available AI systems. \u201cI\u2019ve fed it base maps with very detailed rules about how to arrange a golf course to see if it could do a stick-figure routing, and it falls flat on its face,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s not there yet. But if somebody dedicated a month to feeding existing routings and topo maps and refining the instructions, it would work, and it could be objectively great at it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
From that point, AI would be only a few small steps from being capable of autonomously conceptualising the blueprints for an entire course, tabulating grading plans, positioning bunkers and tees, and arranging hazards and contours. This leads to a larger question: Would golfers want to play a course that\u2019s designed by computer algorithms, particularly at a time when an architect\u2019s name carries cachet akin to a movie director or painter? Tom Doak, who has utilised advanced technologies to recreate holes in exacting detail at The Lido at Sand Valley and elsewhere, doesn\u2019t think so, at least not yet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know why \u2018AI-designed\u2019 golf courses would be sought after by golfers,\u201d he says. \u201cSurely, the main attraction for developers would be that they didn\u2019t have to pay the AI as much as they pay me,\u201d Doak says. \u201cTo me, one of the appeals of golf is that it gets us away from the phone and computer to spend quality time outdoors with our friends. I get the same enjoyment with my associates the way we build our golf courses, and I wouldn\u2019t want to trade that in for an AI system.<\/p>\n
\u201cPersonally, I\u2019d prefer that AI design stick to simulator courses, but I\u2019m sure it won\u2019t, and someone out there will try to come up with a program that is better at design than anyone alive.\u202fI wish them nothing but the worst of luck.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Where AI can currently help is in the role of super-assistant, completing existing tasks more efficiently. It used to take Kahn and partner Tim Jackson for or five hours to create presentation-worthy renderings of proposed holes for clients. \u201cNow I can do an unpolished draft in 30 minutes that expresses our intent and creative process, and feed that into AI that will spit out a beautiful, fully articulated version in 10 seconds,\u201d Kahn says. The information in the drawing is still human-created, but AI is finishing the job. \u201cThat part is already here,\u201d Kahn says. What comes next will be determined by how eagerly architects embrace AI as an asset or whether they view it as a threat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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