Driving a hole-in-one fan experience with augmented reality
The USGA is always looking for ways to enhance how fans around the world experience the U.S. Women’s Open® Presented by ProMedica and U.S. Open Championship®. Since 2019, we have developed innovative augmented reality (AR) experiences allowing fans to immerse themselves in the Championships like never before.
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Since 2019, Deloitte Digital has worked with the United States Golf Association (USGA) to develop innovative augmented reality (AR) experiences that enable fans to watch near real-time player shots in 3D during the U.S. Open Championships and enjoy other experiences, including player shot comparison, iconic Championship shots, and 360o club tours. In 2021, for the first time ever, fans could experience every moment of the U.S. Women’s Open using the U.S. Open AR app. We wanted to help create lean-in opportunities for at-home and on-site fans to get closer to the action and experience a new 3D play perspective they couldn’t get anywhere else. We set out to enhance fans’ viewing experience with complimentary data and created a range of other immersive experiences tied to the Championships, prior Championships at the courses, and the golf clubs hosting the events.
Action
Working in collaboration with the USGA, we developed an innovative AR experience through the U.S. Open AR app, which allows fans anywhere to immerse themselves in near real-time play and engage more deeply with the U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Open. We enabled this experience via surface recognition and 3D mode options on all 18 holes for both Championships. Additionally, we included behind-the-scenes 360o views of the clubhouses and exciting playoffs from previous, iconic Championships.
Achievement
To date, the U.S. Open AR app has been downloaded nearly 200,000 times. The Live Play, Pick Your Players, and Find a Player features were well received by fans yearning for a virtual and ancillary application to enhance their Championship viewing. This was apparent through the app being a top-10 app in Apple Sports App Store, in addition to it being viewed from locations around the world.
“Over the past few years, we have taken a fresh look at how we engage with our fans, with the goal of elevating the experience for those both on and off site at our championships. The U.S. Open AR App helped do just that, bringing fans a unique and interactive perspective they wouldn't have gotten elsewhere.”
Jon Podany, Chief Commercial Officer, USGA
60K+
shots tracked in AR across the 2021 U.S. Open and U.S. Women’s Open
~1.5M
shots watched by fans from around the world
1M+
API hits
135
bunkers modeled in precise detail
for the 2021 U.S. Open AR app
365K
holes watched
(shots from tee to hole)
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