Societies and visitors
Winning golf society and visitor bookings with course fly-throughs
Society organisers and visiting golfers book the course they can picture. FLYTHRU gives a club a cinematic fly-through of every hole, embedded beside its tee-booking link, so an organiser can share the course in the group chat, settle the debate and send everyone straight to the tee sheet to book.
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What is a golf course flyover video, from a visiting golfer's point of view?
It is a short aerial flight down each hole, from the tee to the green, finished with a slow orbit of the green. For a visitor who has never played the course, it replaces guesswork with a clear picture of the opening tee shot, the hazards and the shape of every green.
Visiting golfers compare several courses before committing a day and a green fee. A fly-through on the club's own website lets them judge the course on its merits rather than on a handful of photographs, and it sits right next to the button that books the tee time.
How much does a golf course fly-through cost against visitor and society income?
Community clubs pay £29 a month with no setup fee. Commercial venues start on the Club plan at £995 setup and £99 a month, with Club + Web Takeover at £1,495 setup and £149 a month. Championship is priced on application, from £4,995 setup.
Visitor income is where the sums are easiest to see. A single society booking of sixteen golfers can cover several months of a Community plan, and a resort that fills a few extra midweek tee times each month will usually find the Club plan pays its way. The pricing page has an ROI calculator for testing a club's own green fees.
Every plan is monthly rolling with no exit fee, annual billing gives two months free, and Community + New Website is available at £195 setup and £59 a month. These pages show pounds; Ireland pages show euro and the USA page shows US dollars.
How long does filming take, and will it disrupt visitor tee times?
There is no disruption, because most plans involve no filming visit. Holes are built from Google Photorealistic 3D Tiles, so the tee sheet stays full and nobody waits for a drone. Drone capture happens only on Championship plans. Once the course is mapped, most clubs are live within a week.
That matters in the busy season, when societies are booking for the months ahead. A club can book a demo call, watch its opening hole flown free, and have a full course fly-through on its website before the next round of society enquiries arrives.
Do you need a drone permit in the UK or Ireland to film a course for visitors?
Most FLYTHRU plans need no drone, because they use 3D Tiles. Anyone flying a drone commercially must follow Civil Aviation Authority rules in the UK or Irish Aviation Authority rules in Ireland, which apply EU regulation 2019/947. Requirements are updated from time to time, so check the current rules first.
In general terms, UK commercial operators need CAA Operator ID registration, a Flyer ID from the online test, an A2 Certificate of Competency or a Specific category operational authorisation for flying near people, the landowner's permission and awareness of flight restriction zones near airports. In Ireland the IAA requires operator registration, the online Open category training and test, an A2 Certificate of Competency where relevant, and observance of restricted geographical zones.
How do clubs use fly-throughs to sell tee times and memberships?
The fly-through sits beside the tee-booking link, so the golfer watches a hole and books in the same visit. In the UK it links to BRS Golf and intelligentgolf tee sheets; elsewhere it links to the club's existing booking page. Visitors who enjoy the course also become future membership enquiries.
The process is Map, Craft, Embed and Book. Embedding takes one line of script on the club website, with no rebuild and no plugins. The Caddie, a website chatbot, answers the questions visitors ask before booking, and the monthly results email shows how many times the course flew and which holes drew most views.
How do society organisers use a fly-through in group chats?
The organiser copies the fly-through link into the society's group chat. Members open it on their phones, watch the holes and agree on the venue far faster than they would from a list of course names. The link carries the club's booking route, so the organiser can move straight to reserving tee times.
Organisers carry a lot of work for little thanks: choosing a course, persuading the group and collecting money. A shareable fly-through makes the club the easy choice, because it does part of the selling on the club's behalf in a place where the golfers already talk.
- Share a single hole to tempt the group, or the full course to settle a decision.
- Post the link alongside the date, the tee times and the meeting point.
- Use it again before the day so first-time visitors know what to expect.
How does a fly-through help visiting golfers planning a trip?
Golfers planning a trip, whether a weekend away or a longer tour, want to know which courses are worth the travel. A fly-through on the club's website lets them see every hole from home, compare it with other venues on their list and book the tee time once they are convinced.
For clubs in the UK and Ireland that welcome overseas visitors, a fly-through speaks plainly to golfers who may never have seen the course in person. The St Andrews Old Course showcase at /st-andrews/ shows how a hole-by-hole presentation reads to a travelling golfer.
Does knowing the course before the round help pace of play?
It helps. Visitors who have watched each hole know where to aim off the tee, which hazards to avoid and where the green sits, so they spend less time searching and hesitating. That keeps a society day moving and reduces the friction between visiting groups and the members playing behind them.
Clubs can reinforce this on the day with tee plaques carrying a QR code: a golfer scans at the tee and that hole flies on their phone. The plaque programme is included as standard on Championship and can be discussed for other plans on a demo call.
Get a fly-through for your club
Book a demo using the form below, or call 0141 230 0198.