Golf green visualization

Television coverage of golf fails to bring the viewer an appreciation of the complex topography of a golf green and how that topography affects the putting of golf balls. A computer graphics simulation that enhances the viewer´s perception of these features using shaded polygonal models of the actual golf green used in tournaments is presented. Mathematical modeling of the golf ball´s trajectory on its way toward the hole further enhances viewer understanding. A putting difficulty map assesses the relative difficulty of putting from each location on the green to a given pin position. The object-oriented system is written in C and runs on a variety of 3D graphics workstations. As an experiment, the system was used at a professional golf tournament and correctly simulated all putts during the final round