• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, September 5, 2018

Thanks to drones, golfers at least at one course won’t have to wait for that food and drink order.

The King’s Walk Golf Course in North Dakota is launching a fully operational golf course drone delivery system, believed to be the first such service in the U.S.

Golfers can use the golf course app to order snacks and beverages from the clubhouse restaurant, where the order is packaged and loaded in the drone by a technician from Flytrex, the autonomous drone delivery company running the service.

The app keeps the golfer apprised of the delivery status in real-time. When the drone arrives at a pre-approved drop-off site, it remains airborne, awaiting confirmation that the customer is nearby. Once confirmed, the order is lowered from the drone to the ground by wire, as detailed in a video by the company.

“This is the first of many projects we have planned in the U.S., including an FAA approved pilot in North Carolina which will take off later this year,” stated Yariv Bash, CEO of Flytrex, in the drone delivery announcement.  “Golf is a sport with deep-rooted traditions and there's great interest in using technology to enhance this experience. We are excited to be working with the innovative team at King’s Walk to make this inaugural launch a hole-in-one.”

King’s Walk Golf Course, in Grand Forks, was designed by the late Arnold Palmer, who no doubt would have had a comment about drones delivering snacks to golfers on his course.