Deacon's Debut

Jim Moore had an idea. A 33-year veteran of the USGA Green Section, Moore visited more than 1,000 courses around the world. Based on his travels, educational presentations, observations, and interactions with superintendents, Moore realized that golf facilities could benefit from using geospatial analysis to help prioritize resources and use them more efficiently.

Before he retired in 2016, Moore started tinkering with online maps, GPS loggers and spreadsheets to collect data and analyze the areas of a course where facility managers were focusing their resources. He was curious about how golf courses allocate resources between areas that have the biggest impact on everyday play and parts of the course that golfers rarely interact with. He also saw that the course management and surface performance data he was collecting could be used to improve playing conditions and resource efficiency if it could be easily gathered and analyzed.

Nearly five years later, Moore’s vision has taken flight with Deacon, the USGA’s data analysis and visualization platform for facility managers. Launched at the end of February, Deacon is an online course management tool and mobile app that provides facility managers with data in a way that is easy to visualize and understand. This information is important for making decisions that improve maintenance efficiency and provide better playing conditions that elevate the golfer experience.

Features include customizable course maps, advanced weather reporting, precise putting surface management, easy-to-understand dashboards, and the ability to integrate on-course sensors. Deacon also allows users to enter, analyze and visualize data in both desktop and mobile platforms.

The tool’s name is a tribute to Deacon Palmer, whose 50-year stewardship of Latrobe (Pa.) Country Club – as superintendent and golf professional – mirrors the USGA’s mission of serving the game and delivering more enjoyable experiences for golfers. Latrobe is also where Deacon taught his son Arnold how to play the game.

The younger Palmer grew up to become one of the most beloved figures in sports history, connecting with and inspiring millions through his passion, character and values – all shaped by his father. Palmer also had a long history with the USGA, winning three national championships (1954 U.S. Amateur, 1960 U.S. Open, 1981 U.S. Senior Open) and serving as the honorary chair of the USGA Members Program from 1975 until his death in 2016.

The USGA is proud of the association with Arnold Palmer, who was a beacon for the best of what golf can be. Through the Deacon platform and other activities of the Green Section, the USGA will impact courses and golfers the way the Palmers did throughout their lifetime of service to the game.

At Latrobe, Deacon Palmer was known for his commonsense decision making, which allowed him to provide good playing conditions for golfers. Today, tools like Deacon are being increasingly adopted by facility managers, making it easier for the current generation of course caretakers to make commonsense, data-driven decisions.

To learn more about Deacon go to gsshop.usga.org or contact us at greensection@usga.org.

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