Welcome to another edition of “Ask the Drone Girl,” where I break down your burning questions about hardware, regulations and how to grow a real drone business. This week, I received a great question about the best drone for photographing golf courses. If you have a question for Drone Girl, contact her here.
I just passed my Part 107 exam. I am a PGA Golf Professional by trade and am looking to extend my business into golf course drone video work. Can you suggest a drone for me to purchase that would lend itself to video work that will be used to market golf course facilities and events from above? Thank you! — Todd
Todd! Woo! Massive congratulations on passing your Part 107 exam! Here’s my take on the best drones to capture those pristine, cinematic results on the green.
The best two drones for photographing and filming golf courses
To capture sweeping fairways, changes in elevation and the distinct textures of a course, you need a drone that can handle tough, bright outdoor lighting. Here are my top two recs:
If you want the absolute best image quality to showcase ultra-high-end properties or premium club marketing, the DJI Mavic 4 Pro is the drone to buy. That’s largely due to its triple-camera system, anchored by a massive 100MP Hasselblad main camera with a 4/3 CMOS sensor. I really like it for golf because that 4/3 sensor is perfectly suited for high-contrast outdoor scenes. It will capture those deep green grass textures without blowing out bright sand bunkers under harsh sunlight—something that completely ruins footage on cheaper cameras.
Plus, its two telephoto lenses (70mm and 168mm equivalents) are incredibly helpful on a golf course. You can fly far back from the golfers to avoid interrupting their game (and avoid getting your drone hit by a stray ball) but still zoom in tightly to track a shot flying down the fairway.
You also mentioned marketing specifically, which in this day and age means posting video to social media. This drone’s “Infinity Gimbal” allows the camera to physically rotate 90 degrees to capture true, native vertical 4K video. If a course wants to market itself on Instagram Reels or TikTok, this saves you tons of cropping time in post-production.
If you want something slightly more compact and budget-friendly, the DJI Air 3S is your next best bet. It features a dual-camera system with a 1-inch CMOS main sensor and a 3x medium telephoto lens. That 3x telephoto compression lens is a favorite for landscape videographers because it pulls the background closer, making a backdrop of mountains or lakes behind a signature green look absolutely spectacular.
Aerial view of a golf course with trees in autumn color on a sunny day
Pro tip for your setup
Do not buy just the bare drone. Make sure you get the Fly More Combo (which includes extra batteries—crucial since a full 18-hole property shoot will require multiple flights) and a set of ND (Neutral Density) Filters. Think of ND filters as sunglasses for your drone lens. On bright, sunny days over open fairways, you need them to keep your shutter speed locked in at the correct cinematic frame rates to avoid jarring, jittery video.
Aerial view of three people golfing together. They are standing on the golf course at sunset.
Why your PGA background is your small business superpower
Now for a piece of unsolicited business advice: lean hard into that PGA background!
The business of drone photography can be highly lucrative and a ton of fun, but it is no secret that the general drone video market (think basic weddings and real estate) can get incredibly saturated.
The pilots who truly thrive in this industry are those who find a specific niche and dominate it. Carving out that niche requires more than just buying a nice drone and having a great eye for art. It requires connections, relationships and an intimate understanding of the environment. I am willing to bet you already have all of that given your golf career—and that is exactly what will set you apart from every other generic drone pilot trying to pitch to country clubs.
You know exactly what golfers care about in a course. You understand how the light hits a hole during an early morning tournament, how a fairway’s contours should be framed and what details a general manager wants to highlight to draw in new club memberships. Plenty of drone pilots who know nothing about golf try to market golf images, but they routinely fail at landing clients because they don’t understand the flow, the etiquette or the specific needs of the industry.
You live and breathe it, so use that to your advantage! Your PGA background is your biggest business asset—more so than any piece of drone hardware you can buy.
Happy flying!
What do you think of my recommendations? Would you give Todd different advice? Tell us in the comments!
Next up in our “Ask Drone Girl” series is about DJI’s Hasselblad camera offering — that’s the DJI Mavic 4 Pro. If you have a question for Drone Girl, contact her here.
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