{"id":1553,"date":"2026-06-21T17:12:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-21T17:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=1553"},"modified":"2026-06-21T17:12:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-21T17:12:00","slug":"ai-takes-center-stage-at-this-years-u-s-open-helping-fans-follow-the-action-and-golfers-navigate-the-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=1553","title":{"rendered":"AI takes center stage at this year\u2019s U.S. Open, helping fans follow the action and golfers navigate the rules"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

SHINNECOCK HILLS, N.Y. \u2014 Tens of thousands of golf fans have come to eastern Long Island this weekend to watch the world\u2019s best golfers battle stiff Atlantic winds and winding fairways at the 126th U.S. Open at the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club.<\/p>\n

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While golf\u2019s traditions have changed little since the tournament\u2019s inception in the late 1800s, the AI boom has given rise to a new generation of tools to help players understand the game\u2019s rules and fans enjoy major tournaments.<\/p>\n

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To help players navigate golf\u2019s rules and receive quick, clear advice, the sport\u2019s governing body in the U.S. and organizer of the U.S. Open, the U.S. Golf Association, recently launched a chatbot-like tool called Rules AI.<\/p>\n

\u201cRules AI is about meeting golfers where they are and giving them access to answers that are as good or better than our own experts,\u201d said Craig Winter, the USGA\u2019s senior director for the rules of golf, in an email to NBC News. \u201cThe USGA has a deep respect for golf\u2019s tradition, but that shouldn\u2019t prevent us from improving how people experience playing the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

The USGA has established 24 foundational rules that cover everything from equipment requirements to penalties players should face if they hit their ball into a sandy bunker.<\/p>\n

Yet interpreting those rules can be almost as challenging as trying to whack the ball toward the flagstick. What should a player do if their ball comes to a halt on a paved (and unplayable) road? What happens if a golf ball ricochets off an alligator\u2019s head into a pond?<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Rules AI debuted in a pilot phase in late May, allowing players at certain golf clubs to experiment with the technology via one of the USGA\u2019s mobile apps. For example, users can type in a question about whether they are allowed to move a ball out of a patch of dirt due to construction or how many clubs they are allowed to carry in their bag, receiving a written answer moments later.<\/p>\n

To give fans visiting this year\u2019s U.S. Open some hands-on experience with the new service, organizers installed interactive, 7-foot-tall screens in a pavilion alongside the third hole. The setup, which shows an AI-generated rules official, was staffed by employees of the consulting firm Deloitte, which helped the USGA build the system.<\/p>\n

After considering a visitor\u2019s question for a few seconds, the AI avatar gave a concise ruling, with specific citations to the USGA rulebook. The avatar complimented NBC News several times for asking \u201ccreative\u201d questions, such as whether a beer can could be used to replace a tee.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are definitely situations on the course where I would use that,\u201d said Joe Couhig, who was there to support a friend playing in the tournament, Vaughn Harber. Couhig plays on the golf team at Lewis University in Illinois and said he wished he had a dedicated USGA expert to help settle difficult rulings. \u201cThat tool could help take into account the entire situation for your specific shot, because a lot of the USGA rules are just written in a very general way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Rules AI\u2019s landing page features a disclaimer that the system should not be used as a substitute for a human official\u2019s ruling and notes that generative AI technology is not foolproof.<\/p>\n

For years, the USGA has operated phone and email services to help answer golfers\u2019 trickiest rules questions. Rules AI was designed using over 25,000 real questions from those interactions, learning how human USGA experts have approached knotty rulings.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Anthony Santora, the USGA\u2019s managing director for IT and the leader of the team that developed Rules AI, emphasized the importance of this human expertise.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith generative AI, the data you use is what sets you apart,\u201d he said. \u201cThose 25,000 question-and-answer pairs, they\u2019re our magic, our superpower. We\u2019re not pulling from the open internet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Santora said his team also focused on making sure that Rules AI answers only golf-related questions and includes safeguards to prevent inappropriate responses or the sharing of sensitive information. The rollout has gone well so far, he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hope is that one day, we\u2019ll be a one-stop shop for any golf question,\u201d Santora said.<\/p>\n

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The USGA hopes to roll out Rules AI nationwide by spring 2027. Because the technology is still new, many fans strolling the sunny course said they were unaware of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never heard of any sort of AI rules chatbot, nope,\u201d said Bruin Richardson, who was visiting for the day from New York City. \u201cBut it sounds interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

As one of the four major golf championships alongside the British Open, the Masters and the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open and its sister tournament for women are the crown jewels of the USGA. The USGA comprises 55 local golf associations around the country and, along with golf\u2019s governing body in the United Kingdom, establishes the core rules of the sport.<\/p>\n

The USGA has embraced automation for years in other domains. It can now automatically track the arc of players\u2019 shots using radar guns, clip and upload highlights to its website in real time and provide text descriptions of a player\u2019s every move.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve worked in other sports on the production side, and golf is unlike anything else,\u201d said Dave Giancola, the USGA\u2019s senior director of global media. \u201cWe have 30,000 shots over 72 holes from 156 players. We could never staff enough people to interpret, interpolate and put that data into a format that\u2019s digestible to not only the avid golf fan but a general sports fan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Giancola said AI now gives his team added flexibility to ingest that data, splice it together with TV footage coming in from the telecast\u2019s fleet of cameras mounted atop drones, towers and cranes, and then create products that improve fans\u2019 viewing experience on the course and at home.<\/p>\n

Just a few weeks ago, the USGA unveiled another AI-powered offering, RangeCast, at the U.S. Women\u2019s Open, allowing fans to see and analyze players\u2019 warmup shots on the driving range with full ball-flight data.<\/p>\n

RangeCast joins ShotCast, which debuted last year and provides shot-by-shot graphic visualizations for fans visiting the USGA\u2019s website or mobile app. ShotCast also lets users view AI-generated text summaries of each shot, helping fans piece together a narrative for each hole.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Ned Horton, who was visiting for the day with Couhig, said he had already found ShotCast very useful. \u201cI couldn\u2019t see a player\u2019s actual shot from where I was standing on one hole,\u201d he told NBC News. \u201cShotCast made it easier to understand the situation and the player\u2019s different options.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, the USGA\u2019s website and app also introduced broader AI-generated summaries that can compare a player\u2019s round to the rest of the field, dynamically updating as other players finish and the leaderboard shifts.<\/p>\n

But some of the thousands of spectators roaming through sandy paths and knee-high grass were less bullish on AI\u2019s role at the tournament and in golf in general.<\/p>\n

\u201cGolf is an escape from life\u2019s distractions,\u201d one fan told NBC News. \u201cI want to live my life in the moment, and I left my phone at home today to get away from all of that noise.\u201d <\/p>\n

For his part, the USGA\u2019s Giancola said he envisions a more interactive future for the tournament, perhaps embracing technology like AI-enabled glasses to help fans track players\u2019 shots against the golf ball-colored afternoon sky.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all part of the USGA\u2019s mission to make the sport more accessible to a new generation of fans, he said.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019m personally really excited, as a fan of golf, of technology and of the U.S. Open, to see what we can do,\u201d Giancola said. \u201cThe sky\u2019s the limit for these championships.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills showcases how the USGA is using AI technology to transform golf. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artificial-intelligence"],"yoast_head":"\nAI takes center stage at this year\u2019s U.S. Open, helping fans follow the action and golfers navigate the rules - Trusted Moving Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/trustedmovinggroups.com\/?p=1553\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AI takes center stage at this year\u2019s U.S. Open, helping fans follow the action and golfers navigate the rules - 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