Over the past few years, the Advexure aerial production team, in partnership with renowned golf course photographer Paul Hundley, have captured the rolling terrain and challenging golf holes of Erin Hills Golf Course, located in Erin, WI. Next month, Erin Hills will play host to Wisconsin's first U.S. Open from June 12-18. Erin Hills is a golf course like no other. Its challenging holes are carved in the rolling Wisconsin terrain that was left by glaciers many years ago. The course was built in 2006 and has played host to the U.S. Amateur in 2011, in addition to the U.S. Women's Amateur in 2008. In June of 2010, the USGA announced that Erin Hills would be the host of the 2017 U.S. Open. Since that announcement, USGA tournament coordinators and Erin Hills have been fervorously preparing for the Open to ensure Erin Hills continues the legacy of championship golf in Wisconsin: following in the footsteps of Whistling Straights golf course, which has now hosted three PGA Championships and will host the 2020 Ryder Cup. Whistling Straights is located in Kohler Wisconsin, about 1.5 hours northeast of Erin Hills and nestled along the Lake Michigan Shoreline.


In Fall of 2015, Advexure began testing different aerial drone work at Erin Hills, primarily using the DJI Inspire 1 drone among others. At the crest of summer, Erin Hills bolsters the beauty of Wisconsin when it's at its best; its plush golden fescue and piercing sunsets create stunning silhouettes of its rolling fairways. Our Fall of 2015 shoot at Erin Hills was a primer in anticipation of a larger video series to be produced when the course is in it's absolute prime.

Golf Course Drone Videos

When Erin Hills approached the Advexure aerial production team in partnership with Paul Hundley, we had one goal in mind: to create a unique aerial video flyover experience unlike anything ever seen before. Simply said, Erin Hills is a special course and we wanted these videos to reflect that. We aimed to outline the challenges and difficulty of the course while simultaneously capturing the spectacle and wonder of its beauty. After watching these flyovers, we wanted viewers to be left with excitement for the coming U.S. Open, and the burning desire to tackle the course for themselves.


Our production at Erin Hills lasted the months of July and August during the summer of 2016. Prior to the shoot, we analyzed the direction that each hole on the course ran. Depending each of the individual features of each hole would be lit at any given time of day, we carefully selected which holes would be shot at sunrise and which holes would be shot at sunset. Due to changing sun angles as the summer progressed, our scheduled and prime light for each hole changed significantly. Although, the start to our shoot at Erin Hills got off to a bit of a rocky start. We encountered many application failures with the different flight planning systems we were using. The summer months of Wisconsin average around 75 degrees and humidity above 65%. This hot and humid weather made for very short flight times.Our team had to be productive and impliment efficient flight patterns with each and every battery we sent up. All flights were carried out within FAA regulation by the Section 333 and Part 107 Certified Advexure production team. The lead pilot in command for this shoot was Travis Waibel while Paul Hundley was the cinematic director. Hundley has been shooting Erin Hills since it was built in 2006 and knows every touch of beauty on the course. Extensive flight planning hours were invested into the quality of these flyovers and Paul's visual expertise combined with Waibel's hundreds of hours piloting drones made for the perfect combination.

Erin Hills Aerial Drone Flyovers

All 18 holes of Erin Hills can be viewed in the YouTube playlist below and are featured on the Erin Hills website in additional to many other professional golf news outlets.



While Advexure specializes in the sales and service of camera drones and film equipment, our team also works on select shoots throughout the year specializing in aerial production. For aerial production inquiries, scheduling, and rates, please email info@advexure.com.