How the USGA is using Generative AI to shape the future of golf
The United States Golf Association explores how next-generation AI technology can leverage its expansive golf data to make the rules of the game more accessible.
TEEING UP A STRATEGY
FOR GENERATIVE AI
ADOPTION AND
ENHANCING
BRAND TRUST
The Situation
Humans have played golf, in one form or another, for hundreds of years. Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) is just getting started. What role will it play in golf’s future? Given the technology’s vast potential, the United States Golf Association (USGA), a leading voice in golf since 1894, was eager to discover how GenAI could be implemented to enhance how golfers and fans connect to and experience the game.
As a proud sponsor and trusted advisor, Deloitte has been at the forefront with the USGA, helping to build seamless, user-friendly experiences for golfers and fans, including the USGA App built by Deloitte. The organizations hadn’t begun leveraging GenAI in the work they were doing together, but the technology’s increased usage in the external marketplace and a deeper understanding of its capabilities sparked an exploration of its potential to drive new digital / data-based experiences for the USGA.
The USGA’s Rules team identified an opportunity to use GenAI to create a scalable way for the organization to convey the official rules of golf to the tens of millions who enjoy the game, and Deloitte shared a similar vision. As the organizations discussed potential solutions, it became clear that they could leverage each other’s highly specialized knowledge and unique assets—Deloitte’s in the GenAI space and the USGA’s rules experts coupled with the USGA’s proprietary database of years and years of past rules inquiries from golfers across the country. Together they were a perfect fit and could create a universally accessible way for anyone to ask a rules question and have confidence that they were receiving the correct answer.
THE SOLVE
TRANSPARENT
REASONING
CAN IMPROVE
GENERATIVE AI’S
HANDICAP AND
BUILD TRUST
The Impact
Once built by Deloitte, the rules response-generation tool was implemented in a proof of concept that was designed to prove technical feasibility. This teed up development of a pilot that enabled GenAI to respond to email queries that were reviewed and refined for accuracy by USGA subject matter experts before sending the reply to the user. This work provided an opportunity to further train the GenAI tool for future implementations by the USGA.
This “learning” is taking place under conditions that don’t require an immediate response, unlike a chatbot that needs to react within a few seconds, enabling continued enhancement of the database and increasing the tool’s accuracy. Even at this early stage, the USGA sees the potential efficacy of the tool and is excited to unlock future data-driven opportunities.
The customized customer service query-and-response model Deloitte built for the USGA could be applicable for any number of organizations that rely on specialized industry knowledge and regulatory components. Their queries, feedback, and reference materials might once have been filed away in a cabinet. That no longer needs to be the case, and Deloitte is helping the USGA and other clients leverage their expertise and democratize access to it.
An organization’s expert-level knowledge may be in a variety of formats, from text documents and emails to social media posts or videos. GenAI can help turn this unstructured data into accessible, relevant information an organization and its constituents may need—whether that’s to fix a home appliance, better understand innovative medical technologies, or—just maybe—lower their golf handicap.
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