Best hole location software for golf courses

Hole location software plans where the cup goes, protects the green from overuse, and publishes the day's pins to the crew and the golfers. The two real options are ezLocator, the specialist, and TurfDog, which builds hole locations into the full maintenance system.

Updated 2026-10-27

What does hole location software do?

• Plans pin positions days or weeks ahead, with rules that keep cups off worn spots and away from unfair slopes
• Shows slope maps of each green so placements are informed, not guessed
• Guides the person cutting cups to the exact spot — increasingly with GPS on a phone
• Prints the pin sheet for the shop, the pro shop, and the carts
• Publishes locations to golfers through an app or an embed on the club's website

Why do slope maps matter?

A pin sheet without slope data tells you where the hole is, not whether it should be there. Slope maps show the green's contours so the planner can keep cups on fair ground and rotate through the whole green over the season. TurfDog includes slope maps on Superintendent (14-day planning) and Club (30-day planning), and integrates Strackaline green data for courses that have it.

What is GPS pin placement?

Instead of pacing off distances from the pin sheet, the person cutting cups opens the hole on a phone and walks to the marked spot with live GPS guidance. The cut location is recorded against the plan, so the sheet, the green, and the record all agree. GPS PINS runs on phones and the TurfDog iOS/Android apps, not desktop. Cut Set Pins is available to crew and managers; Place Pins is for managers and primary users. Each green needs a saved GPS reference. A phone works without extra hardware, but accuracy depends on its fix; a compatible Bad Elf receiver can improve position accuracy.

How do golfers see the pins?

TurfDog prints the pin sheet in 1x, 2x, or 4x layouts for the shop and carts, and on the Club plan there is a golfer pin-sheet app and an embed for the club's own website — the same daily pins, published where members already look.

TurfDog vs ezLocator

ezLocator is the specialist: automated daily hole selection against your course standards, with deep integrations into cart and club systems. It is excellent at that one job. Published list pricing as of October 2026 is $2,000/year with setup tiers from $0 to $8,500 depending on surveying — check their site for current numbers.

TurfDog includes hole locations inside the full maintenance system: daily pins on the free Crew plan, 14-day planning with slope maps on Superintendent ($3,499/year), and 30-day planning with the golfer app and embed on Club ($4,899/year). If you also need the job board, spray records, and the rest, pins come with it.

The honest summary: if automated pin selection is all you need and budget is secondary, ezLocator is the specialist. If you want strong hole locations inside one system that also runs the operation, TurfDog is the better value. Full detail on the TurfDog vs ezLocator page.

What about tournaments?

Tournament days need protected pins — positions saved for the event that daily rotation cannot steal. TurfDog's tournament protection keeps your event pins reserved until the day, then publishes them like any other day.

Frequently asked questions