Valentine Godin, standing, and Brent Downs, CGCS, MG, present on artificial intelligence in golf course management to a crowded lecture hall in Orlando. Photo by Roger Billings
Brent Downs, CGCS, MG, opened his educational session Tuesday at the 2026 GCSAA Conference and Trade Show with a video.
The short clip explained the process his team at Otter Creek Golf Course in Columbus, Ind., uses to excavate and build a green to USGA recommendations. Afterward, Downs — Otter Creek’s director of agronomy and an 18-year GCSAA member — admitted it was made with artificial intelligence, and he asked how many factual errors those in attendance spotted. He pointed out one: The animation of the broadcast spreader was spreading seed from the wrong direction.
“Is it perfect? No, not at all,” Downs said during “Making Artificial Intelligence (AI) Work Intelligently for You,” a session presented in partnership with John Deere. “But sometimes, when you’re trying to put something out quick, it’s pretty good.”
It wasn’t a hypothetical. Downs recently was asked to put together the video to show to course stakeholders. He was asked to have it in a handful of minutes.
He had video he could have drawn on for some, but some of the more technical animations — like a seed germinating — were beyond his abilities. Even if he had gone with existing footage, he likely would have faced hours editing and scripting the video.
And though there were a handful of subtle mistakes, it was well received.
“Based on the timeframe I was looking at, they were thrilled,” Downs said.
Downs admitted he’s no expert on AI. He’s simply had some experience with it.
His epiphany came a few years ago after a particularly long day at the office.
“I had to think of a way, could I write my emails faster, and could I write them a better way?” Downs said.
Downs discussed four types of AI:
- Reactive: When a mower senses and object and goes around it, for example.
- Assistive: AI that helps the user complete a task faster, like Siri or Alexa.
- Predictive: AI that uses data models to forecast what’s likely to happen next, like a weather forecasting app or Netflix.
- Generative: AI that creates new content from a prompt, like Grok, Gemini or ChatGPT. That last one was the big winner in a poll of the audience about which AI they use: 70% said ChatGPT.
Downs’ co-presenter was Valentine Godin, founder and CEO of Maya Global, a Belgian AI-powered digital assistant platform for turf and land management. It’s the platform Downs uses at Otter Creek, though he mentioned a few others pertinent to golf course management, including Skim Turf, Greenkeeper and Flash Weather AI.
While saying she sympathized with what one superintendent referred to as subscription fatigue, Godin stressed the point of AI in this space is to make the user’s job easier, not harder.
“I know your biggest pain is not having enough time,” she said. “My goal is to simplify AI.”
Andrew Hartsock is GCM’s editor-in-chief.