A golf course website without an interactive course map is like a restaurant website without a menu. Prospective members and visitors want to explore the layout before they arrive — and a static scorecard image doesn't tell them what they want to know.
An interactive golf course map lets visitors pan and zoom across the course, click individual holes for yardage and hole details, and get a genuine feel for the layout — from the 12th green's elevation change to the tight angle off the tee on 5.
This guide shows you how to build an interactive golf course map and embed it on your club website using Atlas.
What an Interactive Golf Course Map Can Show
An interactive course map differs from a static scorecard image in several important ways:
- Zoomable: visitors can zoom in on individual greens, bunkers, or tee areas for detail
- Clickable: clicking a feature opens a popup with hole information
- Layered: different information types (yardages, hazards, course notes) can be turned on or off
- Satellite-based: the real aerial imagery of your course is the base, not a stylized illustration
The best interactive club website maps show:
- All 18 holes with fairway outlines
- Greens and tee box locations
- Water hazards and bunkers
- Distance markers or full yardage tables per hole
- Points of interest: clubhouse, pro shop, practice facility, parking
Step 1: Build the Base Course Map in Atlas
If you haven't already mapped your course in Atlas, start by creating the base layer set:
- Create a new Atlas project and set the basemap to satellite imagery
- Trace polygon outlines for each fairway, green, and tee complex
- Add polygon shapes for bunkers and water hazards
- Draw lines for cart paths
- Add a point feature for the clubhouse, pro shop, and any named features
For a website-facing map, prioritize visual clarity over operational detail. You don't need drainage pipes or irrigation heads on a member-facing map — keep it clean and focused on the playing experience.
Step 2: Add Hole Information to Each Feature
Click on each hole's fairway polygon or green polygon and add attributes. For a public-facing course map, useful attributes include:
- Hole number
- Par
- Handicap rating
- Yardages from championship, men's, ladies', and forward tees
- A short hole description ("Tight driving hole — avoid the fairway bunker left at 220 yards")
These attributes appear as popups when visitors click the feature on the embedded map.
Step 3: Style the Map for Visual Appeal
For a club website, the map should look professional and match your brand aesthetic. In Atlas:
- Use your club's colors for fairway and feature fills
- Set a clean, minimal basemap (satellite imagery or a neutral terrain basemap)
- Apply consistent opacity so features look crisp at all zoom levels
- Ensure text labels are legible on both desktop and mobile screens
- Add the clubhouse or pro shop as a labeled anchor point so visitors can orient themselves
Test the map at multiple zoom levels — the full 18-hole overview and the single-hole detail view should both be readable.
Step 4: Embed the Map on Your Website
Once the map is styled and ready:
- Click Share in Atlas
- Select Embed to generate the iframe code
- Set the embed options: initial zoom level and center point (typically the full course overview), and whether to show the layer panel or hide it for a cleaner embed
- Copy the iframe code
- Paste it into your website's HTML where you want the map to appear
The embed is responsive — it resizes for mobile screens automatically. For most club websites, a 16:9 ratio embed placed on a dedicated "Course" or "The Holes" page works best.
If your website uses a CMS like WordPress, Squarespace, or Webflow, paste the embed code into an HTML block on the page.
Step 5: Set Permissions Correctly
For a public website embed, the Atlas project should be set to public or view-only. This means:
- Visitors can view and interact with the map without an Atlas account
- Nobody can edit or change the map through the embed
- The map updates automatically when you edit the project in Atlas — no need to re-embed after changes
If parts of the course map contain sensitive operational data (drainage infrastructure, maintenance notes), create a separate "public website" project that contains only the visitor-appropriate layers, rather than sharing your full operational map.
Additional Interactive Features
A Fly-Through Hole Preview
For each hole, create a short-form aerial view by placing the camera position at the tee and angling the view toward the green. Atlas's 3D terrain view (when enabled with elevation data) can add depth to these views. Share hole-by-hole links that open directly to that hole's view.
Course Tour Mode
Build a virtual course tour by creating a sequence of shared links, each zoomed to a different hole. Link them together in a "Hole Guide" page on your website, letting prospective members take a virtual tour before visiting.
Embedded Tournament Maps
For club events, create a tournament-specific version of the map with pin positions and setup notes, and embed a temporary version on your website during event week. This gives members a way to follow along with course setup before their round.
Why This Matters for Member Experience and Marketing
Interactive course maps on club websites consistently improve:
- Time on page — visitors exploring the course layout stay longer than those hitting a static scorecard
- Enquiry conversion — prospective members who can visually explore the layout before visiting have a better sense of what the course offers
- Member communication — during closure or renovation periods, an updated map showing what's affected and what's open is far clearer than a written notice
- Tournament publicity — an embeddable tournament map is a shareable asset that works on social media and email campaigns
An interactive course map is one of the most practical digital investments a golf club can make — and with Atlas, it can be built and embedded in a single afternoon.
