Thermal-assisted golf rangefinder systems and methods

1. A method, comprising:

capturing an infrared image of a portion of a golf course including a flagstick, wherein the flagstick comprises a thermal target;

detecting the thermal target of the flagstick based on the infrared image;

providing a light to the flagstick based on the detected thermal target;

detecting at least a portion of the light that is reflected from the flagstick;

determining a distance to the flagstick based on the detected light; and

providing the distance.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

generating alignment guide information based on the detected thermal target; and

providing the alignment guide information to a user.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the alignment guide information comprises a user-viewable cue indicating how a light source should be directed to provide the light to the flagstick, and wherein the providing of the alignment guide information comprises presenting the user-viewable cue on a display.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

capturing additional infrared images; and

tracking the thermal target based on the infrared image and the additional infrared images.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising adjusting a direction of a light source to provide the light to the flagstick based on the tracking of the thermal target.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising stabilizing the infrared image.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising presenting a user-viewable image of the portion of the golf course including the flagstick on a display, wherein the user-viewable image is based on the infrared image.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

capturing a visible light image of the portion of the golf course;

generating a combined image based on the visible light image and the infrared image; and

displaying the combined image using a display.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising adjusting a temperature of the thermal target.

10. An apparatus for performing the method of claim 1 , the apparatus comprising:

an infrared imaging module configured to capture the infrared image;

a light source configured to emit the light;

a light detector configured to detect the light;

a visible light optical device configured to magnify the portion of the golf course;

a processor configured to communicate with the infrared imaging module, wherein the processor is configured to:

operate the infrared imaging module to capture the infrared image of the portion of the golf course including the flagstick, wherein the flagstick comprises the thermal target;

operate the light detector to detect at least a portion of the light that is reflected from the flagstick;

determine the distance to the flagstick based on the detected light; and

provide the distance.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

detect the thermal target of the flagstick based on the infrared image;

generate alignment guide information based on the detected thermal target, wherein the alignment guide information comprises a user-viewable cue indicating how the light source should be directed to emit the light to the flagstick; and

present the user-viewable cue on the visible light optical device.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

operate the infrared imaging module to capture additional infrared images;

track the thermal target based on the infrared image and the additional infrared images; and

operate the light source to adjust a direction of the light source to emit the light to the flagstick based on the tracked thermal target.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , further comprising:

a visible light camera configured to capture a visible light image;

one or more image stabilization modules configured to stabilize the infrared image captured by the infrared imaging module or the visible light image captured by the visible light image, or both; and

the processor further configured to operate the visible light camera to capture the visible light image of the portion of the golf course including the flagstick, wherein the flagstick comprises the thermal target.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the visible light optical device comprises a lens for optical magnification.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the visible light optical device comprises:

a visible light camera configured to capture a visible light image of the portion of the golf course including the flagstick; and

a display configured to present the visible light image or a magnification of the visible light image.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

generate a combined image based on the visible light image and the infrared image, wherein the combined image is a contrast enhanced version of the infrared image with addition of visible light image data; and

present the combined image on the display.

17. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the infrared imaging module comprises an infrared microbolometer array, and wherein the infrared image is a thermal image.

18. A system comprising the apparatus of claim 10 and a flagstick, wherein the flagstick comprises:

a flag;

a thermal target configured to emit a thermal radiation; and

a stick comprising a first end and a second end, wherein the flag and the thermal target are located closer to the first end than the second end, and wherein the second end is adapted to be placed in a golf hole.

19. A flagstick comprising:

a flag;

a thermal target configured to emit a thermal radiation; and

a stick comprising a first end and a second end, wherein the flag and the thermal target are located closer to the first end than the second end, and wherein the second end is adapted to be placed in a golf hole.

20. The flagstick of claim 19 , further comprising one or more retroreflectors adapted to reflect a light emitted by a light source, wherein the one or more retroreflectors are located closer to the first end than the second end, and wherein a temperature of the thermal target is adjustable.