Netstar and Sunshine Tour Form Strategic Partnership to Advance Golf Analytics

Netstar and Sunshine Tour Form Strategic Partnership to Advance Golf Analytics. Netstar has announced a strategic partnership with the Sunshine Tour aimed at developing advanced performance analytics and tracking capabilities for professional golf in South Africa. The initiative brings telematics technology into the competitive environment of tournament golf, with both organisations working together to design a custom solution tailored to player development.

Netstar is a subsidiary of Altron and is widely known for vehicle tracking and fleet management solutions. Through this collaboration, those capabilities will be adapted to monitor performance on the course and generate detailed data that players and coaches can use to refine technique and strategy over time.

According to Werner Kapp, chief executive of the Altron Group, the partnership reflects a commitment to building solutions driven by data, technology and human ingenuity. He said the same innovation focused approach used in fleet management is now being applied to support South Africa’s long standing golfing tradition.

The solution under development combines wearable GPS tracking devices that record player position, a shot capture application operated by trained markers, and an analytics dashboard that evaluates performance across multiple areas of the game. These include scoring, play off the tee, approach shots, short game performance, putting and strokes gained.

Grant Fraser, group managing director of Netstar, said the collaboration demonstrates how the company’s core tracking technology can be applied beyond vehicle monitoring. He explained that both organisations aim to create tools that deliver meaningful insights to players while supporting the continued global competitiveness of South African golf.

The Sunshine Tour believes the initiative represents an important step in embracing data driven performance analysis within professional competition. The circuit has previously launched the careers of champions including Ernie Els, Gary Player, Retief Goosen and Louis Oosthuizen.

Commissioner Thomas Abt said technology is reshaping professional golf worldwide and the partnership helps ensure local players remain competitive at the highest levels. Sunshine Tour professional Dylan Frittelli also welcomed the development, noting that performance analytics increasingly distinguishes leading players in international competition.

Pilot programmes will take place during the Investec South African Open Championship and the Joburg Open, with phased implementation planned from the start of the 2026 to 2027 season.

Both organisations say the partnership reflects a shared commitment to advancing player development through technology, data analysis and long term collaboration. By combining tracking expertise with competitive golf environments, they aim to support performance improvement while strengthening South Africa’s presence in global professional golf overall.