Top Golf is...

[Kalen Braley]

A little more expensive than it feels like it should be . . .
but it's entertaining enough and maybe brings a few folks to the game.

Rory,


Its a very poor value when compared to a driving range experience.  If you go with a group of 4 and play for an hour, expect to hit half a buckets worth tops... for twice the price.....

[Garland Bayley]

....a way to make golf less stuffy, less steeped in elitism and less expensive

Where do you play? TopGolf is far more expensive than going to a course, or an old fashioned driving range.
I suppose you could simulate playing a round of golf there in 1/4 the time or less for the same price as playing a course.
But it's not real.

[Carl Rogers]

My 11yr old daughter attended a birthday party there over the winter with 20 other kids. Now, 6 of those kids (all girls) are way into golf and taking lessons and anxious to try out for the middle school golf team.
Please explain to me where the downside is to that potential "growth of the game? ?"

An example of the up side of my double edged comment.  I hope your daughters friends keep going in the game. ... but they need to quickly out grow Top Golf.

[John Kavanaugh]

One of the top 5 business I would not want in my neighborhood. They are a visual blight on our landscape.

[Ian Mackenzie]

....a way to make golf less stuffy, less steeped in elitism and less expensive

Where do you play? TopGolf is far more expensive than going to a course, or an old fashioned driving range.
I suppose you could simulate playing a round of golf there in 1/4 the time or less for the same price as playing a course.
But it's not real.

I play in Chicago.(Course is irrelevant. Have you been to a Top Golf facility?)
Your point is oranges v apples.


A bucket of balls at a driving range in downtown Chicago is $16.00.
But, that's all you get.


https://topgolf.com/us/chicago/pricing/


https:/ersey.cpdgolf.com/


(Weird, I keep pasting the URL and it keeps truncating it incorrectly when it posts. https:ersey.cpdgolf.com/

[Mike Hendren]

I'm guessing most of you don't wear skinny jeans, yoked plaid shirts with the tail out and beat up converse all-stars or brown casual shoes and baseball caps backward over a bro bun.  You're not the target market so it's not surprising you don't "get it."

[Carl Rogers]

One of the top 5 business I would not want in my neighborhood. They are a visual blight on our landscape.

The Top Golf in Virginia Beach, VA is in heavy commercial area off an expressway close to the intersections of 2 interstates.  It is not a bad building or a cheap building.

[Steve Lapper]

My 11yr old daughter attended a birthday party there over the winter with 20 other kids. Now, 6 of those kids (all girls) are way into golf and taking lessons and anxious to try out for the middle school golf team.
Please explain to me where the downside is to that potential "growth of the game? ?"

An example of the up side of my double edged comment.  I hope your daughters friends keep going in the game. ... but they need to quickly out grow Top Golf.

Carl,


   I respectifully disagree. I think in the seasonal Northeast areas the "fun" of Top Golf for juniors will provide sustainability for their new-found interest-levels. Anything that accomplishes that is a net positive IMO.


  I well get the respective negatives associated with the Top Golf experience, but find them to be a source of interest and inspiration for plenty of folks who would otherwise not bother to ever swing a club.


  What is most interesting is that their head count draws are so strong that some developers are citing them as potential anchor tenants for new development possibilities. That is fascinating in an era where very, very few RE attractions are drawing the crowds like they used to.

[Ian Mackenzie]

One of the top 5 business I would not want in my neighborhood. They are a visual blight on our landscape.

Hard-pressed to imagine a Top Golf in a residential "neighborhood".
Then again, I have sometimes thought, John, that you live under a bridge....

[BHoover]

One of the top 5 business I would not want in my neighborhood. They are a visual blight on our landscape.

I'd rather have a Top Golf in my neighborhood than an asphalt laying business.

[Jeff_Brauer]

I hope it brings more to the game.  But, I get the feeling it becomes its own little thing for folks who enjoy the thrill of hitting a golf ball, but in small doses as time allows.


Seemed like Japan has/had millions of "range only" golfers, and we may emulate them a bit in that regard.


The one in Dallas IS always crowded, with age and race diversity, again, a true testament to the pleasure of smacking a golf ball.

[Garland Bayley]

....a way to make golf less stuffy, less steeped in elitism and less expensive

Where do you play? TopGolf is far more expensive than going to a course, or an old fashioned driving range.
I suppose you could simulate playing a round of golf there in 1/4 the time or less for the same price as playing a course.
But it's not real.

I play in Chicago.(Course is irrelevant. Have you been to a Top Golf facility?)
Your point is oranges v apples.


A bucket of balls at a driving range in downtown Chicago is $16.00.
But, that's all you get.


https://topgolf.com/us/chicago/pricing/


https:/ersey.cpdgolf.com/


(Weird, I keep pasting the URL and it keeps truncating it incorrectly when it posts. https:ersey.cpdgolf.com/

I have gone to TopGolf. The pricing was based on how long you use the facility. So the page you linked to made no sense to me.

I can play my favorite local muni for $16 to $25. To hit the ball as many times as I would in a round of golf, I would have to stay for an hour, which is more expensive than real golf at my favorite muni, and takes 1/4 the time. So the only savings I see is time.

[Eric Smith]

Fantastic!


After watching the final round of the Masters in the lobby bar at the Wynn Las Vegas, I grabbed a taxi to Top Golf to watch the playoff. An amazing place to watch golf I promise you! Wish there was one in Nashvegas.

Eric, it's under construction across the river from Germantown.  You can see the net poles from our office.  I won't say who's financing construction - only that I've become very familiar with the business.

Dinner's on me when you come down after it opens.  Maybe we can pull Pants 'n Snacks out of his shell to join us.

Mike

Sounds great, Mike!

[Ian Mackenzie]

Garland - you say above,


"I can play my favorite local muni for $16 to $25. To hit the ball as many times as I would in a round of golf, I would have to stay for an hour, which is more expensive than real golf at my favorite muni, and takes 1/4 the time. So the only savings I see is time."
BOOM.....!!!!
As Mike H says above, that is the audience for TG that sees golf taking too much F-ing time!!
And, since they can listen to music, watch TV, look at their phones, talk to their friends AND hit some balls, they have found the solution and it is called Top Golf.
QED.

[Mike_Young]

I'm guessing most of you don't wear skinny jeans, yoked plaid shirts with the tail out and beat up converse all-stars or brown casual shoes and baseball caps backward over a bro bun. 

I do....

[Mike Hendren]

I'm guessing most of you don't wear skinny jeans, yoked plaid shirts with the tail out and beat up converse all-stars or brown casual shoes and baseball caps backward over a bro bun. 

I do....

You can take the boy of Tech, but .....

Top Golf is not about golf - it's a millennial social experience. One of the most popular hangouts in downtown Nashville has a swimming pool and bowling lanes.  The biggest question:  Can you (G)uber to it?

[Kalen Braley]

TopGolf certainly seems to be supplemental as opposed to replacement when compared to actual golf.  In the two times I've been, with all the gawd awful shots I witnessed from other groups...and my own, I would think most here would be happy to keep the hacks off the course....   

[BCowan]

TopGolf certainly seems to be supplemental as opposed to replacement when compared to actual golf.  In the two times I've been, with all the gawd awful shots I witnessed from other groups...and my own, I would think most here would be happy to keep the hacks off the course....   

+1, Can we get that in writing? 

[Sean_A]

Bogey

Of course its a social experience, Topgolf is a bar where folks hit golf balls.  If some folks move toward golf, fine.  If they don't, fine.  Why all the debate?

Ciao

[Kalen Braley]

TopGolf certainly seems to be supplemental as opposed to replacement when compared to actual golf.  In the two times I've been, with all the gawd awful shots I witnessed from other groups...and my own, I would think most here would be happy to keep the hacks off the course....   

+1, Can we get that in writing?

I haven't played very many rounds in the last 2-3 years, mission already accomplished...

[John Kavanaugh]

It takes years and discipline to properly train a wife to understand and accept that golf is with your buddies and it takes all day. TopGolf will undo all that hard work in just a couple of visits. First of all even is she doesn't play she can tag along. Second once she sees all the other females enjoying cocktails and frivolity you ain't going alone. Thirdly, you sure as hell aren't going on a golf trip to TopGolf. Basically, TopGolf pulls back the curtain on what golf really is...an escape, a damn long escape, an escape from all those people who tell you why you are the piece a shit you really are. All fantasy is lost when you play with a net under the big lights.

[BCowan]

It takes years and discipline to properly train a wife to understand and accept that golf is with your buddies and it takes all day. TopGolf will undo all that hard work in just a couple of visits. First of all even is she doesn't play she can tag along. Second once she sees all the other females enjoying cocktails and frivolity you ain't going alone. Thirdly, you sure as hell aren't going on a golf trip to TopGolf. Basically, TopGolf pulls back the curtain on what golf really is...an escape, a damn long escape, an escape from all those people who tell you why you are the piece a shit you really are. All fantasy is lost when you play with a net under the big lights.

Thank you. 

[Mike Sweeney]

It takes years and discipline to properly train a wife to understand and accept that golf is with your buddies and it takes all day. TopGolf will undo all that hard work in just a couple of visits. First of all even is she doesn't play she can tag along. Second once she sees all the other females enjoying cocktails and frivolity you ain't going alone. Thirdly, you sure as hell aren't going on a golf trip to TopGolf. Basically, TopGolf pulls back the curtain on what golf really is...an escape, a damn long escape, an escape from all those people who tell you why you are the piece a shit you really are. All fantasy is lost when you play with a net under the big lights.

My wife has gone to Broadway shows with GCA heterosexual male friends without me!! Thanks again Ran!


There is no way that Ran saw that coming when he started this place. I vote 100% yes to TopGolf.

[jeffwarne]

It takes years and discipline to properly train a wife to understand and accept that golf is with your buddies and it takes all day. TopGolf will undo all that hard work in just a couple of visits. First of all even is she doesn't play she can tag along. Second once she sees all the other females enjoying cocktails and frivolity you ain't going alone. Thirdly, you sure as hell aren't going on a golf trip to TopGolf. Basically, TopGolf pulls back the curtain on what golf really is...an escape, a damn long escape, an escape from all those people who tell you why you are the piece a shit you really are. All fantasy is lost when you play with a net under the big lights.

+1

[William_G]

GolfCurmudgeonAtlas

dot coooooooooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!


-----


Tons of stuff I don't understand in the world, don't feel the need to. I hate musicals, my wife loves them - and she sings like few people on the planet. I don't get cricket, but I couldn't care less if others are obsessed with it.


Move along...

+1