Popstroke? Will it affect GCA?

[Tim Leahy]

Just watched Popstroke event for the first time with Popstroke champions vs Fowler and Creamer. Never heard of this before as there are none YET in Cali but looks very fun for golfers and nongolfers. It is a cross between Top Golf and minigolf with locations in Fla, AZ and Texas but I can see this expanding alot. Found one prior reference on GCA mentioning Tiger designing Popstroke "greens". Looks cool with twists and turns on artificial greens around artificial traps and all kinds of strategy using backstop "rough" to make backdoor putts. Can see golfers playing this more than mini-golf although I have had tons of fun as an adult playing mini golf with my friends for money. These places also serve cocktails and beer where mini golf usually doesn't.
Just wondered if anyone has played Popstroke and if this may effect future real green designs. Have any of our designers been exposed to this?

[Tim Gavrich]

I played one of the 18s at the original PopStroke in Port St. Lucie not too long after it opened in 2019. I enjoyed it and personally would rather spend an hour or two at one than at a Topgolf. The arcade-ified version of hitting full shots at Topgolf just doesn't excite me, but the opportunity to hole putts is always exciting, plus I feel like putting is a better intro to golf for non-golfers than full shots. PopStroke PSL shut down for several months last year to redo its courses, which were originally designed by Jackson-Kahn but were totally renovated by the TGR design team. It might have set the record for the soonest complete course revamp in golf history. I haven't had the chance to go back and see the changes yet.