Top Golf is...

[Ian Mackenzie]

Naw, I'm sure the hoovies in the world that come home and brag to their wives how TopGolf only cost $60 for a day aren't going to have an issue charming ole Ben out of her purse for a weekend golfing. This signals the end of millennial golf.

Ahem, John, that "signal" rang out months/years ago and has been covered here already.

[BCowan]

Take a look at all these happy people on the TopGolf website and ask yourself why would they give all that up to play golf. Charity scrambles maybe, long term avid golf...see ya.


https://topgolf.com/us/overland-park/play/golf-lessons/

John,


   Your missing some of the positive that may come from TG.  Rake N' Runners could possibly quit golf due to TG being quicker!  Is it coming together yet? 

[John Kavanaugh]

I can't afford to be the last golfer to turn out the lights.

[George Pazin]

I can't afford to be the last golfer to turn out the lights.

You needn't worry, Mike Keiser will be around long enough to help you to the door.

[John Kavanaugh]

I can't afford to be the last golfer to turn out the lights.

You needn't worry, Mike Keiser will be around long enough to help you to the door.

He better invest in some golf carts. Caddies?!?, the only wedge a TopGolfer wants handed to them is an orange for their Blue Moon.

[Kalen Braley]

I think there's another component lost on this group.  When you play TG, you don't need to own any clubs, balls, gear. etc


All those hundreds of dollars in clubs and balls that you were forking out?  All gone!!   


P.S.  And this doesn't even address all the money you save in traveling costs, airplane tix, car rental, gas, lodging, etc.

[BCowan]

I can't afford to be the last golfer to turn out the lights.

You needn't worry, Mike Keiser will be around long enough to help you to the door.

He better invest in some golf carts. Caddies?!?, the only wedge a TopGolfer wants handed to them is an orange for their Blue Moon.

He better invest with bentgrass fairways first.
Blue moon is so yester year John. Everyone drinks the IPaouches

[Steve Lang]

   Appropriately diverse as well, what more can a millennial ask for? other than a selfie stick to get a better pic?

[John Kavanaugh]

Insanity dilutes diversity.

[John Kavanaugh]

TopGolf is selling a false narrative. Golf is not about winning every time you tee it up. Great golf is winning nine times every 81 strokes. This is doomed to fail and pull down the game with it. The only possible victory is getting banned for clearing the fence. They even attactivate the nuisance by electronically pegging your ball. We can only pray it all get shuts down before an innocent passerby is injured.

[BHoover]

...

[Tim Taylor]

Top Golf is a bar with a driving range, not a driving range with a bar. Go in with those expectations and there's fun to be had.


Tim

[Kalen Braley]

Tim,


Very true.  My only beef with the place is its not a good value.  Cheap watered down drinks, nasty over-priced food, and a crappy game interface designed to maximize game setup time.

[Garland Bayley]

Tim,


Very true.  My only beef with the place is its not a good value.  Cheap watered down drinks, nasty over-priced food, and a crappy game interface designed to maximize game setup time.

That's right Kalen. They certainly have not solved the slow play problem. They have just brought it to the driving range.

[Kalen Braley]

Which in their case, is what they very much want as stalls are rented by the hour...


Its brilliant, slow play and heavy drinking is encouraged!! 

[Kirk Gill]

It's a driving range with a pulse?


I hate saying that, as I like a regular ol' driving range, where I can hit off of grass and don't worry about having food and drink readily available. But one of the most basic elements of golf is hitting a ball with a stick, and Top Golf and the games they've set up play into that. I've only been once, but I had a pretty good time with my sons. My main complaint is one that I have for all ranges that are several stories high......I always feel like after I swing I'm going to be hurling myself forward, over the edge. The fact that I've never fallen forward like that after hitting a shot EVER doesn't seem to matter. But hitting shots from the highest level seems to be part of the place's charm, if you will, so I had to get over that.

[SB]

I've mentioned this before, but I own a driving range about 5 miles from a TopGolf.  When it opened I thought I would get crushed.  The opposite happened.  Revenue went up.  Not dramatically, but we definitely got a few more people interested in practicing on Wednesday if they were meeting friends at TopGolf on Friday. 


They say that 50% of the people who go there have never picked up a club in their life.  I'd say another 30% have only picked up a club once.   With the death of corporate outings, this is how people are going to get their first taste of golf, and then hopefully they'll take the next step and go to a range.


I think it's blast. 

[Mike Hendren]

Nashville Preview Event:  http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2017/05/30/topgolf-to-host-nashville-preview-event.html?ana=e_me_set1&s=newsletter&ed=2017-05-30&u=sDuDzaubC42G%2FugW5lxMbAAkLoo&t=1496153423&j=78277821

[Steve_ Shaffer]

Stuff happens at Top Golf:


https://www.dallasnews.com/news/news/2017/07/01/two-men-injured-fort-worth-topgolf-fallingfrom-second-floor-fight

[Steve_ Shaffer]

It looks like " The Valley of the Sun" will be getting a fouth TopGolf in the West Valley city of Glendale!


http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/glendale/2017/08/08/topgolf-glendale-westgate-west-valley/547167001/

[BHoover]

Stuff happens at Top Golf:


https://www.dallasnews.com/news/news/2017/07/01/two-men-injured-fort-worth-topgolf-fallingfrom-second-floor-fight

But is the "stuff" that happens at TopGolf anywhere near as cool as the "stuff" that happens at the Wisconsin State Fair?


https://www.google.com/amp/nypost.com/2017/08/08/couple-caught-having-sex-at-state-fair-in-appalling-video/amp/

[Mike Sweeney]

I vote 100% yes to TopGolf.

So I finally went to a TopGolf golf today in Edison, NJ with my son as we both wanted to check it out.


I saw very few golfers and many NY Jet fans. I am not against it, but it has very little to do with golf. I thought it would be a cool place to practice, but it really was not even close to a traditional range.


As a golfer, my son had a similar feeling but he would probably go back with the girlfriend or a group of friends someday.

[Kalen Braley]

Mike,


Excellent post, well summarized.


I'm mostly curious if TopGolf actually is a gateway drug to real golf?  I honestly don't know, but if TopGolf is your first taste of hitting balls, then real golf will likely bore you to tears...

[Bruce Katona]

My wife and I stayed at the MGM is Vegas over Labor Day.  She hadn't picked up a club in 10 years but said "Lets do Top Golf it looks like fun."


We did.


We both had fun.


We both hit enough balls to be satisfied; had something to drink and would go back again.


Only on this site would you bash something golf related that might actually be a marginal economic success and get some folks interested in playing.  Drinking and quasi-athletic activities are linked to actually turning a profit in the sports business.

[Mike Sweeney]

Only on this site would you bash something golf related that might actually be a marginal economic success and get some folks interested in playing.  Drinking and quasi-athletic activities are linked to actually turning a profit in the sports business.

Bruce,


This seems like a silly post on Golf Club Atlas.


I just gave Topgolf a really good review when they sent me the follow up email today. I pretty much said what I said above, but added that the food was good, the staff was really nice (much nicer than many golf courses), and I appreciated their support of the Military (they gave my son a discount).  Topgolf is just not golf enough focused FOR ME!


This is a website with roughly 1500 nuts that criticize Augusta National Golf Club on a fairly regular basis. I would argue that TopGolf is in elite company by BEING BASHED ON GCA, and while "Golf's Most Beloved" has finally appeared in Maine, there are 14,000+ courses in Maine and the rest of America that are regularly ignored by this website. 


I can actually see my son, his girlfriend, me, my Autistic son, and my very complicated non-golfing wife playing/drinking/watching bowl games at TopGolf Myrtle Beach over the holidays when we are staying at a GCAers Pawleys Island, SC beach house.


That does not mean it should get a free pass on GCA!!