TAMPA, Florida (February 1, 2016) – I’m not sure I
can adequately describe Topgolf in a one-line catch
phrase.
Is it golf meets bowling? That doesn’t do it
justice -- not even close. Or how about a golf party
where everyone’s invited, and fun is mandatory? I
think that’s a little closer to the truth. But it still
doesn’t begin to describe your first experience at
Topgolf, especially if you go on a bustling Friday
night in the one year old Tampa, Florida location.
How I convinced two friends to go 90-minutes
away from the PGA Show in Orlando on a Friday
night to visit Topgolf is testimony to the magnetic
force created around any of their locations. The day
prior I had attended an announcement about
Topgolf's acquisition of online golf gaming site World
Golf Tour, and had an opportunity to interview their
dynamic CEO Ken May.
A light bulb went off, to the point where I knew,
without a doubt, that I needed to go now or wait
until Topgolf comes to California. (Which won’t be
long; they open this spring in Roseville.) I didn’t
really think of the impact of attending on the busiest
night of the week, but I’ll get to that in a minute.
My friends Matt Fisher (aka YouTube's
"The Golf Matt") and Pete Davison, who
I played high school golf with in Connecticut, didn’t
blink before saying yes to my idea, so we made the
straight shot on I4 across Florida. An obligatory
warm up nine on an old-school Florida course called
Bloomingdale Golfer’s Club helped us break up the
trip, and by 7:00pm our golfing lives had been
changed forever. Really.
Let’s start with my friend Pete D., who has
been to thirty-straight PGA Shows. Each year he
asks us for “best of the day” after we walk the show
floor to get some conversation going. The morning
after we played Topgolf I asked him if Topgolf was
the best in show for him (and technically they were
part of the show, so Tampa counts).
His reply?
“Best in thirty years.”
OUR TAMPA EXPERIENCE
 |
All sorts of
games can be played and scored
|
Just 12 hours prior to that comment we
approached the Tampa facility -- a monstrous triple-
decker entertainment complex with 102 hitting bays
-- at peak Friday evening party time. The parking lot
was full. Valets were outside to park our car. It felt
like the premier of Star Wars.
The entire side of the building entrance is lit up
in blue with the Topgolf logo. People are coming out
laughing, and a hub of ordered chaos unfolded right
in front of us. (I think we might have caused a bit of
that, because Matt’s awesome video setup tends to
attract attention.) Our hearts pounded as we ran up
the stairs with dance music in the air replacing the
normal “tink-tink-tink” of golf balls hitting metal
that you normally hear when you pull up to a busy
driving range at night.
The staff danced a hybrid of a line dance and
Benihana birthday celebration. The staff’s smiles and
greetings -- “welcome to Topgolf!” -- were
contagious – notching our night up to another level.
If you come to Topgolf with the blahs, I doubt you’ll
have them when you leave.
It didn’t take more than a minute before our
bay server (I think that was his title) Brian
introduced himself. The games are very easy to
understand, and clubs are provided if you don’t feel
like lugging yours around. For our first try I just
wore the spikeless shoes I had on for golf that day –
but sneakers are fine too. Remembering a glove
helps – I had one in my pocket already so that was
good.
We played from the top level, which is really fun
with all the lighted targets below.
|
The food at
Topgolf is really good |
Brian took our drink order when we arrived,
then got our food going after our first game.
Everything is really tasty—it’s hard to argue with a
menu that goes from sliders and burgers to Banh Mi
sandwiches, fancy salads, and baskets of gourmet
fries. An hour later, my in-laws in Tampa arrived to
say hello, and pretty soon there were seven of us
yucking it up. Even my mother-in-law Sally -- who
has golfed at Seminole with President Eisenhower --
couldn’t resist the temptation to try and hit the
targets. (She smiled ear-to-ear when she did.)
HOW TOPGOLF WORKS
I won't bore you with all the technical details of
how Topgolf works suffice to say the golf balls are
embedded with computer chips that register when
you hit towards the coded targets that are staggered
throughout the range below at various yardages.
You select from a number of different
"games" on the flat screen above each
hitting bay prompt you to hit. Or just select
“practice” to settle in for some focused range work.
(Friday night might not be the best time for that
though!)
There is a combination of a number of scoring
systems at play as the targets are lined with
concentric circles (like darts), each segmented to
show you exactly where your ball wound up. The
closer to the middle, the more points you earn, and
the more opportunity to earn double on the next
shot (like bowling).
The next day, on a fancy golf course with cart-
mounted GPS screens, I couldn’t help thinking that
the GPS companies really missed an opportunity to
have their devices more widely adopted in scoring
mode as opposed to just yardage. How cool would it
be if everyone entered their scores and the cart
showed you the average score for a hole you just
birdied, so you would know how you compare with
other golfers?
That’s what works about Topgolf. There are no
casual shots – each ball is coded to a player and
they only come out of the machine one at a time.
When it’s your turn, you simply wave a club in front
of a sensor and a ball rolls out. There aren’t a lot of
bugs in their technology. It just works, like a
computerized bowling scoresheet.
WRAPPING UP THE FIRST VISIT
Two hours of golf seemed to be the point where
we felt like we should make room for other waiting
parties. There was no pressure from our server, but
he told us that the wait had ballooned to over three
hours since we first arrived. As good as the waiting
options are (full restaurant or bar area) I’m not sure
that I would want to wait that long, and my
mother-in-law, who lives in Tampa, told me that her
other visits have been during the day, when parking
spaces are open, and waiting times are minimal if
any.
But at least once, and I say for the first time
you play Topgolf, do it on a Friday or Saturday night.
Because if you live anywhere near a major
metropolitan area, Topgolf is probably coming your
way.
Topgolf's official tagline (in case you were
wondering after the way I started the story) is
"Let's Play," but Topgolf CEO Ken May
defined the company's long term plans this way:
"Our vision statement is, 'Topgolf is a
global sports entertainment community creating the
best times of your life.' One day, years from now,
we'll find it hard to believe that we were ever just
Topgolf."