Not sure how many of you have ever heard of Top Golf. It is a driving range golf game. As you can see the greens are kind of like dart boards. The golf balls all have RFID chips (I think) and when you get to your hitting station there is a bin you put your balls in. When you pull your ball onto the hitting mat it registers the ball to your name and tracks where it goes. There are various games that you can play from just chipping to the close greens to full shots to the farther greens to straight drive between the two white poles you can see in the distance. The games are 20 balls. It is double decked and wide as hell with alcohol and food sales. Batting cages, pro shop, and putt putt. As you can see it has fans and heaters depending on the weather.

Last week was my brother in laws 30th birthday so we went there on Saturday…75 degrees and perfect. I thought it might be crowded but you can imagine my surprise when they told us it was a 3 HOUR wait. So we went to the batting cages and left…confirmed, I suck at batting.

Very cool...I would def. do this if there was one by me. I started a topic a while ago wondering about leagues that arent structured like a golf round, but more like a bunch of mini-games ala The Big Break.

This seems like a nice way to practice without getting bored, and could be alotta fun with 2 or even 3 other guys battling.

Gonna do some research...Is this a chain by you, or just a one off?

meant to post website

http://www.topgolfusa.com/locations/...s/default.aspx

There is one in Chicago that I've been meaning to check out.

My good friend has raved about the one in Dallas...

Trip Report when I go obv

Have not seen this in Aust. yet but it looks like a great idea.We are normally a decade behind the real world though.

3 hour wait?

Still down for a 2p2 Top Golf extravaganza!

Pfft. Screw that. Let's play Firewheel Wednesday. West can play because it's not over 80*.

BO

high of 20

fffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

Top golf is awesome.

Iv been to the chicago one a few times, Im pretty sure theres a post on topgolf somewhere on 2p2 from within the last year. Chicago one I dont think had batting cages, but has 3 tiers, putt putt, and very good heaters... I went over my break in January and it really wasn't a problem temp wise. Games are 6$ during peak hours, however most times are 3$ a game and theres specials all the time. Never had to wait 3hrs tho... like an hr tops on like 6pm friday.

Very fun, cheap, easy to do. Nice to mix it up

78 degrees when I took that pic on Saturday....current windchill is -1.

Top Golf anyone?

I love going to Top Golf. That pic looks like its the one off of 75 in Dallas. Always a good time and there putt-putt course is nice as well.

Top Golf is a ton of fun and a great way to take people that don't normally enjoy golf for a fun time. Anyone that can hit the ball forward can get points even if they aren't close to accurate to where they are trying to aim by having it go into one of the many other greens

Figured I would start a thread to discuss this TopGolf facility that is spreading around the US and UK. I live in Scottsdale and one is opening up right next to the main poker casino Talking Stick Resort so I figure it's going to be a gold mine.

Anyone have any first hand reports from their experience?

I just bought a lifetime membership and $45 in value on my card for $25 as part of a special offer on their webpage. Figured I am going to check it out at least once so might as well save $20.

I have hit up the one here in Austin and like it. Great place to work on your iron game for sure, but also a great place to just have fun regardless of your skill level.

Instead of hitting to a non-descript blue flag where yardages may or may not be accurate you hit a ball with a built-in sensor towards a flag that is hovering above a pit. The pit is interlaced with what looks like a spiderweb and that spiderweb is also full of sensors.

After hitting it, the display tell you exactly how far you flew the ball and scores you based on accuracy. So again, a great place to get instand feedback while working your approach game. There are numerous flags from I believe 25 yards to 250 yards.

It also allws for various games you can play much like the target golf practice on Tiger Woods video games.

They also have a fully stocked bar, outdoor seating area and food. It's a touch pricey versus the normal driving range, but you can easily share a bay with 3 buddies to shave the cost.

thanks for the feedback, sounds exactly like I imagined it. Should be a huge hit out here in scottsdale.

That sounds really cool. I though that was just a stacked driving range like I used to see in Japan. Can't wait to check it out.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/93...p-golf-970112/

Top Golf’s technology has come a long way in the last 4+ years. The balls used to give false signals frequently and as I described you had to manually pull the balls through the RFID reader. The balls now release automatically (kind of) when you waive your club in front of a sensor. It is better than before, but still not perfect. The facilities they have been building are MUCH better than the original ones that were simply retrofitted driving ranges. They are taking the game towards a bowling atmosphere vs. pure golf experience.

The people that go are truly diverse. Anyone and everyone goes, and has fun. However, like all great businesses when you are successful you will bring competition your way. I hear through the grapevine there is a group that is going to use radar (Trackman and FlightScope) to track the ball instead of RFID. This should be INCREDIBLE. The games at Top Golf are fine for a bit, but they relatively quickly. Using radar should allow the creation of tons of games and they should be limitless in what they can do. Top Golf is VERY constrained by the targets and the balls.

Time will tell.

Thanks ship, didn't remember seeing your original post about this!

I love Top Golf (one just outside of Chicago) and am very intrigued by the one that ship described.

The one here is awesome because it is just outside O'Hare. If you stay late, you can be hitting balls under the lights with jumbojets landing over your head. It's a pretty neat experience.

The games themselves are a lot of fun, but as ship said, they are pretty restricted in the offerings. There are roughly 9 targets at various yardages and only a few game types. The full service bar / restaurant is awesome and it's a nice way to burn a few hours and the game is PERFECT for betting.

one opening in Atlanta early May 10 minutes from my home club, can't freakin wait. Can someone that's been explain some of the game types, I gotta get the golf whales excited over the next month.

Merging the two threads since there is relevant content in the old one too (FYI).

http://topgolf.com/chicago/play/games

I would describe the targets as dart boards.

One game is purely hit at any target and it scores. The issue with this game is that you can aim at one target and hit a different one and get credit.

Another game has you hit each section of the target. The approx 50 yard target has 9 sections so it is pretty good if you clean them all out.

Top Chip has you hit about 5 balls at each of the 4 closest targets. So you do have to hit a specific one and the furthest one in that game is about 100 yards.

Top Drive gives points based on how far off line you hit it offline to the far end of the range about 230 yards away. Pretty easy to just hit stingers that roll out the whole way and score a ton.

That's really about it. Like I say, the games do get old quickly, but with cocktails and friends it's great. You can take ****ty players to the 3rd deck and even if they hit shots that wouldn't carry 30 yards they *seem* to go far due to hitting off the elevated deck. That really seems to help all have fun as best as I can tell.

anyone else extremely uncomfortable hitting golf balls on the 2nd or 3rd deck of driving ranges??? always feels like I'm going to fly off on my follow through lol