starting up a driving range

[Bacardibatman]

whilst it might be thought fun to hit the car

you cant get past that "Pikey" impression as was the reported impression of a range on here recently
topic about poor range and what ppl thought

ppl have covered alot already

make sure distance markers are accurate

i personally dont care about having it teed up for me but i hate having to check every bay to find a tee make sure each bay has a cpl

i also prefer a range that has a mat or two to the side of the covered bays just to get a completely free open air experience

when deciding the targets make sure theyre easy to collect the balls from (whilst some targets will seem great,if theyre tricky to collect balls from you'll have to venture out of the collector vehicle to pick them up and can only do that when nobodys hitting or the range is closed

deffo have some clubs to hire, right handed ,wrong handed, ladies ,cut down for kids etc

if your looking for a short game/putting area,it will be easier for a astroturf green , maintenance for a grass green will be hard work to keep it up to scratch
plus a grass will take a long time

if anyone is going to teach , the teaching bay should be larger, than a normal one


i'll have more of a think,see if i can remember more things

 

[Mark_G]

Just thought of something else that would be really useful and reasonably cheap, a video bay or two, where a customer can have the session recorded and supplied on cd for later analysis. Most people would use it eventually and it would be an extra feature for your advertising.

 

[Marko77]

Not sure what your premises is like but a decent indoor putting green to practice on would be a good attraction, more so in the winter but also summer after hitting a few balls.

One with some slopes and different cup positions.

Unless your confident of being able to sell golf gear at the same price as the interent I'd stay clear of that. If your partner has some pro's as contacts then possibly a partnership with them to sell their gear and getting some commission might be an option?

Good luck with it.

 

[kinhell]

Near me there are two ranges. One is manicured and perfect with nice greens scattered at good distances. The other is just a money making place where the balls are terrible and the range a mess. (Broken auto tees). If you ever get the chance then visit the 3 Hammers range just north of Wolverhampton or Four Ashes near Solihull. Two great examples of how to get people through the door. If I were you I'd definietly pay them both a visit and look and learn.

 

[barrybridges]

Just thought I'd add my two cents worth, but in reverse order.

Firstly, a fun idea for you. I'm not sure if you ever go bowling (as in, ten pin)?

Sometimes in the evenings what a lot of bowling lanes do is something called 'red head pin' where they circulate some red pins into the machines. If the red pin appears in your lane as the front pin and you score a strike on that go, you win a bottle of champagne.

What about doing something similar with golf balls; circulate some red golf balls on the course and then if you have a red ball in your bucket you can summon a member of staff and perhaps win a prize for hitting say a 300+ drive, or accuracy for getting the shot in the net. Just something fun.

More seriously, you need to think about your catchment area very very carefully to ensure that this is a sustainable business for you. Firstly: how many other driving ranges are within a 15 minute drive?

Assuming none or perhaps just 1 (if you can deal with competition - don't forget it makes starting up harder) - then how many golf courses are in the area. Do you genuinely have a demand for a range? I note you're talking about trying to get young people there, but I think that's not a great idea longer-term as you're trying to create an audience when most ranges thrive on existing golfers; you're essentially trying to create the market to begin with, rather than tap into one that's already there?

Key things for me:

must stay open late - to at least 9pm - to attract office workers

not fussed about tea or coffee but that's a plus

Would want it to be a nice environment, not a chavvy one, so good finishing, good targets, nets...tidy and clean...mown grass and not just a muddy field.

Decent balls rather than crappy rubber ones

Reasonable pricing is also key - £5 for 100 balls seems to be ok, but not £6+ which I've seen at some local ranges.

Good discounts and offers for regular customers.

Don't forget to be active on facebook/twitter to get your users involved in a CRM process!

 

[Swinger]

I personally like the idea of music. However if it upsets all the fuddy duddies then I better bring my headphones to listen my techno through.

I'd rather a bit of background music then the lastest Cobra or Taylor Made making ear piercing rackets non stop. There should be a health warning on some of those things, especially in a closed area.

I like the idea of full distance balls but think that would be pretty pointless as you could never keep everyone happy. Even top flights would be expensive to keep at a range and would be prone to being stolen and frankly I'd rather use range balls.

I think a few features does make people enjoy the experience more.

 

[Region3]

I saw a promotion at a range once where on a certain day everyone who bought a bucket would be given a numbered ball of a different colour.

There was a bucket out on the range at about 100yds and anyone who got their numbered ball in the bucket won a prize.

 

[viscount17]

one of my local ranges has a mini as a target, a fibre-glass replica supplied by a car dealer as a part of a sponsorship (?) challenge with AG. the car has a hole in the roof, on that weekend land the ball in the hole and you could win £2K of equipment, other prizes at other times have been a BMW for the weekend.

Depends on what you're allowed to do with the land but practice bunkers, chipping areas and maybe a green would go down well. You would have to control access to these or they soon become overcrowded.

Not sure but I think there is/was a range on the East of England Showground, and there used to be a club fitter there too. Got a feeling that the range shutdown while the show was on - you wouldn't have been able to park there anyway.

 

[GB72]

You are thinking about Swingers Steve. Real shame about that, was a really thriving business with lessons, fitting etc. Most of the older TG review videos on their website were done up there. Problem was the land was rented from the Council who decided that they wanted it back for development purposes and closed it down.