Golf Industry Central GIC Winter 2018 | Page 12

Feature - Topgolf WILL TOPGOLF ACTUALLY HELP THE GOLF INDUSTRY GROW PLAYER NUMBERS? By Mathilda Andersson N ot many would contest the view that golf has been fighting a losing battle over the past few years, with flattish- to-down participation numbers indicating a sport too stuck in tradition to gain and retain a new generation of players. But a new era has arrived which might just revolutionise the game as we know it. IT’S CALLED TOPGOLF. The recent surge in golf entertainment venues has seen the interest in the sport met with renewed vigour. These novel gaming formats, offering a hyper-social, stress-free take on the game, are enticing not only beginning golfers but avid golfers and even aspiring golfers, suggesting a game poised to be on the rise. Topgolf’s point-scoring design has been christened the fastest growing form of recreational golf engagement of our time, and if you make the drive out to Oxenford on Australia’s Gold Coast to Topgolf’s latest (and Australia’s first) indoor driving range and entertainment venue, you’ll soon see what all the fuss is about. The establishment is huge, rising three stories tall with 30 hitting bays (plus 4 VIP 12 The Golf Marketing Professionals I www.golfindustrycentral.com.au