Game on: Topgolf’s influence on the industry

Photo courtesy of Topgolf

It’s 9 a.m. on a Wednesday, and already the music can be heard from the parking lot. Right now, it’s Alt-J’s “Left Hand” pumping through the speakers.
“With your left hand free,
And your right in grip…”

Topgolf Allen, located 25 miles north of Dallas, opened for business in 2011. It offers 94 climate-controlled hitting bays, 225 HDTVs, a beer garden, a lounge with free pool, shuffleboard and Xbox and a menu item called “injectable donut holes” that come with a plastic syringe to squirt various jelly fillings right into the middle of a delicious warm donut.

“Instead of having to go to a golf facility — which is an intimidating environment for anyone — we’re allowing them to experience golf like this,” says Jeehae Lee, gesturing toward the hitting bays but also the bar area, the high-top tables, the horseshoe booths and the many HDTVs. Lee, a former LPGA player and now the director of business strategy for Topgolf, continues, “Here, they can enjoy food and beverage in a social environment… but also experience golf for the first time.”

Golfers on three different platforms smack microchipped golf balls repeatedly at targets embedded in the ground. A TV screen gives instant stats — where the ball landed, how far it traveled, how many points that golf ball earned them and what their next shot is worth. In 2015, 13.2 million microchipped golf balls were hit at this location alone. Topgolf Allen enjoyed 231,000 player visits that year.

Now it’s “Epic” that’s booming over the speakers, Faith No More’s hit from 1989.

“Can you feel it, see it, hear it today?
If you can’t then it doesn’t matter anyway.
You will never understand it ‘cause it happens too fast…”

From a feather-stuffed golf ball along the Scottish coastline to a microchipped golf ball in suburbia — could the forefathers of the game ever have imagined a golf game such as this?

Committed to growing the game

Photo courtesy of Topgolf

Lee has been with Topgolf for 16 months. Her background is as impressive as her high-heeled swing: A Bachelor of Arts in economics from Yale (where she was on the golf team), followed by five years playing on the LPGA Tour. After retiring from competitive golf, she went to work for powerhouse sports agency IMG, managing Michelle Wie’s media opportunities, sponsorships and scheduling. She then returned to school at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School for an MBA in business, management and marketing.

Lee realizes she’s in a unique situation, she says, not just to grow Topgolf’s business, but to perhaps grow the game of golf. Of particular interest to her are the same demographics that golf seems to be missing out on — women, minorities and Millennials.

“I am a woman, I am a Millennial, I am a minority. I think by that quality alone I have a very authentic voice in growing the game — like I represent something very unique,” she says. “I do take the responsibility of growing the game of golf very seriously. We are committed to growing the game of golf on all fronts.”

Topgolf is promoting the game in more ways than just by exposing it to a vast number of people (8 million in 2015, more than half of them new to golf). Lee is most excited about the low-key, affordable golf lessons called TopgolfU. These laid-back group lessons start at $29 an hour and can make the rookies feel confident enough to take their game to the golf course, she says.

Launched in April, TopgolfU increased Topgolf’s lessons 600 percent between May of 2015 and May of 2016. Lee projects TopgolfU will be teaching 60,000 students annually, and 65 to 70 percent of those students will be women. Of the women, 90 percent of them will consider themselves new to the game.

Aerial view of the Topgolf facility (Photo courtesy of Topgolf).

“We’re capturing those who aren’t just avid golfers who would pay $100 for a lesson, but those who are intrigued by golf but wouldn’t commit to it from the get-go,” she says. “Women and Millennials are two demographics we really need to focus on to improve the health of the game. We’re really proud that we’re accomplishing that with TopgolfU.”

Bullish on Topgolf

At the World Golf Foundation, CEO Steve Mona has been keeping a close eye on Topgolf’s progress for the last four years. He not only has visited Topgolf headquarters in Dallas on multiple occasions, he also commissioned the National Golf Foundation to study Topgolf — as well as other alternative forms of the game — to see if they could have an impact on golf.

The alternative games studied were footgolf, simulator golf and video game golf. Upon completion of the study, the NGF deemed Topgolf as the alternative game most likely to help the traditional game.

“We are bullish that we can get Topgolfers to transition to the golf course,” Mona says. Why? In typical Steve Mona fashion, he gives three reasons: Its relaxed attitude, its ease and its catering to Millennials, all of which will encourage people to further explore the game.

“I went to the Overland Park (Kan.) Topgolf at noon on a Saturday, and I was the oldest person in the building,” Mona says. “The average age there was probably 30. Trust me, I don’t go many places where I’m the oldest person, but that was one. It’s pure fun. No matter where you hit the ball, there’s a chance of scoring points, a chance of success. A lot of people who try golf don’t progress, and that’s why they drop out.”

Mona has kept in regular contact with Topgolf executives to see how the company can support such Golf 20/20 initiatives as Get Golf Ready, The First Tee, Drive, Chip and Putt and PGA Junior Golf League.

Though no formal partnership is in place, Mona believes that Topgolf, as a company, is eager to help grow the game.

“I really believe that Topgolf feels an obligation to the future of the game,” Mona says. “They’re invested. Golf means something to them. Every one of our initiatives, they feel like they can drive people to it, to the game.”

Relaxing the rules

Another group appreciative of Topgolf but with no official relationship is the National Golf Course Owners Association. NGCOA CEO Jay Karen loves the fact that Topgolf is giving millions of people the opportunity to experience what NGF CEO Joe Beditz describes as “shot euphoria” for the first time.

From little kids in high tops to adults in jean shorts, Topgolf welcomes all shapes and sizes of customer. Even better if they like to Tweet while playing. (Photo courtesy of Topgolf)

“The industry guy in me says that anything that puts a golf club in someone’s hand swinging at a golf ball, I am in favor of. I haven’t seen a single cognizant argument as to why (Topgolf) couldn’t be good for golf,” Karen says. “The debate is, can it be good not just for the golf industry, but for the golf course industry. How do we bridge the two?”

Karen says the bridge between the two currently is organic with an opportunity to be more systematic. In the meantime, he says Topgolf is teaching traditional golf a lesson on how to appeal to Millennials.

“(Topgolf’s) success is the market telling us that a golf experience can be a hell of a lot of fun,” Karen says. “I think more golf courses are going to experiment with ‘wine and dine’ events, music on golf carts, all the things to ‘loosen up’ the experience so somewhere in the middle lay a sustainable future for golf.”

Karen stresses that ‘loosening’ the golf experience isn’t something that needs to happen across golf universally. He does think that the relaxation of some rules, like dress codes and cell phones, appeals to a wider market.

“I think if you don’t change, your market is going to shrink. There’s still going to be millions of people willing to play golf on the traditional model, but that model is shrinking, so you’re going to have to fight harder for that market,” Karen says. “For example, cell phones. There’s no way Topgolf is going to limit cell phone usage. They encourage it! Take pictures, share them, go nuts. But there are golf courses out there that frown on even having a cell phone on the property.

“We can steal a page from that playbook and many facilities have,” Karen continues. “The casual approach certainly is in line with the Millennial sensibility more than the traditional golf experience.”

Topgolf Los Angeles

The Lakes at El Segundo, located across the street from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), isn’t just adopting the relaxed atmosphere of Topgolf. It’s adding Topgolf itself.

The municipal course, owned by the city of El Segundo, is building California’s second Topgolf facility over its driving range, parking lot and a few golf holes. The clubhouse will be demolished and rebuilt in a new location to accommodate Topgolf.

Fry/Straka Global Golf Course Design has been tasked with redesigning the property so that Topgolf and traditional golf not only coexist, but co-succeed. Jason Straka, ASGCA, says that the transition from Topgolfer to traditional golfer could happen almost by accident at the Lakes of El Segundo.

“People will go for Topgolf only, without understanding there is a 9-hole executive course and full learning academy (on-site),” Straka says. “They’re going to have a golf green that’s lit-up at night. You’re pulling these people in. It’s almost a graduation — from not thinking you’re going to do anything but play Topgolf, to the next thing you know you’re on the Lakes of El Segundo.”

Straka believes in Topgolf’s potential to create new golfers — even when not at the same location — because he’s seen it himself. While in Tampa, Fla., Straka took his family to play Topgolf for the first time. His 10-year-old daughter Kate, the only non-golfer in the family, had the best time. A few months later, back at home, she went golfing with a friend.

Photo courtesy of Topgolf

“Until that visit (to Topgolf) there was no chance — and I mean no chance — that that girl was going to get out on any type of golf course,” Straka says. “Whether she sticks with it, who knows? But with that one instance, we finally cracked the door.”

An amazing game

Call it an occupational hazard — Lee knows the Topgolf menu backward and forward.
She likes to go backward when ordering — dessert first. So the injectable donut holes go from dessert to appetizer. How’s that for Millennial instant gratification?

Lee brings her friends to Topgolf on weekends. On more than one occasion, she’s received Snapchat photos of those same friends on the golf course the next weekend giving traditional golf a try. She says the feeling she gets when she helps introduce a new player to the game is the most rewarding part of her job. (Sorry, donut appetizers.)

“Golf is an amazing game. It’s booming in Asia in ways we never thought possible,” she says. “If you look at the future of the game — Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth, Lydia Ko — they transcend golf and are relatable to Millennials. Because of that, golf has great things ahead of it.”

Photos: Topgolf