Topgolf entertainment complex aims for all-in fun
Includes 200 HDTV screens, free Wi-Fi, music and other games such as foosball, shuffleboard, a rooftop deck and more
Topgolf,first of all, is not golf. Topgolf is a trendy, glitzy international entertainment company that’s opening its 43rd location soon in South Fayettenear Bridgeville, where the huge glowing blue and green venue is purposefully very visible where Interstate 79crosses Route 50.
The building is three stories of 102 bays that open to a green-turfed expanse of “outfield” bounded by 175-foot-tall nets, a la an old-school driving range, only much fancier. Participants use golf clubs to drive golf balls toward lighted targets up to 215 yards away, with the distance and accuracy of their shots tracked by microchips. Players compete for electronically scored points against themselves or up to six players per bay, and they access their personal stats via theTopshelf app.
Bigger chips are served topped with “drunken beans” and more as Signature Nachos. You can order that and other mostly shareables from a full, mostly scratch menu overseen by executive chef Nathan Dixon. It can be brought to you in your climate-controlled, comfortably furnished bay.
Up to eight people can fit into a bay, so you all don’t have to play. And even if you are playing, you don’t have to concentrate on your swing. And it might be hard to do so with 200 HDTV screens, freeWi-Fi, music andfo os ball, shuffle board, even Xbox.
Topgolf’s mantra is you don’t have to be a golfer to have a good time, and in fact, its target audience is non-golfers.
They can eat and drink and not touch a club. A big part of the business will cater to groupsand events.
So Topgolf is golf as date night, brainstorming meeting andgender-reveal parties.
“A lot is happening here,” says Topgolf’s communications manager Morgan Schaaf, during a preview party Wednesday night that included political figures and sports celebrities such as Pittsburgh Penguins goalie MattMurray.
To play, you’ll need one of the memberships, which start at $5 lifetime and go up to $3,000 a year (perhaps plus a $125 initiation fee) for a platinum one. That gets you unlimited play for up to six players during certain hours with other perks such as food and drink discounts and clubs upgrades and “priority access to jump to the top of the wait list ... even during our most popular times.” There are corporatememberships, too.
Otherwise, members pay forthe bay — $25 an hour from open to noon, $35 an hour from noon to 5 p.m. and $45 an hour from 5 p.m. to close. Bay cost is the same whether you’re playing solo or with a group. In an hour, according toTopgolf, a single player typically can play five to six games. A group of six players — only one can hit at a time — can get through a game in aboutan hour to 1½ hours.
There are “hero” discounts for military and emergency servicespeople.
Actually, it is fun. So said someof the invitees who got to take swings at it Wednesday, without even having to bend overto place their balls, which automaticallyroll out.
“It’s like, even if you’re bad, it’s a good time,” said Delbert Tyleras he sipped a cold drink while trading shots with his fellow Robert Morris University football coach Ryan Matviko.
Ms. Schaaf says Topgolf will release the opening date on Monday, but it will be “in the coming weeks.” She says the Pittsburgh complex will beopen year-around.
The opening has not been without controversy: Earlier this year, the Keystone Mountain Lakes Regional Council of Carpenters took issue with — and put up a billboard to sayso — the Dallas-based Topgolf hiring a Chicago-based companyto build it.
Lee Manges, KML assistant director of organizing, said the billboard was erected toinform the public that “Topgolf is not paying the area’s standard wages and benefits. The issue is they are depriving local jobs and undermininglocal standards.”
Topgolf’s response said it is an “equal-opportunity employer,” and “This location will create 500 jobs and produce $264.5 million in economic output during the next 10years.”
Smaller versions, called Topgolf Swing Suites, opened this month at three spots, including the Kidz Klub Arcade at Nemacolin Woodlands Resortin Fayette County.
Its address is 400 PrestoSygan Road, Bridgeville, PA 15017 in the Newbury Market development. Learn more at https://topgolf.com/us/pittsburgh or by calling 412-5649188.