TOPGOLF TEES IT UP FOR FUN
Entertainment complex features much more than a driving range
Some people love golf. Some people are addicted to technology. As for beer? Well ...
So when a company combines all three, you expect business to be booming and growing.
And that is exactly what is happening at Topgolf, where customers are beating a path toward the company’s door. Or doors. The company’s entertainment centers offer competitive golfing games in which players hit golf balls containing computer microchips that track and give points for accuracy and distance.
That means no fog, no rain and no wind.
There are full-service restaurants, TV screens for sports viewing and, in some locations, bars with a dozen different beers.
The company has 13 locations in the USA and three in the United Kingdom. Ten are under construction, including a 105,000square-foot location at the MGM Grand Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas strip. The facility will have 102 hitting bays on three levels with a VIP fourth level. There will be live music and 3,000 square feet for private meetings.
Topgolf built its business model for the scratch golfer and the neophyte. But the company wants both types to be awed at first glance.
“We have targets that are close in, so beginning golfers can hit the ball a short way and actually score,” CEO Ken May says. “I competed against my wife about six months ago. She played golf maybe once or twice in her life, and I play a pretty good bit — and she beat me as a result of playing in those short targets. ...
“From a social experience, it is fun for everybody. We got great food and beverage. There are a lot of pretty people walking around. The facilities are second to none. People are overwhelmed when they first walk in.”
Shock and awe are what Topgolf wants you to experience.
“It is quite a bit of entertainment,” May says. “When you first walk into the facility it takes your breath away by the size, 65,000 square feet. Our main bar would rival any of the nicest sports bars in America. You walk in, there are TVs everywhere. There are 12 beers on tap. Our food is overthe-top good.” As for those who just want the golf, chief operating officer Randy Starr says they won’t walk away disappointed or feeling they weren’t challenged.
“Let us say the game is ‘Top Shot,’ where the target changes every five balls and so you have to change clubs,” Starr says of an advanced game that is available. “It is a great way to practice your different clubs, from your 4-iron up to your 8-iron. It is a great way to monitor your accuracy and distance.”
In addition, “Topgolf U” has been launched to help golfers with their games. Each location will have three certified PGA instructors to give video lessons and email the video lessons back to the guest. That, May says, might get “non-golfers to (become) golfers.”
Not surprisingly, the company finds that 70% of its customers are male, and the target audience is the 18-to-34 crowd. But not everything is geared to that demographic.
“We can appeal to both groups for different reasons,” May says of the male-female split. “A lot of females are coming to get their first taste of golf. Men are very, very competitive. They are coming to beat their friends and hopefully have a great time and maybe even meet a pretty girl. So we try to tailor the experience to the demographics.”
May adds that the 18-to-34 crowd gives the company a huge millennial customer base and has gotten Topgolf partnerships with the Golf Channel, Golf Now,
and the MGM. Perhaps surprisingly, a game based on golf seems to be attract- ing people to take it outside and dabble in the actual game itself.
“Can we drive you to the golf course? Yes,” Starr says. “I can’t tell you we’ve put 40,000 people on the golf course, but we are starting to compile the data. We do know from our anecdotal surveys that we are creating golfers.”
May says half the people who enter Topgolf play golf one time or less a year. He considers them non-golfers and says that helps prove “we’re bringing more people to the game of golf than any other entertainment company out there.”
Topgolf hopes to attract 15 million customers across the USA by 2016, providing more and more entertainment with each visit to a location.
“We are not just a golf and entertainment company,” Starr says. “We are also a technology company. We are investing in R&D when it comes to the technology. We have a core of software engineers working on new ways to create games that would appeal to repeat guests. We are going to introduce at a pretty good cadence additional games that will keep people coming back.”
That includes a rewards programs that will include travel packages for guests to experience Topgolf in Las Vegas.
“You do have to handle (and keep) attention over the years, and that is something that weighs on us heavily,” Starr says.
That also means exclusivity. Topgolf will not have a business model like Starbucks or Dunkin’ Donuts.
“We don’t want to be on every street corner,” Starr says. “We think it is a special thing that we want communities to compete against each other because they see it as a unique entertainment amenity that appeals to residents and companies in the area as entertainment.” Topgolf will continue to roll out locations — but it’s a slow roll.
“We think the U.S. can accommodate about 100 of these locations,” May says. “Internationally, it is a big world out there. Probably in the 100s as well.
“We are a little bit exclusive. People will come to Topgolf and wait three to four hours on some weekends to play the game. That buzz factor and the people wanting to do it and not being able to get to it is a big deal.”
Starr says he gets four or five emails a day from business people who want the company to locate in their area, and May likes that there is more demand than supply. He says plans have the company opening stores at a “10to-12 clip for the next couple of years until we make our way toward 100.”
But they want to get to 100 with fans still flocking to their doors and leaving with the thought that they had a good day of entertainment. So everyone who plays also is asked to give the company a guest service score rating on everything from food, service, speed of service and quality of equipment.
“Usually we get a 9 out of a 10 range,” Starr says. “The biggest complaint is the wait. People do get frustrated, and it is something we are working on it.
“We turn what is traditionally a solitary experience into more of a social engagement activity. That is what is appealing to so many people that would otherwise not get into the industry. That is why the Golf Channel and are working with us in helping to grow the game.
“We think and hope that is what will help grow the game of golf in years to come.”