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  • Administrator
Posted

Driving range chain could be split from business as Topgolf Callaway Brands CEO expresses disappointment at stock performance.

Callaway has begun to explore a possible spinoff of Topgolf following the company's disappointing results.

 

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Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
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Posted

TopGolf is way too expensive. I disagree that their food sucks, but it's certainly overpriced. It's mediocre, but there are a few steps to go before I'll say it sucks.

And ironically, as Yogi Berra once quipped, "nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded." Which absolutely applies in this situation because they're completely dead during off hours but it's impossible to get a bay at the times you'd expect to hang out at a place like that with casual golfers, say 6:00-10:00 PM on weekdays. The one by me takes reservations. That you have to pay extra for. Yea, I haven't been to it in years. Can't seem to figure out why.

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Bill

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” - Confucius

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Posted

Interesting. Did not know they were on a decline. The one here in Virginia Beach still seems to stay busy anytime I'm passing it. Visited it a few weeks ago with some out of town visitors. Not a bad time. Agree with Bill. Food/drinks were okay. 

I am wondering if the indoor X-Golf type SIM places are cannibalizing their clientele. We have a place called Hackers, also in VB that seems to be doing well. One could argue it being a better experience, them being able to play Pebble Beach and St. Andrews on the same day and all..😊

Not cheap either.

Vishal S.

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  • Moderator
Posted

Went to one a couple of months ago. It’s really a glorified bowling alley. It’s not set up for serious golfers in my opinion. The facility is nice as was the staff though.

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Scott

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  • Moderator
Posted

We have both a TopGolf and a Drive Shack.  The Drive Shack is significantly nicer without much price difference. I don’t think Drive Shack is a very big company, but I suspect there are other similar competitors out there making it a little tougher on them. 

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Posted

They don’t have secure enough shank protection for me. Not a fan.🥴

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Posted
3 hours ago, Vinsk said:

They don’t have secure enough shank protection for me. Not a fan.🥴

Just go to the left most bay.

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Scott

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Posted
On 8/10/2024 at 8:32 AM, woodzie264 said:

We have both a TopGolf and a Drive Shack.  The Drive Shack is significantly nicer without much price difference. I don’t think Drive Shack is a very big company, but I suspect there are other similar competitors out there making it a little tougher on them. 

Good point. Competitors can copy the idea. I saw a non-TopGolf but similar setup on our way to western WI recently.

Brian Kuehn

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Posted
On 8/10/2024 at 6:44 AM, GolfLug said:

Interesting. Did not know they were on a decline. The one here in Virginia Beach still seems to stay busy anytime I'm passing it. Visited it a few weeks ago with some out of town visitors. Not a bad time. Agree with Bill. Food/drinks were okay. 

I am wondering if the indoor X-Golf type SIM places are cannibalizing their clientele. We have a place called Hackers, also in VB that seems to be doing well. One could argue it being a better experience, them being able to play Pebble Beach and St. Andrews on the same day and all..😊

Not cheap either.

DoD contractors entertaining clients. 🤣There are some areas of the country that will never run dry of entertainment dollars.

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Posted

I think TopGolf is a good place to "golf" for people who do not play golf.

As a parent of 2 kids who play travel sports. TopGolf is a good way for these kids to occupy themselves when they are not competing in their individual sports.

In July in Vegas and  at the topgolf around noon. half the bays were occupied.
I think one of the issues is too much space. They had 4 tiers worth of bays. That just seems like alot.

And I agree, the food is good, the balls suck!

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Posted
1 hour ago, Carl3 said:

DoD contractors entertaining clients. 🤣There are some areas of the country that will never run dry of entertainment dollars.

Yeah, it's the better version of 'golf' for shitty golfers. Less frustrating and more fun.

Vishal S.

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Posted (edited)

Yea, the pricing has gotten out of hand. 

Up near Cleveland, it is $32/HR in the morning, and goes up to $54/HR. 

Big Shots, which was a competitor to Top Golf, though it was bought by Top Golf, but now I hear that deal has fizzled out. Big Shots is $11/HR! Big Shots has trackman as well. That might be per person. So a bay might cost a lot more. Top Golf might be better for big groups. 

 

Edited by saevel25

Matt Dougherty, P.E.
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Posted

I think the answer is obvious. 

Top Golf has lost all of its customers. I mean if you watch youtube there must be 2000 videos that say "I got kicked out of Top Golf for hitting it over the net".  

Clearly so many people have been hitting it over the net that they've had to "kick out" most of their customer base. 

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  • Administrator
Posted
5 minutes ago, ChetlovesMer said:

I think the answer is obvious. 

Top Golf has lost all of its customers. I mean if you watch youtube there must be 2000 videos that say "I got kicked out of Top Golf for hitting it over the net".  

Clearly so many people have been hitting it over the net that they've had to "kick out" most of their customer base. 

Or the cost of replacement balls is getting REALLY high.

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

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  • Moderator
Posted
9 minutes ago, iacas said:

Or the cost of replacement balls is getting REALLY high.

Those custom made ultra limited flight balls probably cost as much as Pro V1s 😜

Bill

“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.” - Confucius

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  • Administrator
Posted
4 hours ago, billchao said:

Those custom made ultra limited flight balls probably cost as much as Pro V1s 😜

Probably more, with the chips inside.

Erik J. Barzeski —  I knock a ball. It goes in a gopher hole. 🏌🏼‍♂️
Director of Instruction Golf Evolution • Owner, The Sand Trap .com • AuthorLowest Score Wins
Golf Digest "Best Young Teachers in America" 2016-17 & "Best in State" 2017-20 • WNY Section PGA Teacher of the Year 2019 :edel: :true_linkswear:

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Posted

I've been to Top Golf a couple of times and both times it was as part of an event. It seemed fine for that purpose. It was food, drinks and a low impact activity as the start of my brother's bachelor party my last visit.

There just isn't enough there to warrant repeat business. Couldn't imagine going week after week to Top Golf like we go to our home courses or, for that matter, bowlers to their bowling leagues. 

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted

I’ve only gone to TG a few times.  A few were work related events and a few just hanging with friends.

I think it is fun for what it is.  It is a social event to eat & drink & socialize.  It is not “Golf”.

It is not a cheap date but also not insanely expensive.  Prime time near us is $62 per hour.

Also, last time we went we started at Sam’s club and got $100 TG gift cards for only $80.

Last time, @ 1 mo ago, food was good enough that we would eat it again.  Again not cheap but what is cheap now?

if I recall correctly our total bill for 2 hours with 4 people came to @ $350ish or so but then 20% with the gift cards came brought it down @ $280 which is only @ $70 per person.  We are not big drinkers so limited alcohol helped keep the cost down.  2 hours entertainment, food & drink for $70 each is not what I call super expensive.  

Stuart M.
 

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    • Nah, man. People have been testing clubs like this for decades at this point. Even 35 years. @M2R, are you AskGolfNut? If you're not, you seem to have fully bought into the cult or something. So many links to so many videos… Here's an issue, too: - A drop of 0.06 is a drop with a 90 MPH 7I having a ball speed of 117 and dropping it to 111.6, which is going to be nearly 15 yards, which is far more than what a "3% distance loss" indicates (and is even more than a 4.6% distance loss). - You're okay using a percentage with small numbers and saying "they're close" and "1.3 to 1.24 is only 4.6%," but then you excuse the massive 53% difference that going from 3% to 4.6% represents. That's a hell of an error! - That guy in the Elite video is swinging his 7I at 70 MPH. C'mon. My 5' tall daughter swings hers faster than that.
    • Yea but that is sort of my quandary, I sometimes see posts where people causally say this club is more forgiving, a little more forgiving, less forgiving, ad nauseum. But what the heck are they really quantifying? The proclamation of something as fact is not authoritative, even less so as I don't know what the basis for that statement is. For my entire golfing experience, I thought of forgiveness as how much distance front to back is lost hitting the face in non-optimal locations. Anything right or left is on me and delivery issues. But I also have to clarify that my experience is only with irons, I never got to the point of having any confidence or consistency with anything longer. I feel that is rather the point, as much as possible, to quantify the losses by trying to eliminate all the variables except the one you want to investigate. Or, I feel like we agree. Compared to the variables introduced by a golfer's delivery and the variables introduced by lie conditions, the losses from missing the optimal strike location might be so small as to almost be noise over a larger area than a pea.  In which case it seems that your objection is that the 0-3% area is being depicted as too large. Which I will address below. For statements that is absurd and true 100% sweet spot is tiny for all clubs. You will need to provide some objective data to back that up and also define what true 100% sweet spot is. If you mean the area where there are 0 losses, then yes. While true, I do not feel like a not practical or useful definition for what I would like to know. For strikes on irons away from the optimal location "in measurable and quantifiable results how many yards, or feet, does that translate into?"   In my opinion it ok to be dubious but I feel like we need people attempting this sort of data driven investigation. Even if they are wrong in some things at least they are moving the discussion forward. And he has been changing the maps and the way data is interpreted along the way. So, he admits to some of the ideas he started with as being wrong. It is not like we all have not been in that situation 😄 And in any case to proceed forward I feel will require supporting or refuting data. To which as I stated above, I do not have any experience in drivers so I cannot comment on that. But I would like to comment on irons as far as these heat maps. In a video by Elite Performance Golf Studios - The TRUTH About Forgiveness! Game Improvement vs Blade vs Players Distance SLOW SWING SPEED! and going back to ~12:50 will show the reference data for the Pro 241. I can use that to check AskGolfNut's heat map for the Pro 241: a 16mm heel, 5mm low produced a loss of efficiency from 1.3 down to 1.24 or ~4.6%. Looking at AskGolfNut's heatmap it predicts a loss of 3%. Is that good or bad? I do not know but given the possible variations I am going to say it is ok. That location is very close to where the head map goes to 4%, these are very small numbers, and rounding could be playing some part. But for sure I am going to say it is not absurd. Looking at one data point is absurd, but I am not going to spend time on more because IME people who are interested will do their own research and those not interested cannot be persuaded by any amount of data. However, the overall conclusion that I got from that video was that between the three clubs there is a difference in distance forgiveness, but it is not very much. Without some robot testing or something similar the human element in the testing makes it difficult to say is it 1 yard, or 2, or 3?  
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