Best. Range. Ever.

[bunkerputt]

I just got back from my favorite place to practice:  The First Tee of Greater Austin.  They replaced all their range balls with new, Pro V1 practice balls.  $9.50 for 100, and you can play the par-3 course for free.  Two putting greens, lots of thick greenside rough and contours for short game practice, really well maintained.  Very cool.  Talk about being spoiled.  Almost made a hole-in-one on the short course too....

[MackJL06]

Originally Posted by bunkerputt

I just got back from my favorite place to practice:  The First Tee of Greater Austin.  They replaced all their range balls with new, Pro V1 practice balls.  $9.50 for 100, and you can play the par-3 course for free.  Two putting greens, lots of thick greenside rough and contours for short game practice, really well maintained.  Very cool.  Talk about being spoiled.  Almost made a hole-in-one on the short course too....

pics or it didnt happen :)

[deronsizemore]

Originally Posted by bunkerputt

I just got back from my favorite place to practice:  The First Tee of Greater Austin.  They replaced all their range balls with new, Pro V1 practice balls.  $9.50 for 100, and you can play the par-3 course for free.  Two putting greens, lots of thick greenside rough and contours for short game practice, really well maintained.  Very cool.  Talk about being spoiled.  Almost made a hole-in-one on the short course too....

So wait... it's $9.50 for 100 balls AND you're hitting ProV's?

The range I go to (which is always listed at one of the top in the country) charges $6.50 for about 40 balls and they're mostly your typical range balls with the random beat up ProV thrown in.

[Mr3Wiggle]

I have to wonder.  A driving range with Pro V's for range balls.  Not a very sustainable business model.  Those balls will be chewed up in less than a month.

[Deryck Griffith]

Originally Posted by bunkerputt

I just got back from my favorite place to practice:  The First Tee of Greater Austin.  They replaced all their range balls with new, Pro V1 practice balls.  $9.50 for 100, and you can play the par-3 course for free.  Two putting greens, lots of thick greenside rough and contours for short game practice, really well maintained.  Very cool.  Talk about being spoiled.  Almost made a hole-in-one on the short course too....

Isn't that where the Harvey Penick Golf Campus is?

[bunkerputt]

Originally Posted by Deryck Griffith

Isn't that where the Harvey Penick Golf Campus is?

Yes.  They don't buy their balls.  They are donated by country clubs, etc..  Austin Country Club donates quite a few.  I think their range costs are low because they are mostly corporate sponsored:

http://www.thefirsttee.org/club/scripts/public/public.asp?grp=0&NS;=PUBLIC

They get whatever balls people give them.  A few months ago, their range balls were just a random sampling of all balls on the market for the last 15 years or so.  Maybe 10% were high quality 3-piece urethane.  The rest were two-piece surlyn, but never range balls.  5 years ago you could find a lot of balatas.  The Pro V1 thing will last as long as they are receiving those kinds of donations.  So it will probably be relatively short-lived.

[anthony]

I'd rather hit random balls people give than those god awful, hard as stone range balls. There's a nearby range that has nike range balls and they are literally like hitting a rock. I hit half a small bucket and left without finishing them. Needless to say, that was my only visit to that range.

[bunkerputt]

Originally Posted by anthony

I'd rather hit random balls people give than those god awful, hard as stone range balls. There's a nearby range that has nike range balls and they are literally like hitting a rock. I hit half a small bucket and left without finishing them. Needless to say, that was my only visit to that range.

There's nothing bad about trying every ball on the market.  That's why I play the Taylormade's.  I've tried, quite literally, everything else.

[zipazoid]

Originally Posted by bunkerputt

I just got back from my favorite place to practice:  The First Tee of Greater Austin.  They replaced all their range balls with new, Pro V1 practice balls.  $9.50 for 100, and you can play the par-3 course for free.  Two putting greens, lots of thick greenside rough and contours for short game practice, really well maintained.  Very cool.  Talk about being spoiled.  Almost made a hole-in-one on the short course too....

That's pretty awesome! Heck, I gotta go over to Casselberry for a $9 bucket of pieces of crap balls.

I used to live in Port St. Lucie & they have an awesome facility there - the PGA Learning Center. It's anywhere from $10 to $20 for all you can hit balls, chipping green & 2 putting greens. After 6p they have a twilight rate, open til 10p. And the balls are Titleist NXTs. They have 9 different bunkers to practice out of, each with different types of sand. I miss that place.

http://www.floridagolfguide.com/photo-galleries/pga-learning-center-instruction-facility-port-st-lucie-5064.htm

[bunkerputt]

I should point out that I was just a bit misinformed in my original post.  They didn't "replace" all of their range balls.  They simply received a large donation of Pro V1 practice balls and added it to their current range stock.  A few days after, maybe 40% of the stock in a random bucket is Pro V1s.  I just happened to get lucky when they were selecting buckets strictly from the Pro V1 to distribute them amongst the balls on the range at any given time.  Someone also mentioned that people were stealing them.  Pretty sad.

[uttexas]

I'm sure there are some that are tempted to "buy" a large bucket of practice ProV1s and keep them for play----poor UT college students.