K
nowing, as every golf course
owner and manager does,
that time and difficulty are
two of the three key obstacles to
more people playing more golf,
it’s hardly surprising that courses
around the world are investing
heavily in practice facilities.
Twenty years ago, that opening
sentence might have seemed a little
odd. In those days, practice ranges
were where dedicated golfers went
to work on improving their games,
or where the slightly less dedicated
warmed up before heading to the
first hole (the least dedicated of all,
of course, just went straight to the tee
and trusted to luck). Now, though,
partly because golf designers have
learned to create more compelling
and challenging practice facilities, and
partly because savvy operators have
realized practice can itself be a driver
of revenue, things are changing.
“In the real estate industry, ‘location,
location, location’ is the mantra,”
says Pinehurst-based golf architect
Richard Mandell, ASGCA Associate.
“I think in golf, the new adage should
be ‘practice, practice, practice’. We
are seeing clients put more and more
emphasis on their practice facilities as
a way to bring in new members and
get current members to stay around
the club longer.”
Investment in practice facilities
carries a three way bonus for golf
courses. Done cleverly, it can, as
Mandell says, induce existing golfers
to spend longer at the course, building
loyalty and offering the potential to
drive increased food and beverage
revenue. But it also provides an
enticing environment for grow-
the-game activities; one of the big
problems in retaining new golfers
has always been that if someone is
attracted to try golf because of the
beautiful landscapes they see on TV
or in friends’ photos, hitting balls
from a windswept practice tee into
a flat and featureless field is hardly
going to deliver the expected thrills.
Thirdly, the best-designed practice
facilities are destinations in their
own right. By offering ways to work
on game improvement that are in
themselves competitive games, they
provide a way for time-poor golfers to
get their fix without committing to the
requirements of a full eighteen holes.
So, the practice facility of 2025
is likely to be a multifunctional
operation, incorporating traditional
long and short game areas, but
packaging them in a way that enables
golfers to go to the course and
practice their game while still playing
a match or competition of some sort
against their friends.
Virtually every golf club has a
practice putting green, and many
cities around the world also have
public putting facilities in parks. The
granddaddy of them all, though,
the famous Ladies Putting Course,
or Himalayas, in St Andrews, has
recently become a popular model for
other venues to copy.
As anyone who has been to St
Andrews will attest, the Himalayas
is a wild ride of humps and hollows.
An hour spent on the green should
improve any golfer’s sense of pace
control and understanding of how
to deal with breaking putts, but, in
the company of good friends, it is as
much fun as golf can deliver in so
short a time. Himalayas-influenced
greens have been or are being built at
a substantial number of golf venues
around the world. Done right, it is a
Practice facilities
The future of practice
FOCUS
12
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By Design
Around the world,
golf clubs, resorts
and developers are
investing in practice
facilities.
By Design
asks why modern
practice is different
from old-style
beating balls, and
what it can bring to
your golf business.
