Attention and care for your serious players

In ancient times, the late 1960s, the game had a stranglehold on me, and teenage life took a very sharp turn. What became essential was learning how to play this game. After a lifetime in baseball, golf became my oxygen. I longed to get better, spending hour after hour risking the wrath of elders, hitting bucket after bucket at the local range. Back then, the average driving range was little more than a field, approximately 16 acres, with several spray-painted plywood yardage signs. It likely had a decent ball picker, a shed, and maybe a Coke machine. The mats and range balls were tired and abused, yet the excitement of this obsession made all of the above just incidental noise. I had a new love, and life would never be the same.

The majority of public ranges were similar back in those days. They were grass fields, made into practice centers, designed to facilitate the growth in a game driven upwards by Arnold Palmer and an expanding economy. The country was moving towards the end of an amazing post-war expansion. It was a period when we became the designers and builders of a world destroyed by war. From 1946 through ’72 this country was in the driver’s seat. The ranges, however, were little more than a place to build a golf swing. No short game areas or practice bunkers, the range was simply the place to smack ball after ball, bucket after bucket. The young people in those caged machines couldn’t pick them up fast enough as one worked to learn the game. No matter the lack of TLC, I loved every day at the range, every day connected to the game.

Today the practice center is a very different place. Many are more entertainment and hospitality venues rather than a place for building a better downswing. From food and beverage to music, to fire pits, these ranges are about driving revenue, traffic, and large groups of friends.  But what about the serious golfer? There are millions of men, women, and juniors who want only to be the best golfers they can be. They are not looking to play games, compete with friends for high game score, or grab the meal of the month. They expect good balls, firm turf, and mats that do not celebrate anniversaries. No doubt this modern practice center has found a place in the new world. They hold a position in the growth of the game. This post is simply asking every operator to remember those intentional golfers, searching for the perfect move, an eternal answer to lower scores. This post is about the serious golfer. In this…