Participation
How Topgolf are bringing new golfers into the game
James Moar, director of instruction at Topgolf Watford, explains how golf’s fun venue is helping to bring new players into the sport
THE numbers are eye-opening. More than a million visits across their four UK locations. More than 55 million golf balls struck in 2024. And more than 3,000 lessons given.
When people in the golf industry talk about participation, and how to increase it, it’s a picture of a Topgolf facility that often pops into their heads.
Certainly, the driving range-cum-entertainment centre has a reach many traditional golf environments would crave.
If you want to find beginners, go to Topgolf. If you want to find younger players, visit Topgolf. The company has a huge role to play in the player pathway and the statistics are showing they do have a massive impact.
Some ten per cent of on-course golfers say being introduced to the game at Topgolf contributed to them eventually getting out on the course.
With off-course golf now surpassing on-course for the first time, according to the National Golf Foundation, and with the PGA’s own Golf For All report revealing 16.3 million adults are playing some form of the game every year, the potential for turning people initially looking for a fun experience into avid players is huge.
PGA Member James Moar is the director of instruction at Topgolf Watford and has worked for the company for three years following a storied career in traditional club environments.
With 26,000 visits a month to the Hertfordshire venue, he’s in the perfect position to give us an overview of Topgolf’s vital role in the player pathway…
People obviously come to Topgolf for all kinds of reasons. Who are you seeing there and how does it compare with a regular golf environment? How do you source your lessons?
In that traditional golf scene, you’ve got a captive audience in terms of the membership. While we do have very regular players that come through the doors – and do we see them on weekday mornings and even at weekends – it’s a lot more varied in terms of the demographics. There are lot more family groups, friend groups, and you don’t have your traditional little groups that come on a golf course.
Going out to try and find lessons just takes a slightly different approach compared to the standard golf scene - you have to be a bit more active in the venue.
There is a lot of going up and down the bays, enhancing the player’s experience in the venue and giving out information. You’re just trying to make sure they enjoy their experience with Topgolf so they keep coming back.
That’s where you find your lessons. You find that person who has come to Topgolf to have an enjoyable experience, finds they really do enjoy that experience and wants to continue and get better.
From that point onwards is where you start to build that lesson basis. We have golfers that come in from your traditional club golf [environment] and just want to hit some balls. They’re obviously a key person to go and speak to. They’re quite obvious, because they turn up with their own equipment. They’re quite easy to approach and find out what they’re up to.
But the day-to-day players, those family and friend groups that come in, you give a little bit of help and advice to make sure their experience in the venue is as good as it can be and they’re enjoying it.
You’ve worked in golf club environments, where you might see a certain type of golfer. Do you think you have a wider appreciation, working at Topgolf, about the kind of people who play the sport?
Topgolf certainly brings in so many different people that probably didn’t even know they were going to enjoy the game and maybe didn’t even contemplate playing it until they turned up here.
It puts me in an exciting position to bring more people into the game and that was part of the drive for me joining Topgolf.
You see so many more beginner golfers coming through the doors here, because it doesn’t have that stigma or intimidation factor that a golf club typically has for a beginner golfer.
To step in through those doors, it doesn’t matter what level of golf course it is, it’s a specific golf course. It’s not an entertainment venue like we are with golf attached to it.
People coming through the doors here are far more relaxed, I suppose, in terms of getting that experience they are looking for from a lesson.
“At this time of year, with how wet the courses are, golfers are able to come to a gamified range and do some practice with some tangible numbers”
What’s the make-up of people who you would see at Topgolf? How many are avid golfers? How many are families?
We certainly see quite a lot of golf bags coming through the doors. It changes depending on what time of the week it is. Friday, into Saturday and Sunday, we tend to see a big demographic of families coming out with their children – because it’s a really fun environment where you can come and get all your food and drink and just have a really great experience.
But mornings, during the week, we tend to see a lot more golfers coming in. Certainly at this time of year, with how wet golf courses are, they are able to come to a gamified range and do some practice with some tangible numbers.
Topgolf is portrayed as being all about having a good time but you are getting the serious golfers engaging too…
A lot of the fun-based element is quite a positive thing because, ultimately, it is a game. Games are supposed to be fun, and we want people to have the best experience and our range is very different to the traditional driving range.
Do you see people moving on from Topgolf to courses and clubs? How has that interaction taken place where people might have lessons with you, hitting the ball for the first time perhaps, and then moving on?
The main driving force for a lot of people coming to have lessons is because they want to, ultimately, take that step out onto a golf course. You get many reasons why people want to do that – whether someone wants to go on a golf trip because their mates are all going on it, or children coming to our junior camps and loving the experience and the next time you see them they’ve got their own little set of clubs. You know you are on the right track then, and leading through to the golf courses in the area. Ultimately, growing that grassroots area of the game is the lifeblood of the sport.
1m+
Visits across Topgolf’s four UK locations
The Topgolf phenomenon
55m+
Golf balls struck in 2024
3,000+
Lessons given
26,000
Monthly visits to Topgolf Watford
How do you achieve that? It’s a welcoming environment, but how do you work with them to move forward down the pathway?
A big part of the Topgolf experience, and from a coaching sense as well, is developing a relationship with the player and building trust so when they come here they know they are in a safe environment where they can play, relax and enjoy everything. That’s obviously the relationship I like to have with my clients as well.
In that way, you then gain their trust to actually take them onto the golf course. While most of our lessons are delivered in the venue, we do take players out to the golf course with playing lessons.
Whether that’s through developing a relationship with a local club or just agreeing to go and meet someone paying a green fee and taking them out to the golf course. If that’s the driving force for them wanting to take up lessons then we facilitate a way for them to take the next step onto the course.
It’s designed to be a very no-pressure environment at Topgolf…
It’s not just me facilitating that journey. We have Playmakers, which are our staff, who enhance that experience through the venue. A lot of them don’t have as much experience with golf as a lot of people would within a traditional golf club setting. They’re all about creating the experience for people to enjoy.
Part of my role, as I see it, is making sure the Playmakers have a little bit of knowledge so if I’m not there to impart advice or a little tip every now and again, they’ve got some basic information and they can go to a player and say, ‘ you might need to work a little on your grip, or posture, and here’s the coach’s card and he may be able to give you a lesson and help you out’.
The whole experience of coming through Topgolf is first and foremost enjoyment, having a great time and going away with some memories that are going to keep you coming back.
There is a big debate about what constitutes a golfer. If someone comes into Topgolf, picks up a club and hits it, are they are golfer to you?
Inside everyone there is a golfer, regardless of what level they play it. If you want to take part in a sport then, ultimately, you should be able to feel included in that sport.
Regardless of whether you’re someone who just tops it off the tee to start with, or if you’re hitting it 250 yards to the back of our range, you come here to have a great experience and you are part of that golfing family.
Every person who steps through these doors and enjoys themselves in this venue is part of that golfing experience and is therefore a golfer.
What do you feel the Topgolf experience brings to the golf pathway?
There was a survey with grassroots players [NGF Graffis Report 2024] that said 10 per cent credited Topgolf with getting them into the game.
I firmly believe we are helping to grow the game and allowing people to access the game which, probably pre-Covid, was a little harder to do. Since that golf boom there has been more people wanting to play and so facilitating that access to the sport is only a positive thing.
“Inside everyone there is a golfer, regardless of what level they play it. If you want to take part in a sport then, ultimately, you should be able to feel included in that sport. Every person who steps through these doors and enjoys themselves in this venue is part of that golfing experience and is therefore a golfer.”
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