A second technology driving range is about to open in the Myrtle Beach golf market, this one on the south end of the Grand Strand.
True Blue Golf Club in Pawleys Island has constructed a technology range, with a target opening date of Thanksgiving weekend or shortly thereafter. The structure is built and the technology is scheduled to be added in the next couple weeks.
The covered, open-air driving range facility will have 10 hitting bays equipped with Toptracer technology, and it will be open to the public.
“We’re excited about it,” said Bart Romano, True Blue’s director of golf operations. “It will help gamify the range, it will make practice a lot more fun, and I think it will make that area of our facility just a more fun place to hang out and congregate. That is our end game, to make that a fun area.”
The first outdoor technology range on the Strand, called The Bridge, opened in July at International World Tour Golf Links in Myrtle Beach.
“Even with World Tour opening it, there’s plenty of room for everybody. We’re down at the south end of the beach,” Romano said.
True Blue is retaining a grass area of the driving range. For now, it will be used in the morning and early afternoon for daily play warm-up, and the technology range will be available from around 2 p.m. until dusk. The hours will increase in the spring and summer.
Romano anticipates the range remaining open as late as 9-10 p.m. in the summer.
Each bay at True Blue will have monitor screens displaying Toptracer-tracked ball flights and other information, and artificial turf mats.
Toptracer is used at Topgolf, and the technology range will have the same games and capabilities as the popular indoor-outdoor venue, with numerous famous courses from around the world and multiple games to play like Angry Birds.
Players can use a bay simply for practice as well, tracking ball flight, distance and other data. The Toptracer app can store practice data for individual users.
“Our plan is to make it a fun activity, like a family center, if you will,” said Romano, who is the director of golf operations for Ponderosa Inc., the parent company of True Blue, sister course Caledonia Golf & Fish Club, and the Steve Dresser Golf Academy at True Blue. “It’s kind of gamifying our range – target practice, long drive, closest to the pins, you can play Angry Birds, you can play simulated golf at courses like St. Andrews or Pebble Beach.”
One of several indoor golf facilities that have opened on the Strand over the past three years is located in Pawleys Island. Performance Indoor Golf is based on a membership model, though it does have day passes and weekly memberships.
“It’s just something different and I personally like it a little better than a simulator just because you’re outside and you can feel the shots, you can see all the shots and you can see it on the screen as well,” Romano said. “It’s kind of bringing both worlds together, a driving range and simulator golf.”
The bays won’t be rented, at least at first. The price will instead be based on purchased baskets of range balls with medium and large sizes available, first come first served.
The technology range has lighting, but the driving range does not.
“The technology will work so it will track your balls to the pins even if it’s dark outside,” Romano said. “There will be light probably about 50 yards from the structure.”
There are plans to eventually build a structure offering food and beverage on or near the range, though no timetable has been established. “We’ll get there sooner rather than later,” Romano said.
While plans are still formulating, True Blue is considering organizing leagues, outings, events and contests for the range.
“The possibilities are endless and we’ve bounced all of these around,” Romano said. “As we go through it and learn the product and what people like best and least, we’ll keep moving our programming in that direction.”
True Blue and Caledonia have about 300 members, and there will be special range pricing for those.
The Steve Dresser Golf Academy is located at a separate location at True Blue, and its instructors will be able to use the range technology in lessons and club-fitting if they choose in addition to having their own technology in an enclosed building. “It’s another tool they’ll have in their arsenal,” Romano said.
Romano and others at True Blue experienced technology ranges in both Florida and Pinehurst, N.C., two to three years ago and that started the consideration for the range, which has been in the planning stages for about 18 months, Romano said.
“In the summer time we have tons of beach visitors staying in the condos at True Blue or staying in the beach houses, and that’s just something else you can come do and you can do it in 30 to 40 minutes if you maybe don’t have time to play golf,” Romano said. “There’s a need for it and hopefully it will take off.”
True Blue’s range is the latest non-traditional golf addition to the Grand Strand’s offerings.
In addition to World Tour’s range, the Myrtle Beach area also has a pair of off-course indoor/outdoor facilities in Topgolf and PopStroke, numerous indoor facilities featuring golf simulators, and a new nine-hole par-3 course call The Piper at Legends Golf Resort that opened on Oct. 2.
