OK, we’re in December. It’s winter, which usually is not so great for golf. Unless you’re playing inside, of course, in which case it doesn’t matter. With indoor golf you don’t have the faff of putting on temporaries – you don’t get permanents either, but that’s by the by – and you don’t have to wear several layers of clothes or pack the waterproofs.
So it was that last week I took myself off to Urban Golf (www.urbangolf.co.uk ; 020 7248-8600), located near Smithfield Market in central London. Its CEO and founder is James Day, a former golf professional who initiated the business 20 years ago with what he calls “second-generation simulators”; the ball was tracked by radar and infra-red beams. In 2009, he upgraded to “third generation”, which involves the ball’s strike and flight being photographed by multiple cameras. This was a costly process but he reckons that without it he may have gone bust. “We started getting a lot more repeat business,” he says. “People realised they could now really trust the feedback.”
He reckons there are about 20 similar facilities to his in the UK which have at least six simulators. Urban Golf has 11. Their premises are open seven days a week and they get about 600 visitors a week. During the day, the majority of players use driving-range simulators (there are several options to choose from) to work on their games. In the evenings, a more frequent sight is a groups of mates playing an array of games on courses such as the Old at St Andrews or Pebble Beach, although Urban Golf’s generous collection of Ryder Cup venues generally prove to be the most popular – another testament to the pulling power of that event.
“The way ahead is to design courses for a simulator, incorporating holes that would not work outside,” says Day. “We need to take advantage of the technology to do what we can instead of getting hung-up about what we can’t. We need to stop worrying about what works better outside.” Perhaps you are familiar with those surreal and bizarre fantasy golf holes created by the late American artist, Bud Chapman? (If you aren’t, there’s always Google!) Well, maybe not quite as outrageous as that, but it gives a sense of what might be achieved.
“I think indoor golf will eventually engender a different culture to outdoor golf,” says Day. “Not inferior; just different. Golf is played on a simulator in South Korea way more than it is played on a course. What we need to do in the UK is develop the indoor game so that it has its own distinct appeal, not trying to usurp the traditional game but nurturing it so that it becomes a more enjoyable experience than at present.”
The launch next month of the Tiger Woods/Rory McIlroy vehicle, Tomorrow’s Golf League (TGL), an indoor golf series featuring top tour players, isn’t going to do any such notions any harm at all.
You can follow Robert Green on Twitter @robrtgreen and enjoy his other blog f-factors.com as well as his golf archive on robertgreen-golf.com
