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Driving range

ernesttbass

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Aug 10, 2020
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Does anyone have a problem with driving ranges that don’t have natural turf or grass and Astro turf carpet instead? Yes drives it me nuts! What else!
 

limpalong

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Oct 18, 2006
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Our range is mats only Monday thru Thursday. Designated grass areas available Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. From about October through February or March, we are back to mats only. Our range gets significant use. We close it late Sunday afternoon to "clean pick" it. The ball picker won't get every single ball. It takes a couple cart kids about an hour to run over it, physically, and pick up any balls that have been missed by the picker. The range is mowed early Monday and reopened once mowed.

The cost and time to maintain the grass area adds significantly to keeping the rest of the course in good shape. Our range is a great "cash cow". We understand that and want to give the best experience during the heavy traffic times. Hence, keeping it closed when in off season and the grass areas could be heavily damaged. Our range has 20+ stations. We try to replaced about a third of the mats each year. We buy high quality mats. We really don't hear that many negative comments. If folks don't like it, there is a driving range at an executive course where they can hit rocks off bare carpet as much as they want. Or, another facility has a weather protected range the charges about twice what we do.
 

IrishGolfer

Fac ut gaudeam
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Sep 1, 2004
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Ahh, back in my youth I did a dissertation on "A feasibility study to open a driving range".
No matter how many ways I cut it, it never added up!!
 
OP
E

ernesttbass

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  • Thread Starter
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You mean you did not want to charge 6 dollars for a coke? An honest man! Wtg!
 

limpalong

Mental Ward Escapee
Supporting Member
Oct 18, 2006
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13,653
I forgot!
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United States United States
Ahh, back in my youth I did a dissertation on "A feasibility study to open a driving range".
No matter how many ways I cut it, it never added up!!
We own the land as it is part of our golf course property. Purchased and installed a new ball washer this past year. $1,700. The old one was over 15 years old. We budget between $500 and $1,000 each year for balls and a few new mats. Will probably have a new token/dispenser unit in the next year or two. That component is about $4,000. We charge $4.00 for a bucket of balls. Each bucket gets about 40 balls. Annual driving range fee... hit as many buckets as you want... is a couple hundred bucks. Many members purchase an annual range pass with their membership. I can't remember the last time I've left the course after a round and not seen people on the range. Always busy.
January thru July our driving range revenue was $33,128.00.
 

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