NEWBURY – You’re an avid golfer, but can’t play St. Andrews or Pebble Beach this year? The Newbury Golf Center has the next best thing.
Less than a mile off Interstate 95 on Scotland Road, the 27-acre driving range has added Top Tracer technology and monitors on all 30 bays. In each, a golfer has the opportunity to play and compete on one or more of the world’s top 30 golf courses.
Toptracer Range, the ball-tracing technology used on televised PGA tournaments to track the shots of the game’s best players, allows golfers of all ages and ability levels to play a variety of fun and skill-based games, compete against friends, watch the flight of their shot and receive instant data on an interactive monitor behind each mat.
So, when a golfer drives a ball from the mat in Newbury, he or she can see how far the shot flew, whether it is toward the Pacific Ocean at Pebble Beach, down the wide fairways of the Scottish birthplace of golf or dozens of some of the best and most famous courses in the world.
“It’s the wave of the future,” said Eric Sorensen, president of the Newbury Golf Center.
Top Tracer is a game changer, he said. Players hit the ball, then turn to watch the flight of the ball on the monitor three feet away.
The Toptracer technology follows each ball’s flight path on the monitor, records its distance and other “cool” metrics, its web site states.
“Golfers don’t like hitting into a screen,” Sorensen said, referring to indoor simulators.
As proof of that, he said, the average length of time a golfer practices at the center has risen from 20 minutes to an hour since Toptracer was installed. At $17 per bucket of balls, the technology has not only changed the experience for the golfers, it has brought a wide grin to the PGA professional’s face.
A board member for Top Golf that developed the new technology, Sorensen first installed the Top Tracer technology on the 10 covered and heated bays. But the demand proved so strong in the first year, he added the technology to the 20 outside bays as well.
This winter, Newbury Golf Center will again offer a tournament for players beginning Dec. 1. The center has partnered with the top golf software company, Golf Genuis, to offer live scoring and live leaderboards all winter.
With well over 100 players competing last winter, Sorensen expects to have 200 players this year.
The league is open to all levels of players. “If you are a beginner and looking to partner with a friend or a serious player with a handicap, this 12-week league is for you, the Newbury Golf Center’s website said.
There will be both a handicap division and a non-handicap division for the casual golfer looking to get more comfortable on the golf course. The non-handicap division will be two-person teams.
All the leagues are “floating leagues,” which means a player has a seven-day window to play the round for the week. And if you can’t make a week, it can be made up.
Playing 18 holes will normally take an hour.
All levels of players, the beginner/intermediate leagues are designed for someone with no handicap or a handicap higher than 30. The handicap leagues are designed for a player with a USGA handicap under 36.
The season costs $100 per person, plus buying the range balls each week.
For more information, visit www.newburygolfcenter.com. ♦
