Balls Magazine Volume 12

As you may or may not know, the West Coast has been hit with a lot of rain this winter. Don’t get me wrong, I’m thankful for it and I want more to tell you the truth. We desperately need it.

The only thing is that it interferes with playing golf.

Last week, I told you about how cold, wet, and miserable I was in playing my worst round in a long time. That was a club tournament, so I HAD to play. If I’m just looking to play for fun when it rains, I’m staying in bed and looking up Pornhub on my phone.

One thing that is golf-related, however, that can be done in bad weather is TOPGOLF. I had a couple of friends in town for a visit and we decided to go to the El Segundo (Yeah Right’s old stomping grounds) facility for some fun on a random weekday.

The setup is that it’s a multi-level range with cameras that track your shots much like the TopTracer facility in Alhambra that I previously told you about. The difference here is that the range is enclosed and they have tables and chairs and food and drinks and waitresses and music and all other kinds of distractions.

They also have gigantic monitors that help you through the different games you can play, track your shots, and can show sporting events. There is also a machine that automatically feeds you balls for you to hit.

The way it works is that you essentially “rent” a hitting bay for a specified amount of time. When you are within 15 minutes of the end of your time, the system allows you the opportunity to increase your time. Food and drinks are extra but reasonably priced.

The thing that is great about TOPGOLF is that it’s engineered so that anyone can play and have fun. My two friends had never swung a golf club in their lives yet they both were able to win one of the games we played.

There are games available for every skill and experience level.

We started out with a game that gave you points for getting the ball in these gigantic holes they have on the ground.

I did well on that one because I have more experience than they do in sticking white things in large holes.

Just so you know, here is what the holes and the facility look like:

We also played an Angry Birds game which was clearly aimed at kids but was a hell of a lot of fun! The jist of it was that your shots had to go straight and they would hit a castle in front of you and destroy it. It sounds silly, but it was totally fun!

We also played another game which I can’t remember right now but a good time was had by all. Overall, it cost me a little over $100 for a solid two hours of entertainment (I paid for the three of us). If we had split it, it would have been super cheap. One of my little nieces has gone here with her boyfriend and other friends for date nights and she told me they have had a lot of fun there.

PROS

It’s a lot of fun for a relatively cheap price.

You can enjoy it no matter how good or bad you are at golf.

They serve alcohol!

CONS

It was a bit of a drive to get there, but that’s part of the fun too.

If you eat or drink a lot, it could get expensive.

OVERALL RATING:

It’s a party at a golf range.

Whoever came up with that idea is a genius.

See you next time.