Kester (Louise’s husband) writes:
Felix and I were invited to try TopGolf at Chigwell. We had no idea what to expect, but both love playing games so were keen to find out. We arrived at half past ten on a Friday morning expecting it to be quiet, but in fact it was very popular indeed with a wide range of people there – groups of young men and women, pensioners and families. I suspect that in the evenings this demographic narrows as you can see by the pictures on their website and the offer of four Jäger bombs for a tenner.
The staff were very friendly and helpful, and got us started without any problems. We learnt that TopGolf is like one of those double decker driving ranges, but a lot more fun. The range has a number of targets and every time you hit one you score some points (the number of points depends on the distance away and how close to the centre you get). Each player gets twenty balls and, in the basic game, all you have to do is score as many points as you can. There are a number of other games available, which seemed a bit complicated for us beginners. The really cool thing is that your balls have microchips in them and the system knows whose are whose, so the computer does all the scoring for you. Free club hire is included and as TopGolf is suitable for ages four and up, they even had some small enough for Felix.
We both really enjoyed our games, despite both needing to work on our swings a bit. I think next time we will play downstairs as Felix was a bit nervous of falling off the edge (despite the more than adequate safety net) and I was nervous that he presented a bit of a hazard to the people playing directly below us.
The TopGolf experience reminded me of bowling, but (and maybe it was just the novelty) more enjoyable. You have your own “bay”, the aforementioned computerised scoring, table service for food and drinks, an arcade and technical help. The pricing is comparable to bowling and they also offer parties and coaching with a golf pro.
Chigwell is a little out of the way for us, but I am already thinking of taking Felix back. As he said himself “real golf is way better than Wii golf”.
For more information about TopGolf take a look at their website
