Just a few years prior to installing Toptracer technology, Gloucester Golf Club had been on the brink of closure, but thanks to a dedicated stable of staff and members, the West Country club has stayed afloat.
In 2022, whilst looking for opportunities to increase revenue and cement the business as financially viable, the club turned to Toptracer, and just 12 months and 1.8 million balls later, the club is thriving.
Before December 2022, Gloucester’s driving range processed around 400,000 range balls a year. By December 2023, in the 12 months after the range unveiled Toptracer technology, the venue had processed over 1.8 million balls. This 350% increase demonstrates the popularity brought about by Toptracer and its ability to bolster the driving range experience.
Elsewhere in the business, the club has opened a café and bar, having been able to justify the investment due to the increased revenue brought in by the driving range. The ability to provide visitors with a more rounded experience that isn’t solely focused on golf has given customers more reason to return, and repeat customers now make up a large portion of the range’s clientele.
Keith Wood, General Manager at Gloucester GC, spoke of the improved experience at the range thanks to the installation of Toptracer technology: “It’s just more enjoyable, compare it to hitting balls into an outfield and it’s night and day. In terms of the games you can play, the courses you can play, you can play against your mates, or your family and you can really make the most of it. If you’ve got a driving range and you don’t put in range technology, you are missing out. Big time.”
The club has also seen a dramatic rise in non-members utilising the facilities and the club believes that around 70% of the visitors to the range aren’t club members – a small percentage of those non-members have since joined the club off the back of their driving range visits.
Finally, Wood confirmed that without Toptracer’s behind-the-scenes insight and support, the club wouldn’t have been able to maximise Toptracer’s impact to the same level. With the help of Toptracer’s venue insights, the club is now targeting specific times of day, working on certain bays, and marketing to specific demographics where they know there is room for improvement.