Toptracer’s new range game helps fix your golf in just 30 shots!
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Having revolutionised driving ranges, Toptracer’s new insights-driven golf game mode quickly highlights the areas you need to improve the most.
Toptracer30 puts players in 30 realistic virtual on-course scenarios and measures how successfully the player navigates them – providing a mountain of data in just 30 shots. Gone are the days of aimlessly smashing drivers or hitting irons and wedges with no real idea how close they were to the target in the distance. Now every shot counts, providing data that accumulates to a total score designed to offer an accurate and objective snapshot assessment of the player’s current performance level.
The new game mode has been designed as a bridge between the range and the golf course, simulating on-course pressure for players as they are tasked with a series of different situations.
Toptracer30 consists of nine tee shots and 21 approach shots, with each shot evaluated depending on a number of variables – ranging from distance and accuracy when driving, to hole proximity and greens hit when approaching.
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Designed to help everyone from high-handicappers to scratch golfers and create a more focused practice routine, the new mode allows you to track improvements in almost every aspect of your game (except chipping and putting), by making you play everything from 50-yard pitches to really tight drives.
During gameplay, players are also provided with a series of ‘Insights.’ As each is observed, evaluated, and analysed, players are given real-time feedback into the strengths and weaknesses of their performance.
Finally, upon completion of the Toptracer30 game mode, each shot is assessed and attributed to a ‘Performance Handicap’ – an estimated handicap that reflects the player’s performance across the entire 30 shots.
“Toptracer30 is yet another impressive innovation in our range technology,” said Ben Sharpe, Toptracer President. “This new game mode provides players with brilliant insights into their performance, and it offers the player with an opportunity to health check their game in just 30 shots.
“We can’t wait to see how players, and indeed coaches, use this new game mode to further their game and make all-important improvements.”
As well as offering feedback throughout the game mode, post-game analysis and insights are also stored in the player’s Toptracer Range app account for later review.
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Let’s take a closer look at how Toptracer30 works
Game setup
Within Toptracer30, the player’s score on each shot is determined by a number of variables; for example, when driving, accuracy and distance are two of the many things that are measured – be careful however, as wayward drives that leave the player’s next shot blocked out will be heavily punished.
When hitting approach shots, proximity to the hole and hitting the green can be rewarded while the resulting lie and expected score from it are factored in; thereby being on the green may not necessarily have a better score than a closer proximity/better lie off the green.
These accumulated scores are attributed at the end of the game to provide a ‘Performance Handicap’ for the player, that reflects the player’s performance across the 30 shots.
Strokes Gained
At the beginning of the game, the player enters a Reference Handicap. This becomes the benchmark for the ‘strokes gained’ methodology that is provided as a key insight after each shot.
The Strokes Gained feature provides in-game feedback for the player, so that they can see how each shot that they play within the Toptracer30 game compares to the benchmark handicap the player entered at the start.
The Reference Handicap provided by the player is solely used for in-game and post-game insights, so don’t worry – they don’t affect your overall score.
Insights
In addition to the ‘Performance Handicap’ provided to game participants, there is a wealth of insights offered both during and after completing Toptracer30. An insight is something that’s observed during Toptracer30 gameplay that represents an opportunity for improvement on the course or the next time the game is played.
Each shot inside the Toptracer30 training mode is observed, evaluated, and analysed. It then analyses a vast number of performance metrics, as well as identifying the biggest contributor to the player’s score (this becomes the “positive” insight) and the three most important areas of the player’s game where an improvement would generate the quickest way to improve.
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How do Toptracer ranges work?
Cameras above the hitting bays track every shot. The software tracks multiple balls at once and assigns them to the right bay.
It breaks the range down into triangles (like a grid) so your ball can be traced back to your bay by calculating the angle at which it enters and exits each triangle. Your numbers – including distance, speed, launch angle, shape and more – are recorded and displayed on a 21-inch touchscreen monitor and the app.
Toptracer’s ball-tracking tech started life as ‘Protracer’, invented by Swede Daniel Forsgren in 2006 to improve televised golf coverage. Topgolf bought the camera-based system in 2016 and started rolling out its range-friendly version in 2017.
What other game modes are available at a Toptracer range?
Warm-up
Analyse multiple data points, including ball speed, launch angle, distance and more.
Driving Challenge
A nine-hole game scoring both distance and accuracy. If you don’t hit the fairway or a pin is obstructed for the next shot, there is a penalty.
Approach Challenge
Take aim at the flag as consistently close approach shots are the name of this game.
My Practice
Tells you all the key stats – total distance, carry, ball speed, height, hang time… It’s all relayed to an app on your phone for future reference.
Closest to the Pin
Just want to work on your iron play or wedge game? Choose a real target, tell the screen which one it is and fire away. It’ll tell you how close you got.
Virtual Golf
Play on real-world courses, using the targets on the range, including Pebble Beach and the Old Course. A great
option for groups.
Long Drive
Who can hit the furthest? This game lets you settle the argument by turning the range into a proper long drive grid for up to eight players.
Points Game
This mode turns range targets into points; plus you can win bonus points for hitting a certain trajectory through
an ‘In Air’ ring.
Go Fish
Child-friendly range game that can be played individually or as a team where players bid to capture 24 sea creatures in a virtual aquarium.
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Where is my nearest Toptracer driving range?
If you want to try Toptracer30 or any of the other superb game modes available at the revolutionary ranges then you’ll need to know where your nearest facility is. Below are all of the Toptracer ranges currently available in the UK, listed alphabetically.
TOPTRACER RANGES: SCOTLAND
Fairways Golf Centre, Inverness
Forthview Golf Range, Falkirk
Gailes Golf Leisure, Irvine
Mearns Castle, Glasgow
Melville Golf Centre, Edinburgh
Paul Lawrie Golf Centre, Aberdeen
Wellsgreen Golf Range, Leven
TOPTRACER RANGES: ENGLAND
3 Hammers Golf Complex, Wolverhampton
A1 Golf Activity Centre, Barnet
AB Golf Performance Centre, Thame
Aintree Golf Centre, Liverpool
Altrincham Driving Range, Altrincham
American Golf Hemingford Abbots, Huntingdon
American Golf Rossendale Driving Range, Rossendale
American Golf Wythall, Birmingham
Aston Wood Golf Club, Sutton Coldfield
Ballers & Hackers, Nottingham
Basset Down Golf Complex, Swindon
Blacknest Golf & Country Club, Alton
Boston West, Boston
Branston Golf Range, Burton-on-Trent
Broadlands Golf, Wolverhampton
Burnley Leisure – Prairie Sports Village, Burnley
Burstwick Country Golf, Hull
Calderfields Golf Driving Range, Walsall
Carlisle Golf Centre, Carlisle
Centre Golf, Wickford
Charnwood Golf Complex, Loughborough
Chesfield Downs G&CC, Graveley
China Fleet Country Club, Plymouth
Close House, Newcastle upon Tyne
Copcut Golf Centre, Droitwich
Delapre Golf, Northampton
Draycote Hotel & Whitefields Golf Club, Rugby
Drayton Park Golf Club, Abingdon
Express Golf Centre, Bradford
Farrington Park Golf Club, Bristol
Ferndown Forest Golf Club Ferndown
Foregolf, Chester
Forest Driving Range, Coleford
Forest Hill Golf & Conference Centre, Leicester
Four Ashes Golf Centre, Birmingham
Golf Kingdom, Romford
Golf World Stansted, Bishop’s Stortford
Golfplex Bracknell, Bracknell
Gravesend Golf Centre, Gravesend
Hedge End Golf Centre, Southampton
High Legh Park Golf Club, Knutsford
Hilden Park Golf & Leisure Club, Tonbridge
Humberstone Heights Golf Club, Leicester
Ingrebourne Links G&CC, Rainham
Keele Golf Centre, Newcastle-under-Lyme
Kingfisher Hotel G&CC, Milton Keynes
Kingsway Golf Centre, Royston
Lavender Park Golf Centre, Ascot
Leeds Golf Centre, Leeds
Leicester Golf Centre, Leicester
Lincoln Golf Centre, Lincoln
Liverpool Golf Centre, Liverpool
Lytham Golf Academy, Lytham
Manston Golf Centre, Manston
Moreton Hills Golf Centre, Wirral
National Golf Centre, Woodhall Spa
Norfolk Premier Golf, Norwich
Oakmere Golf Club, Southwell
One Stop Golf, Hull
Pachesham Golf Centre, Leatherhead
Parley Golf Centre ,Hurn
Paultons Golf Centre, Romsey
Pedham Place Golf Centre, Swanley
Penrith Golf Hub, Penrith
Pine Ridge Golf Club, Camberley
Portsmouth Golf Centre, Portsmouth
Radlett Park Golf Club, Elstree
Rustington Golf Centre, Angmering
Salisbury Golf Centre, Salisbury
Sandown Park Golf Centre, Esher
Sidcup Family Golf, Chislehurst
Silvermere, Cobham
Snainton Golf Centre, Snainton
South Essex Golf Club, Brentwood
South Herefordshire Golf Club, Ross-on-Wye
Stokesley Golf Range, Middlesbrough
Sunbury Golf Club, Shepperton
Sunningdale Golf Club, Ascot
The Belfry, Sutton Coldfield
The Golf Haven, Whitehaven
The Hertfordshire G&CC, Broxbourne
The Oaks Golf Centre, Carshalton
Tickenham Golf Centre, Clevedon
Tilgate Forest Golf Course, Crawley
Tippity Green Golf Club, Sandwell
Topgolf Watford, Watford
Topsham Golf Academy, Exeter
Trafford Golf Centre, Manchester
True Fit Golf Centre, Warrington
Wentworth Golf Club, Virginia Water
Wessex Golf Centre, Weymouth
Westridge Golf Centre, Ryde
Winchester Golf, Headbourne Worthy
Witney Lakes, Witney
Wokingham Family Golf, Wokingham
World of Golf Croydon, Croydon
World of Golf London, New Malden
Wycombe Heights Golf Centre, High Wycombe
TOPTRACER RANGES: WALES
Cardiff Golf Centre, Cardiff
Celtic Manor, Newport
Just Play Golf at Penrhys, Ferndale
The Vale Golf, Pershore
TOPTRACER RANGES: NORTHERN IRELAND
Ballyearl Arts & Leisure Centre, Newtownabbey
Mourne Country Park Driving Range, Kilkeel
TOPTRACER RANGES: CHANNEL ISLANDS
Golf 19 Guernsey, Channel Islands
Longueville Golf Range, Jersey
Find out more at toptracer.com
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