Island green surrounded by water on a driving range Good or Bad idea??

Ginny007

Was chatting to a mate of mine at the weekend about the lack of targets on a driving range when another guy he knows said he used a range in the US that had water and a few island target greens in the middle of a lake.

Which brings me to my point i thought it would be savage but my mate thought it was a bad idea.

What would you prefare ??

danthefan

For me, the patron, I wouldn't really care tbh. Seems like an awful lot of trouble getting the balls back though.

conno16

wouldn't it be easier to get them back?
lets face it most punters would drop it in the water
you could have a natural flow to return balls to a centralised "pool"
good idea and would be a great feature to have at the range
prob get blokes to pay a premium for bays located close to the island

for the record though, i wouldn't include it in my range

conno16

looks good

GreeBo

Several ranges in the US and Asia use the lake method because as conno describes, the balls collect themselves due to the shape of the floor on the lake.
No collecting or mowing fees, though I guess there are costs for keeping the lake clean and algae free.

conno16

good for novelty factor too..

in LT by my calculations it is more feasible to build range on field and cut grass frequently
best solution would be to use concrete or tarmac (allow ball to run to natural halt and automatically collect in collection devise at end of "fairway") - however traditionalists would prob have problem with this most likely

any driving range without a proper short game area is not worth talking about also IMO
leopardstown charge extra for this - shocking
i always try to leave some divots as a result

Draupnir

I use the range at Elm Green from time to time and finding it very frustrating that there aren't a whole lot of proper targets, most of the time I play at the distance markers with various clubs but it's not the same.

I'd be all for somewhere that actually had pins and low quality greens (or just green shapes) actually cut at distances like 50 metres, 80 metres and 100 metres. Anywhere like this convenient to the Northside of Dublin?

conno16

no sure draupnir

word of caution for those of ye considering getting into the business.
it can be very labour intensive

blackwaterfish

Draupnir wrote: »

I use the range at Elm Green from time to time and finding it very frustrating that there aren't a whole lot of proper targets, most of the time I play at the distance markers with various clubs but it's not the same.

I'd be all for somewhere that actually had pins and low quality greens (or just green shapes) actually cut at distances like 50 metres, 80 metres and 100 metres. Anywhere like this convenient to the Northside of Dublin?

driving range at celbridge ( literally just past lucan ) has a good few greens with pins, theyre certainly low quality! and in general the place needs modernization and a lick a paint but its big, has plenty of covered bays and a half decent large grass tee . it has a decent pro shop and at the moment theyre working improving the chipping green - which was no extra charge prior to new work.

Ginny007

conno16 wrote: »

no sure draupnir

Nice one conno16 but i just find driving ranges boring hard to stay focused.

How hard would it be to build a few real like greens.

word of caution for those of ye considering getting into the business.
it can be very labour intensive

Nice one conno16 but i just find driving ranges boring hard to stay focused.

How hard would it be to build a few real like greens

Nice one conno16 but i just find driving ranges boring hard to stay focused.

How hard would it be to build a few real like greens

Ginny007

conno16 wrote: »

looks good

Went to Top golf in the good crack