The idea behind the indoor site was to test the principle of playing adventure golf all through the year and especially at night and in inclement weather, which is often such a feature of the British Isles’ climate.
In some ways they were fearful of July and August, traditionally a great time for adventure golf, especially in the UK, but perhaps not the ideal place to be inside. There was no need to worry though, as trading was very good and seemed to be at its peak when children were off school.
Mr Mulligan’s Lost World Adventure comprises of two courses on the upper tier of a mainstream leisure park, sharing car park space with Prezzo, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, a cinema and a chain of other leisure destinations for those wishing to eat and lose in pounds, and just generally enjoy themselves. The two courses are similar in design and the Lost World name combines jungles and tropical planting on one side, with the underworld sea adventure on the other. For those wishing to play both courses, there are reasonable discounts and families are encouraged.
Two types of ball are available: a low bounce ball, which seems to be popular with some operators, and also the bright fluorescent two-piece balls which bounce a little more, and work like magic in the UV light on the ocean course. Often the pink and lilac balls are not returned by naughty little girls who want to take them home as souvenirs, but this is no calamity for the business and a blind eye is normally turned to this low key pilferage - as it could potentially ruin their enjoyment of adventure golf if an issue was made of this and return visits can easily cope with the odd lost ball.
At weekends the market is split between families and dating couples, with family occupying more than 80% of the trade from 10am until 5pm. From this time onwards, the couples take over with it being the warm-up activity for those wanting to have some fun together before going out to the local nightclub: Stevenage’s only nightclub - Bar&Beyond, is their immediate next door neighbour.
The site is fully licensed, but also stocks an unfeasibly large selection of ice creams, which children and parents alike can drool over – they are cleverly and very beautifully displayed and very hard to ignore. Snack food is priced between £2.50 and £3.95 and includes toasted sandwiches, paninis, snack boxes and nachos. This is the perfect type of food which is inexpensive to consume, quick to produce and profitable for the operation.
The site can cope with a total of 125 golfers on site at any one time and play is booked into hour sections in the busy times of the day, with players being able to book online, by phone or in person. There are no actual teetimes, but those who reserve a time never have to wait more than 15 minutes to get their game in. This ensures a reasonable pace of play and, while there is no point in hurrying people, to complete a round an hour’s worth of putting is probably enough for most players. During the week all sorts of deals are used to encourage other groups to take up the much quieter times. Group bookings are to be encouraged and corporate bookings are very popular - as it is the ideal way to blow off a little steam for those working hard at the office. It is also very good value with the full price adult ticket of just £8.25 for a single round.
Judging by the success of Mr Mulligans, there will be many more indoor adventure golf courses sprouting up across the country and overseas.
Adventure golf is a very important part of the golfing food chain and Burhill are very well aware that future golfers can often start by just holding a putter.
For more details please visit the website:http://mrmulligan.com/our-venues/stevenage-lost-world/