It is 10 years since the remarkable Greenwich Peninsula was first constructed, being part of a massive redevelopment of the whole area that is famous for the O2 venue, originally called the London Dome. It is a remarkable location with stunning views in all directions, across the Thames, over the O2 and with skyscrapers and national monuments littering the skyline, you couldn’t really get a more dramatic and central location for a golf range.
The centre has just undergone a major refit with a new outfield of synthetic grass installed across the whole range surface. The range outfield is now completely flat, but just as interesting with contrasting colours for targets to make it easier on the eye for everyone using it. It is much simpler to collect golf balls on such a flat surface, rather than having various shaped target greens which, despite sounding like a good idea, proved quite problematic from an operational point of view.
On the edges of the range, a 1m high bund has been carefully covered with artificial grass so balls hitting and running down the netting are thrown back towards the centre of the range as they drop down onto the band. This means balls can be collected easily, aiding efficiency and also looking much tidier. The 30 metre high netting had been installed by Hi Nets and has performed its function perfectly over the last 10 years. Plans are also in place to raise the netting to 45m.
Also at the centre there is an American Golf discount store, which is fairly busy.
The retail outlet, which does a healthy trade in custom fit, will soon focus solely on bespoke tailoring of golf clubs and the main area currently used as a shop will be transformed into several golf simulator bases which are becoming ever more popular across the industry. Golf Features will be back to see the new installation. There is a superb restaurant - ‘The Joint’ - which prepares excellent food and drink and takes orders directly from each bay, delivering beer, soft drinks, coffee and food to those practising and spectating on both the upper and lower tiers.
The location lends itself perfectly to corporate events and in the summer months over 60 such functions are held each month with various companies entertaining their staff and clients to golf, adventure putting and the excellent sun terrace which can be reserved exclusively for such events.
The adventure putting facility is run under the Crazy Putt banner and this too is extremely popular throughout the year - and particularly so in the summer months when children are off school.
There are ten full-time N1 Golf coaches operating at Greenwich and all have got busy lesson diaries. Such is the quality of the location that there is an almost limitless supply of golfers and novices keen to improve and learn.
Due to its central London location, it is often quite awkward for golfers to bring their own equipment with them: clubs are a bulky item for tube travellers and although some customers arrive by car, the majority access the centre through the excellent public transport links, including London River Taxis. Not surprisingly, there is a brisk trade in the hire of equipment.
On the golf range, despite being a decade old, it is still a cutting edge experience in every way, with InRange technology and its radar tracking giving excellent feedback to golfers wishing to know more about the statistics of their performance. T hey are also a number of games and features to encourage less formal golfers to have fun and there is a selection of famous golf courses that can also be played using the InRange technology. Music is played in the bays which greatly adds to the relaxed ambience of the setting.
The bays are nicely appointed and comfortably deep so there is plenty of space behind for spectators and golfers sharing the experience to sit and socialise during their time at the range.
The whole experience at Greenwich is completely user-friendly with golfers booking time rather than purchasing golf balls. This is all facilitated through the YGB app. Your Golf Booking, which was co-founded by Declan Malone, allows people to book for half an hour or an hour to reserve their bay and enjoy the experience fully. With such a busy range, hitting over 20 million balls per annum, it allows customers to book a convenient time rather than having to wait for a bay to become free. On arrival, they simply collect their golf balls via a barcode, which is sent electronically together with confirmation of their booking. The great thing about being able to book a bay is that it smooths the congestion you can often experience at busy times and is a far more efficient way of running such a busy golf range. All golfers are greeted by a reception team who can arrange bookings for golf lessons, the hire of clubs and take any food and drink orders required to maximise the golfers’ enjoyment.
With such a great location it would almost be impossible not to trade well, but Golf Features caught up with Declan Malone, who has been responsible for building the site and operating the venue over the last 10 years:
“We are delighted with the progress of the golf range. It really is very busy indeed, but the level of quality that we have been able to achieve over the last decade is something that we are all very proud of. We recently closed for six weeks to completely refurbish the outfield and despite being very inconvenient and a considerable hit to our cash flow, we are very pleased with the results. The outfield now looks smart and golfers can see precisely where their ball lands with every shot.
We have managed to assemble a really good team of individuals from our receptionists, range marshals, maintenance team, N1 coaches, retail staff and the food and our beverage partners. All of these people contribute to giving an exceptional experience for our customers. We are particularly pleased with the number of corporate events that we are managing to attract to the centre.
“With our killer location and exceptional service, it has proved to be an excellent part of the business. We are also delighted to have secured a further 10 years at the site, which will probably become housing at sometime after that.
“One of the most gratifying things for us, is seeing people travelling by tube with their clubs, obviously going to Greenwich. We are thrilled that we have been able to take golf to so many more people who would not otherwise have been able to enjoy the sport.”
Golf range operators can only dream of locations as good as Greenwich.
It is a very well thought out centre and much could be learned from a visit. More details at greenwichpeninsulagolfrange.com