Golf Features

Collecting golf balls is one of the most familiar tasks on a driving range. For decades, range staff have driven ball pickers across practice areas, collecting thousands of golf balls before returning them for washing and redistribution. It remains an effective and widely used method of maintaining ball availability. As autonomous technology becomes more common, many operators are asking how automated collection varies from traditional approaches and whether it is suitable for their facility.

The thought that a 10-bay netted golf range in Basildon might change the landscape of golf may seem a little far-fetched, but there is no question that there will be huge benefits of introducing golf to a wider audience. The golf range at the Basildon Sporting Village is not part of a wider golf offering and is run on behalf of GolfPod’s owners by Everyone Active, who deliver leisure for many councils and institutions across the country, and are Basildon Council’s key leisure provider.

As driving ranges continue to evolve, many operators are asking similar questions about automation. Some are considering their first investment in automated equipment, while others are looking for ways to improve existing workflows. Although every facility operates differently, the underlying questions are often the same. How much labour can be reduced? Where does automation deliver the greatest benefit? And how do individual pieces of equipment fit into the wider range ball operation?

Conveniently located just off the A13 and only 20 minutes from central London, Ingrebourne Links Golf & Country Club is an impressive golf operation The club opened in 2017 and offers an unusually located, but spectacular, inland links golf course, as well as a state-of-the-art golf range and health club facilities, and a striking purpose-built clubhouse. The golf club has been created as a result of years of planning and an enormous amount of inert importation.

Worcestershire’s Gaudet Luce is set to generate almost a quarter of its electricity onsite following an energy infrastructure upgrade delivered in partnership with business transformation specialist, Commercial Combining rooftop solar, EV charging and voltage optimisation, the project will reduce emissions, cut costs and modernise the energy infrastructure of the golf and leisure complex.

Set between the Mediterranean and the Mar Menor, near Murcia in Spain The La Manga Golf Resort, Murcia, south-east Spain was opened in 1972, set up by an American gentleman called Greg Peters who decided to copy the large and popular resorts in the USA and bring a similar logic to Spain.

A dramatic golf resort, not far from Vera in the south east of Spain Valle del Este boasts an established 5693m golf course, hotel and spa complex with major housing development set in a spectacular mountainous region. The par 72 course is in exceptional nick with all of the greens in superb condition, the fairways are beautifully manicured and the bunkers, although a little fluctuating in their consistency, are well sited and neatly trimmed.

Downtime is one of the industry buzzwords that is feared, but often accepted. Half an hour with an empty ball dispenser is part of the daily challenge of running a busy range… but it doesn’t have to be. Downtime rarely happens because of a single major failure. More often, it’s the result of small operational pressures building up behind the scenes.

The Llao Llao Hotel & Resort is located in the lake district of Nahuel Huapi National Park, near Bariloche in south west Argentina. Surrounded by the majestic Nahuel Huapi and Morena Lakes, and the magnificent Andes mountains, this deluxe hotel is 2 km from Puerto Pañuelo boat port and 28 km from Catedral Alta ski resort. And for the fully-fledged golf traveller, there can be fewer more rewarding places to visit than the hotel’s golf resort.

Machinery4Golf was set up 17 years ago as part of the OGRO group which includes Golf Features. It’s a niche website which is perfectly suited to helping people trade their used golf and ground care machinery. Over the years tens of thousands of mowers, tractors, buggies, aerators and other vital machinery for running golf courses has been traded on the site.