Dotty
28th August 2012, 02:25 PM
The Thornleigh Driving Range finally opened last week, and I had a hit this morning. Very interesting.
Naturally, the balls are all brand new range balls, there is still a smell of industrial glue, picture-book racks of most OEM offerings and just ironing out usual teething troubles with tills, coffee orders, etc.
The whole landing area is all artificial turf, with the fairways (and 'bunkers'/'water') contoured to feed the balls down to underground collection points. (Great with no tractors or muppets picking up balls around my landing zone.) Five target greens of a darker and longer leaf astroturf will hold properly hit approach shots. I foresee a big advantage with this set-up, that the balls won't deteriorate in the wet, as there will be no dirt to adhere to them, they won't be plugging in the mud, run over by the tractor or violently scrubbed after each collection.
I found hitting off the lower-level a bit strange. It has auto-feed dispensers, fixed position mats and the landing area sloping up from tees. It felt more like being in a simulator, than on a course. Probably fine, if you wanted to concentrate on tuning a swing, rather than where the ball ends up. (Unlike Olympic Park, the support poles can't be hit on the backswing.)
But a going to the upper level was a revelation. One felt like a king surveying his kingdom. Standard mat arrangement, that can be moved to align to the target greens, and can also see the whole landing area (as some areas are hidden behind the greens, when hitting from lower-level tees.) Traffic noise and earthmoving equipment (starting on a putt-putt course) recreates the feel of the real course, just down the road beside the M2. ;)
Cost of $12 for 50 range balls initially seemed a bit 'like a luxury', compared to $8 at Hudson Park, but all 50 balls were AAA quality. (Leaves the $9 for a bucket of absolute crap at Terrey Hills, for dead.)
No bags allowed on the range. No power points for Jono's Trackman. I asked and the pro doesn't recommend using Trackman with the low-spin Srixon range balls, and we must only use the range balls at Thornleigh.
Overall, worth the extra $4 over the nearest competitor. (Now I'm curious how well it works after sunset.) It will come into its own, when the weather turns bad, as it won't have the usual range problems of muddy balls and not being able to collect them, or mow the target areas.
Naturally, the balls are all brand new range balls, there is still a smell of industrial glue, picture-book racks of most OEM offerings and just ironing out usual teething troubles with tills, coffee orders, etc.
The whole landing area is all artificial turf, with the fairways (and 'bunkers'/'water') contoured to feed the balls down to underground collection points. (Great with no tractors or muppets picking up balls around my landing zone.) Five target greens of a darker and longer leaf astroturf will hold properly hit approach shots. I foresee a big advantage with this set-up, that the balls won't deteriorate in the wet, as there will be no dirt to adhere to them, they won't be plugging in the mud, run over by the tractor or violently scrubbed after each collection.
I found hitting off the lower-level a bit strange. It has auto-feed dispensers, fixed position mats and the landing area sloping up from tees. It felt more like being in a simulator, than on a course. Probably fine, if you wanted to concentrate on tuning a swing, rather than where the ball ends up. (Unlike Olympic Park, the support poles can't be hit on the backswing.)
But a going to the upper level was a revelation. One felt like a king surveying his kingdom. Standard mat arrangement, that can be moved to align to the target greens, and can also see the whole landing area (as some areas are hidden behind the greens, when hitting from lower-level tees.) Traffic noise and earthmoving equipment (starting on a putt-putt course) recreates the feel of the real course, just down the road beside the M2. ;)
Cost of $12 for 50 range balls initially seemed a bit 'like a luxury', compared to $8 at Hudson Park, but all 50 balls were AAA quality. (Leaves the $9 for a bucket of absolute crap at Terrey Hills, for dead.)
No bags allowed on the range. No power points for Jono's Trackman. I asked and the pro doesn't recommend using Trackman with the low-spin Srixon range balls, and we must only use the range balls at Thornleigh.
Overall, worth the extra $4 over the nearest competitor. (Now I'm curious how well it works after sunset.) It will come into its own, when the weather turns bad, as it won't have the usual range problems of muddy balls and not being able to collect them, or mow the target areas.