Illustration_Micha Huigen
While British engineer Martin Wyeth was working on the project, fellow golfers promised to play a round together at the famous Wentworth Club outside London after work.
Martin Wyeth was excited to play, but there was one problem. He had never played golf before. So he went to the range to hit the ball.
He, who had been throwing slices throughout practice, landed a power shot. “The ball had wings and it seemed to fly endlessly,” Wyeth explained.
“The engineer in me couldn’t figure out what the difference was between that shot and the horrible one before. Technicians change one variable at a time and see if the result gets better or worse.”
Unlike most other novice golfers, Wyeth had the skills to build a prototype that would serve him well through this research method. The device he devised was the ‘Power Tee’, which consisted of solid metal and turf ground mounted on top of a basic driving range plate and provided a ball teed at the perfect height.
The hopper, a V-shaped container hidden under the platform, holds 100 balls, and a small control bar shows the player how many balls are left and allows the tee to be adjusted to 40 different heights. It was a hit.
Wyeth sold his invention throughout England, with considerable success. He’s brought the system to St. Andrews, Belfry, and Wentworth’s driving range, where he’s hit countless shots years ago.
“We initially installed it in three places for free and saw how it worked,” Wyeth said. He said that even customers from an 80km radius came to the practice range to use this machine.”
“It’s not rocket science to get the ball airborne from an engineering point of view, but golfers loved it. They loved seeing the ball magically come up off the ground and keep hitting it.”
Encouraged by the power tee’s success, Wyeth attempted to enter the US driving range market. “We’ve had a record-breaking year, and as one of the fastest growing companies in the UK, we just went to Buckingham Palace for an audience with the Queen. I thought I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn’t challenge the American market.”
The challenge didn’t take long. Power tees emerged in 2009, just as the financial crisis was unfolding, when banks and golfing establishments began to shut down or close their doors. The original plan was to secure a lease on a large resort capable of installing dozens of systems and borrow rent from a finance company to expand it.
“We installed and leased 250 machines in some great facilities,” Wyeth said. “We earned $2.5 million under the contract, but not a single contract was funded. The first step in the US was a $2.5 million shock to cash flow.”
Wyeth thought independent driving ranges would thrive as cheaper alternatives during the recession, but thousands eventually went out of business.
They couldn’t compete with golf course operators to lower prices even further. “We didn’t expect that the competition would be so insanely fierce between courses that you could get a round of golf and a beer for $20. This killed the standalone cage. The cruel period continued for seven to eight years.”
Positive word of mouth from top instructors like Rick Smith has allowed Power Tee to permeate new driving ranges and golf instruction academies over the years, finally getting marketing support from unexpected sources.
Topgolf is a direct competitor to the many driving ranges and facilities that can use power tees, but thanks to the explosive popularity of the entertainment and driving range sector over the past three years, many top-of-the-line driving ranges and courses are trying to avoid losing market share to Topgolf. Added amenities and new technology.
“Topgolf is clearly demonstrating to the entire golf industry what we can do when we sell products that appeal not only to golfers, but also to non-golfers,” says Wyeth. “It makes the whole process of learning golf a lot more fun, a lot less embarrassing, a lot less frustrating.”
It is also much more profitable for the range operators. The typical power tee customer has 20-30 at-bats, night lighting and a family-friendly policy that makes the driving range an almost live video game experience.
Recently, one customer nearly doubled his monthly revenue from $50,000 (about 64.52 million won) to $90,000 (about 116 million won) for less than $3,000 (about 3.87 million won). “We never charge anything up front,” Wyeth said. And the rent includes all maintenance and replacement costs.” “When a customer has room for a spare, we give them one spare machine, so it never goes down.”
More than 400 facilities worldwide now have platforms, and golfers hit more than 6 million balls every day. A lot of practice doesn’t make perfect, but Wyeth also made a good case for what he created. He now has a handicap of 10.6.
Written by Matthew Rudy
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