Europe’s busiest driving range, the World of Golf at New Malden in south-west London, has opened the most advanced golf teaching facility in the UK to help golfers of all abilities take their game to the next level with the very latest game-improvement technologies.
The World of Golf’s new Performance Centre – open to the public every day for 75 hours a week – is the only UK facility that boasts GC2 Launch Monitor with HMT, Trackman, Flightscope, Science & Motion (SAM) putting and the latest Swing Catalyst technologies all under the one roof.
Designed to improve the games of serious golfers and newcomers alike, the new six-bay facility was opened by former Ryder Cup captain Bernard Gallacher and is part of a £750,000 investment which includes the provision of nine PGA-qualified coaches, including three from the UK’s Top 100 golf tutors.
“We’re very proud to open the most advanced practice facility for regular golfers in the UK,” said Grant Wright, CEO of World of Golf. “In particular, we’ve made a serious investment for serious golfers, who we hope will take advantage of the latest game-improvement technology used by the world’s best players.”
One of the standout technologies available in the Performance Centre is the sophisticated Swing Catalyst device, which streams live video images from a range of high-speed cameras to provide more than 200 frames per second – allowing golfers to have their swings compared in detail to leading Tour stars like Justin Rose and Suzann Pettersen. Other bays include the Tour-renowned Flightscope and Trackman technologies – the latter being used by 175 of the world’s top 200 players – and the high-tech SAM lab that compares putting performance to Tour players such as US Open champion Martin Kaymer.
“In addition to the fantastic facilities, the expertise our coaching staff provides is second to none and promises to make lessons in the Performance Centre even more enjoyable and easy to understand for 75 hours a week,” added Wright. “To mark the launch of the Performance Centre, golfers who book 12 lessons in the facility will get four of the sessions for free.”
The World of Golf facility at New Malden – which has seen more than 15 million balls hit in the last year – has also introduced innovative Protracer technology in 20 of its 60 driving range bays. This allows golfers to sync a smart phone or tablet device to an exclusive Wi-Fi to trace the flight of their ball and receive instant feedback on distance.
“The new ProTracer technology is another fantastic addition to our facility and allows golfers, free of charge, to see how far they’re hitting each shot, either in terms of carry or total distance,” said Master Professional Duncan Woolger. “There’s also a ‘competition’ mode available that awards points for each shot depending on how close they finish to the flags and the best scores will go up on a leaderboard in the main shop.”