The Heather Jones Bucket List: New Thing #95

Month 7 - Random

January 24, 2019 - Top Golf

Okay, this new thing is kind of random, and I'm only inserting it because it is still new. It didn't really fall into my list of new things for the year, but it happened, and it's new for me, so why not add it?

One of the perks of my new job is that our vendor reps are quite attentive. They bring us snacks, provide food for Lunch and Learns and even take the group of us out for excursions (most recently it was manis/pedis).

This month, one of our lighting reps offered to take us to Top Golf. I've been meaning to do this since it opened last year, but golf isn't exactly high on my list of transferable skills. Not to mention that it seemed pretty expensive for something I would most likely suck at. Enter a lighting rep with an expense budget!

The only drawback is that we might have gone on the absolute coldest day of the year. They tout that they have heaters on the deck, but I wasn't looking forward to sitting outside for a few hours in single digit temps!

We went after work, so we golfed after dark.

I was the first one to arrive, even before our rep, Courtney. It was a decent sized placed, filled with a bar/restaurant, gift shop, pro shop and numerous bays. We stayed on the main floor, but I know there are additional floors above and below us. The concierge asked if we had a bay preference, and when I hesitated (how the hell should I know where to go), he suggested the one furthest away from the wind, hoping it would be one of the warmer options for us.

Um, yeah, I'll take it!

Courtney arrived soon thereafter, followed by the rest of my coworkers. We found our bay in the middle of the Arctic tundra, and each got signed in. The bays can only hold up to 6 people playing at a time, though there are plenty of benches to hold more bystanders.

This is all open to the elements. The bar and gift shop are inside where it's heated.

Three levels. I can only imagine how busy this place will be in the spring when it gets nicer.

There is a bin of clubs, benches and a table, along with the swinging area (not sure what else to call it) and the ball machine. It basically works like this. Each person selects their name on the monitor, waves their club on the ball machine sensor to release a new golf ball, and takes a big swing. Each ball has a microchip in it, so it can be tracked down the field. Field? Green? Area? Whatever the hell you call it. I'm going to call it a field.

The field is filled with holes of varying sizes, and depending on where the ball lands, your score adds up accordingly. Pretty cool stuff if you think about it. They have a variety of different games to play, but we chose to just hit as many balls as possible and see what happened.

Our targets.

Each of us took our turn and some were better than others. A few people have been here before and others have actually played golf more than once or twice in their life. The rest of us were mediocre at best.

I can count on one hand how many times I've swung a golf club in my life. So, needless to say, my first attempt was crap. Yep, I missed the ball a few times. Totes embarrassing. I blamed it on the fact that I was freezing, but in reality, the heaters above the benches made it quite bearable. The swinging deck, on the other hand, wasn't as warm. But, I don't think you can really blame my mediocrity on that.

My next go around was much more successful, and I realized a few things. 1) I was using the wrong club the first time. Don't ask me what I was using or which club I switched to, because I have no idea. I just know that one worked better than the other. 2) I was taking it too seriously and was too tense. Once I loosened up and had fun, I turned out to be much better at it. 3) I will never have to worry about someone asking me to play a round of golf with them.

Do not judge these photos. I don't need to hear comments on how bad my stance is or why my swing looks like I'm shooing a bee away. I had fun, and that's all that matters!

Once we finished the first game (20 balls each), I luckily didn't come in last. I wasn't in the top 3 either, so we'll just leave it at that. :) I did hit my stride towards the end of the game, but the first session or two of terrible balls did me no favors.

They make it really easy there to continue a game. You just add the amount of time you want to play and it keeps going and adding on to the credit card on file. I imagine this can be quite dangerous if you've had a few drinks and keep extending your time.

They also have food/drink service brought right out to you. The menu was pretty extensive, though not exactly healthy, along with a full beer/wine/cocktail menu. We had a server bring everything out to us, which was really nice, but next time I need to bring a beer koozie if it's going to be that damn cold out!

We opted to play another quick round, and after the first session, I managed to be in first place. It didn't last much past that round, but I basked in the temporary glory!

It was a lot of fun and something I'd definitely do again, but hopefully with much better results next time!