It will only be a matter of weeks before a polyester polo becomes weather-appropriate attire and golfers across Southwestern Pennsylvania hit the links.
Golf season is likewise fast approaching for the humble driving range, where players can finally dial in that pesky 3-wood (just a few tweaks should do it) or chip away at their short game.
The appeal, for most golfers, lies in having a low-stakes, low-cost environment to work on their swing. But even as the sport’s popularity reaches new heights in the U.S. — 45 million Americans visited a course, driving range or golf- focused entertainment venue, like Topgolf, last year — classic ranges are a dying breed.
Kistler’s Golf in Penn Township and Route 8 Range in Richland closed in the last few years, despite an ongoing golf boom sparked by the sport’s suitability for covid-19 social distancing guidelines. At least a dozen others in the region, many attached to public golf courses, have gone bust since the early 2000s.
But for the ranges that have managed to hang on, times are good.
“I can remember the first day the governor opened it up and people were waiting to hit,” said Mark Borkovich, owner of Willow Golf Range in Plum, referring to state restrictions on businesses during the pandemic. “It hasn’t really slowed down since.”
Willow is as low-tech as they come. The business is simple: Golfers walk in, buy a bucket of balls for, depending on the size, anywhere for $7 to $14 and swing toward the grassy slopes. It’s a far cry from Topgolf’s gamified spin on the sport or even the indoor simulators that have grown popular in the area.
Borkovich doesn’t feel in competition with these places.
“I think any time you get people that are exposed to the game, it’s good,” he said.
Dave Barker and his son, Zach, hope the rising tide lifts their boat, too, as they sink thousands of dollars into Bonfire Driving Range in Allegheny Township. A string of hands-off managers led the once-thriving business along Route 56 into disrepair.
“It was very well done,” the elder Barker said. “We’d like to get it back that way.”
The father-son duo have been hard at work cleaning, painting and installing new equipment at the range they frequented during their respective days on the Kiski Area High School golf team. They also plan to add picnics tables and floating targets on the lake that covers the range’s first 150 or so yards.
As of April 1, Bonfire is open seven days a week from dawn to dusk.
Unlike past managers, the Barkers will have an attendant on-site, at least during peak hours.
Scott Anderson, owner of Har-Tees Driving Range in Hempfield, also switches to self-service during slow times of day — but he never closes. Har-Tees has carved out a niche as one of the region’s only 24/7 driving ranges. It’s not unusual, Anderson said, to spot golfers after midnight.
Har-Tees, too, is doing better than ever. So why haven’t more entrepreneurs tried to break into the business?
“It’s costly to install. Your time for return on investment with this sort of thing can be longer” Anderson noted. “And like I said, it’s dirty work. I’m out there in the rain and the mud. Today, we had big thunderstorms that came through and hail falling out of the sky.”
Driving around in a ball-collecting golf cart is only a fraction of the job, he added. His day-to-day involves landscaping, customer service and pulling balls out of the woods. Har-Tees goes through thousands of balls a day, and 10 golf balls makes a pound — not exactly light work.
It also takes a lot of land. Roughly 10 acres seems to be standard.
Build out in the middle of nowhere, the land might be cheap, but customers will be hesitant to make the trip. Pay for an undeveloped parcel in a more suburban or urban setting, though, and the economics make less sense.
“Most of the time that acreage is more valuable as home sites,” Borkovich said.
That leaves Southwestern Pennsylvania with only a few, familiar ranges that aren’t attached to courses.
Back at Bonfire, about 30 people visited in the first few days of the season, including Tré Carter, 30, of Vandergrift. The near-freezing weather didn’t deter him from hitting the range around 10 a.m. Tuesday — in basketball shorts, no less.
“I just started picking (golf) up recently,” he said, preparing to work through his second bucket of the morning. “It’s just something that you can always get better at.”
Featured Local Businesses
And at “$5 for a bucket of balls,” he added, “you can’t really beat it.”
Then, he put his head down, set his feet and crushed his 5-iron almost 200 yards, just over the far shore.