Topgolf Tees Up First Southern California Location
Topgolf, the popular entertainment concept that pairs golfing with food and beverage options, is set to open its first Southern California location this week.
Topgolf Entertainment Group will open its first SoCal location — its 75th globally — on Friday in Ontario. The open-air venue spans three levels with 102 enclosed bays, a rooftop terrace, private event space, and food and beverage amenities.
Golf Digest called Topgolf “the best way to enjoy golf while knowing nothing about it." The concept is essentially a high-tech driving range with games that are not overtly golf-related, plus food and booze. The hitting bays include booths with seating, like at a bowling alley.
The new spot will also offer year-round live entertainment. Bays at the Ontario location will range from $40 to $60 an hour, with discounted promotions, resulting in a more accessible way to enjoy golf, Golf Digest said.
“There are barriers to entry in golf,” Topgolf Director of Real Estate Development Tanner Micheli told Fore Magazine last year. “We want to make the experience unintimidating, to eliminate those barriers to entry. We’re creating for the experienced and the unexperienced. Both will have a great time playing.”
The company opened a San Jose location in April 2021 and has another California location in Roseville, near Sacramento. Topgolf is planning to open another LA-area venue in El Segundo, on a city-owned golf course, later this spring. The El Segundo location will have the same number of hitting bays but will also have a 10-hole golf course.
Topgolf entered into a 20-year lease for 13.7 acres of land owned by San Bernardino County in 2019, the county of San Bernardino said in a release. Erik Westedt and Blake Kaplan of JLL’s Retail Group in Ontario represented the county in the lease. The pandemic delayed the project, with construction kicking off in February 2021. The finished development is roughly 600K SF, the county said.
