On Monday night, Crestview City Council approved City Staff to move forward with the process to add Toptracer to the Foxwood Golf Course.
On August 7, 2020 the City of Crestview purchased the Foxwood Golf Course, clubhouse and amenities for $1.2 million.
- As part of their efforts to get the facility open and operational, the City entered into a partnership with Great Life Golf.
- Great Life Golf will manage the clubhouse and golf course and expand the recreational experience for the entire facility.
- Council approved spending $1.6 million to repair the golf course, with an additional $400,000 for improvements.
One aspect of expanding the recreational experience is by adding an interactive electronic driving range.
“It’s like Top Golf,” explained City Manager Tim Bolduc. “The technology that is used for Top Golf is developed by a company called Toptracer.”
“If you ever watch golf on a Sunday afternoon and you see where they hit the ball, and then you see this digital arc of the ball going and landing, and it tells you exactly how far it went, all of that is done with the technology that we’re talking about bringing to our golf course,” said Bolduc.
According to Bolduc, having an attraction like Toptracer at the golf course adds an additional revenue stream and can help make Foxwood an after-hours attraction.
“When the sun goes down, the golf course dies,” he said to council. “What we want to do is bring in Toptracer to have our driving range be an actual after-hours-attraction location. Everybody says that there is nothing to do in Crestview except for the movies. This would provide an entertainment opportunity.”
In his presentation to council, Buldoc explained that these driving lanes wouldn’t be just for golfers who want to get better. He added that there is an entertainment aspect for kids, date night, or night out with friends.
“There are games where you can actually play different golf courses all over the country,” said Buldoc. “So if you wanted to play at a fancy golf course somewhere up North, you can actually do that digitally on this.”
The plan for adding Toptracer includes building out 15 driving lanes in addition to adding a tiki bar/restaurant area at a cost of roughly $104,000.
- The City would pour the concrete and do the electrical work.
- Whoever runs the restaurant inside the building would take care of the restaurant equipment.
According to Buldoc, the City of Crestview would be the only one in the area to have technology like this at a golf course.
“The closest place to us with this technology is a private club in Dothan,” said Buldoc. “So we’re the only ones around here that would have this. Nobody has Top Golf or Toptracer around here.”
With Council’s approval to increase the budget from $2 million to $2.5 million for repairs and improvements, Buldoc is hopeful that the new Toptracer driving range will be complete by January 2022. Staff will come back with a plan for the proposed restaurant at a later council meeting.
