Technology... how did we live without it? Before I had 12 different data points telling me exactly why my ball ended up at the foot of a tree instead of on the green, it was unsolicited swing advice from my mate's Pop. It was a simpler time.
When it comes to golf, I cut my teeth in the trenches of what North Brisbane had to offer in the late 2000s. Firstly, there was The Big Easy Driving Range in Carseldine, where learning to aim your shot involved targeting a bus with a mannequin dancing on top to Up There Cazaly—a ridiculous concept to anyone brought up on Toptracer ranges, such as Golf Central. It was $20 for a bucket of 100 balls, which I'd share with my old man. Unfortunately, the range was an early victim of North Brisbane's population boom, making way for a school in 2018.
Then there was One Mile Country Club, offering the high-school-friendly nine holes for $9 after 5pm during summer. One Mile was where you fell in love, whether you liked it or not, with your seven iron. Used for every tee shot bar one, you could genuinely play an entire round with a single club. One Mile still exists today as North Pine Country Club, although it seems to lose half a hole every year to townhouse development.
It's easy to get romantic about these places. The cost was low, the nostalgia is high, and the memories are core. But what's happened to golf in the last 10 years is nothing short of incredible. The technology and information available to the common hacker, whether at a Brisbane driving range or a state-of-the-art golf simulator, has helped fuel a boom in Australian golf unlike anything we've seen before. It's a good thing.
Golf is a paradox: an individual sport that excels in a social environment, while also being a therapeutic solo endeavour. The introduction of technology has inevitably brought an increase in price. When played socially, that cost can be shared, but when you just want to head down for a hit after work, it's a hit to the wallet too. The $20 bucket of 100 balls has been replaced by a $70-an-hour simulator booking, the $5 can of XXXX by a $15 schooner of 4 Pines, and the $4 sausage roll by a $20 pizza.
I'm lucky enough to live 10 minutes from an old driving range, for now. It too has been bought with the intention of becoming a new state-of-the-art golf facility. But while I still can, I'll be down there midweek after work, wearing a Swing Swing! cap, paying $15 for 75 balls, teeing off into the sunset, and not worrying too much about the exact path or pitch of my clubface, knowing I’ll miss it when it’s gone.
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