Some wonder why it’s necessary to walk four hours to play 30 minutes of golf, which may be one reason high-tech golf venues are cropping up in Phoenix and other metro areas.

The popularity of Topgolf, the forerunner in golf entertainment, has brought others into the field.

New York-based Drive Shack announced last week that it will open a golf entertainment venue near University of Phoenix Stadium. The three-story complex is planned at the southwest corner of Bethany Home Road and 99th Avenue, just west of Loop 101, in Phoenix.

One month ago, Topgolf announced it would build at the northern corner of Bethany Home Road and the 101, in Glendale.

Both are expected to open in 2018.

Similar competitiveness has been playing out in Richmond, Virginia, where Drive Shack is building and Topgolf is eyeing to build, according to a RichmondBizSense.com.

Neither golf companies returned calls for comment.

Topgolf was onto something

Topgolf opened in the United Kingdom in 2000 and came to the United States in 2005. Today it has grown to 30 venues worldwide, with 13 more in the works throughout the U.S. In August, it announced the Glendale as its third metro Phoenix location. Topgolf already has venues in Scottsdale and Gilbert.

Drive Shack announced its first location in Orlando last year and is now pursuing locations in Richmond and Phoenix.

The concept has proven popular. Topgolf said in a press release that it expects to draw about 450,000 visitors in Glendale in its first year.

The Drive Shack concept is similar to Topgolf’s, which is golf without a golf course — or the long walk or the cart. There is food and drink close at hand. There are big-screen TV and a swimming pool. And golf. Golfers drive a ball into a field, and technology does the rest.

“A computer chip tells where you hit your ball and you can compete against your friends,” said Robin Rodie Vitols, a spokeswoman for John F. Long Properties, where Drive Shack will be located.

Both Topgolf and Drive Shack offer golf activities that for people of all skill levels. The idea is to bring large groups of people together to enjoy what the golf industry says is, at its core, a social sport.

Bringing in younger people

The popular narrative is that golf is on the decline, in part because Millennials have little interest in golf. A study by the National Golf Foundation suggests that the decline is nuanced, gradual and exaggerated. How golf might look in the future, however, is not clear.

Media coverage of Millennials and golf “has been decidedly negative, exaggerating the degree” to which Millennials have abandoned the game, the report says. The NGF reports that more than six million Millennials play annually, about 26 percent of all golfers, spending $5 billion to play 90 million rounds.

“Young adults are still keen on the game, just not as much,” the study concluded.

Demographics, time and money are a big reason that Millennials have not embraced the game as passionately as other generations, according to the study. Student loans can eat into Millennial budgets. Some are reluctant to spend four hours away from home on weekends. Work eats into leisure time. Perceptions of the game can also play a role: Golf is stuffy, serious and difficult to master.

But this new kind of golf is fun, the report notes. The NGF concluded that this new techno-golf may help bring in more young people to the sport.

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