City Limits Golf - Bishopsgate... Anyone tried it?

Despite having worked within a mile of this place for the last 7 years, I have only found out about the existence of this driving range today...

http://www.citylimitsgolf.com/index.html

Apparently the owners of the land decided that there would be no call for a new office block at that location for the next 6 years, so decided to put a driving range on their £40 million valued plot of land!

I am really intrigued by it. Has anyone been there yet?

If anyone has, I have two questions...
-is it long enough to be able to hit a driver?
-are the fences high enough to prevent a ball hitting one of the shiny nearby buildings, potentially leading to a rather expensive bill?

Marcus wrote:Despite having worked within a mile of this place for the last 7 years, I have only found out about the existence of this driving range today...

http://www.citylimitsgolf.com/index.html

Apparently the owners of the land decided that there would be no call for a new office block at that location for the next 6 years, so decided to put a driving range on their £40 million valued plot of land!

I am really intrigued by it. Has anyone been there yet?

If anyone has, I have two questions...
-is it long enough to be able to hit a driver?
-are the fences high enough to prevent a ball hitting one of the shiny nearby buildings, potentially leading to a rather expensive bill?

Marcus.

It's overpriced. Has only a few bays... and the scaffolding is sagging a bit making the netting encroach in places (at least it was a little while ago). It's fine for hitting a few balls at lunchtime if you really have to... but it's not somewhere I'd use on a regular basis.

Hmmmm I think I'll give it a miss then!

Shame, could have been good.

Sorry to spoil your fun.

Still... the website is here.

www.citylimitsgolf.com

So the bloke who owns it now can't say I haven't helped him advertise his business... Even if I do think he's an arrogant bum who needs a slap.

Golf simulators are probably not to everyone's taste, but I'm a member at City Golf Club which isn't too far away.

http://www.citygolfclubs.com/

I came across this establishment about a year ago around the same time that City Limits opened when I was looking for a place to practise during the week. The potential downside if you just occasionally want to hit some balls is the monthly fee. On the other hand, if you make good use of your simulator time allowance to practise or play on any of the 50+ courses (with or without guests), I think it's reasonable value - but I'm not a member of a proper golf club, so this is my proxy.

I think there might be a referral scheme if anyone wants to join, but I'm not sure what the terms are at present. Send me a message if interested and I can look into.

Skydriver,

What sort of monthly cost is it for membership? Seems like the sort of thing you can just sling through the office as an expense...

There are a few different options. I go for the basic one of 8 hours simulator time for £105 pm - no lessons, no gym (both of which cost more of course).

This might sound a fair bit in itself, but one of the unexpected benefits I've found is that "playing" mode is rather quicker than the real thing (there is obviously no long walk over to your next shot). I will typically do 5 mins warm up and complete 9 holes in half an hour if I want to play.

Even if you just want to practise though, I reckon the added benefits of ball flight tracking / distance measurement / other stats etc are probably worth the additional cost above going to a driving range. The putting is not good though. Anyway, in short, there are pluses and minues but I've found it works quite well for me.

Good luck to you if your entertaining budget can cover!

Skydriver...

The simulator sounds interesting. Do you know if it caters for lefties? I've been on a sim before and it was only for right handers, and whenever I hit a ball it ended up in the trees!

I know London is expensive but £9.60 for 80 balls!!!

I am member of the academy at the Belfry (includes short game area and putting green) and it £3.50 (peak) for 100 balls...

Marcus

Yes, all the bays are fitted to be ambidextrous (as it were) - rubber tees and non-fairway surfaces on the left as well as the right, and you select which hand you play as part of the setup options. They have at least one bag of left handed clubs floating around as required. The clubs available for use there are mostly Clevelands/Srixons by the way. Some folks bring their own.

I am amused by that resident pga pros on site thing... I know one of the kids who works there. Whilst he's very good he's still an amateur!

Skydriver wrote:Marcus

Yes, all the bays are fitted to be ambidextrous (as it were) - rubber tees and non-fairway surfaces on the left as well as the right, and you select which hand you play as part of the setup options. They have at least one bag of left handed clubs floating around as required. The clubs available for use there are mostly Clevelands/Srixons by the way. Some folks bring their own.

Thanks for the info. Might check it out.

Using simulators is how I've kept my swing over the last 3 months of inactivity on the course. It does need a slightly different technique, but should transfer to the course just as well as banging a bucket of balls out into the fog!
Where I simulate, the clubs are all Taylor Mades in cavities or blades, with lefties and drivers with a draw bias if wanted, but most people use their own clubs.