Industry-leading range technology provider, Toptracer, has just launched a brand-new game mode: Toptracer30.
The exciting new game mode puts players in 30 realistic virtual on-course scenarios and measures how successfully the player navigates them – providing a mountain of data in just 30 shots.
Each shot provides data that accumulates to a total score designed to offer an accurate and objective snapshot assessment of the player’s current performance level.
The new game mode has been designed as a bridge between the range and the golf course, simulating on-course pressure for players as they are tasked with a series of different situations.
Toptracer30 consists of nine tee shots and 21 approach shots, with each shot evaluated depending on a number of variables – ranging from distance and accuracy when driving, to hole proximity and greens hit when approaching.
During gameplay, players are additionally provided with a series of ‘Insights’. As each is observed, evaluated, and analyzed, players, are given real-time feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of their performance during that play-through of Toptracer30.
Finally, upon completion of the Toptracer30 game, each shot is assessed and attributed to a ‘Performance Handicap’ – an estimated handicap that reflects the player’s performance across the entire 30 shots.
Ben Sharpe, Toptracer President, commented on the new development:
“Toptracer30 is yet another impressive innovation in our range technology. This new game mode provides players with brilliant insights into their performance, and it offers the player with an opportunity to health check their game in just 30 shots.”
Toptracer30 – game setup
Within Toptracer30, the player’s score on each shot is determined by a number of variables; for example, when driving, accuracy and distance are two of the many things that are measured – be careful, however, as wayward drives that leave the player’s next shot blocked out will be heavily punished.
When hitting approach shots, proximity to the hole and hitting the green can be rewarded while the resulting lie and expected score from it are factored in; thereby being on the green may not necessarily have a better score than a closer proximity/better lie off the green.
These accumulated scores are attributed at the end of the game to provide a ‘Performance Handicap’ for the player, reflecting the player’s performance across the 30 shots.
At the beginning of the game, the player enters a Reference Handicap. This becomes the benchmark for the ‘strokes gained’ methodology that is provided as a key insight after each shot.
The Strokes Gained feature provides in-game feedback for the player so that they can see how each shot that they play within the Toptracer30 game compares to the benchmark handicap the player entered at the start.
The Reference Handicap provided by the player is solely used for in-game and post-game insights, so don’t worry – they don’t affect your overall score!
Insights
An insight is something that’s observed during Toptracer30 gameplay that represents an opportunity for improvement on the course or the next time the game is played.
Each shot inside the Toptracer30 training mode is observed, evaluated, and analyzed.
Toptracer30 then analyses a vast number of performance metrics, as well as identifying the biggest contributor to the player’s score (this becomes the “positive” insight) and the 3 most important areas of the player’s game where an improvement would generate the quickest way to improve.
Sports industry trends in 2022
What we read above is clear proof of what I hear and see in many places. Namely, sport is going through digitalization and transformation spurred by the growth in athlete data capture and analysis.
We can neither neglect the contribution of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies, sports gaming and betting platforms, and more recently, the rise of NFTs.
The Mastercard Economics Institute analysis shows that European consumer card spending on sporting goods, services, and experiences was up 2.5% in 2021 compared to pre-pandemic levels (2019), with sporting goods retail sales—such as golf clubs, tennis balls and bikes—up 14.6%.