Topgolf Pompano Beach: High-Tech Games, Surprisingly Serious Eats and a Lively Atmosphere Prove You Don’t Need a Decent Handicap, or Apparently Any Golf Game Whatsoever, to Have a Ball.

Golf and I have never exactly been involved in a committed relationship.

Give me a football, put me cageside at a fight or drop me into just about any sporting event and I am comfortable. Hand me a golf club and suddenly there are considerably more questions.

Yet somewhere between my first questionable swing and watching a ball actually travel in roughly the direction I intended, something unexpected happened at Topgolf Pompano Beach.

I started getting into it.

Located at 400 Lucky Lane beside Harrah’s Pompano Beach, the massive entertainment complex takes the traditional driving range, loads it with technology, food, drinks and competition, then removes much of the intimidation that can come with golf. The three-story venue features more than 100 all-weather hitting bays, a 28-foot video wall, more than 200 HDTVs, a restaurant and bar and plenty of room for events.

More importantly for someone with my particular set of golf skills, you do not have to be good.

You just have to swing.

Preferably at the ball.

Sometimes the Biggest Swing Isn’t the Best Swing

There is something inherently satisfying about standing over a golf ball and trying to absolutely murder it.

There is also something educational about discovering that sometimes the biggest swing isn’t the best swing.

A few of my attempts probably generated enough wind to help the giant fans overhead, while the ball itself had considerably less ambitious travel plans. Once I stopped trying to send it into Broward County airspace, things improved.

Topgolf’s technology makes that learning curve considerably more entertaining.

Toptracer tracks shots and scores them automatically, while games transform the enormous outfield into something closer to a golf-themed arcade. At Pompano Beach, options include the signature Topgolf game, Shot Shuffle and a pressure-free Practice Mode, with games designed for everyone from first-timers to experienced players.

My practically nonexistent golf game actually performed considerably better than expected.

Staff members even offered a few pointers along the way without turning the night into an unsolicited lesson. That little bit of encouragement helped, but so did the variety of games. Instead of endlessly launching balls into an empty range, there is always a target, score or challenge providing an excuse for another swing.

And failure can be every bit as entertaining as success.

Hit a beauty and everyone watches the screen.

Completely botch one and everyone still watches, just for entirely different reasons.

Golf Without the Country Club Attitude

That accessibility may be one of Topgolf’s greatest strengths.

You do not need your own clubs. Complimentary clubs are available. You do not need a foursome. Each bay accommodates up to six players, with gameplay pricing based on the bay rather than each individual player.

Most importantly, nobody in our group needed to pretend we were preparing for Sunday at Augusta.

The technology is sophisticated enough for experienced golfers to pay attention to their shots, while the games are simple enough for beginners to immediately participate.

That creates an interesting equalizer.

The golfer can obsess over accuracy.

The beginner can chase targets.

The competitive friend can stare at the leaderboard.

And someone like me can occasionally make solid contact and immediately begin behaving as though a PGA Tour card is imminent.

Florida Brought the Humidity

Of course, this is South Florida, so Mother Nature wanted a turn too.

The humidity was strong during our visit, but the enormous fans positioned around the hitting bays did wonders to offset it. You are still outdoors and you are definitely still in Florida, but the constant airflow made a noticeable difference.

Topgolf officially describes its Pompano Beach bays as all-weather, with cooling fans for warmer conditions.

Those fans earned their paycheck during our visit.

As daylight disappeared, the venue also underwent a pretty dramatic transformation. The targets glowed across the range, lights filled the outfield and the whole place shifted from daytime driving range to nighttime entertainment complex.

It is easy to arrive intending to hit some golf balls and suddenly realize several hours later that it is dark outside and you are still swinging.

Or eating.

Usually both.

Come Hungry

The golf may get top billing, but the kitchen has absolutely no intention of playing second fiddle.

We went big.

Really big.

The shareable spread made that obvious almost immediately. Fried chicken sliders, tortilla chips, pretzel bites, pickles, queso, salsa and ranch turned the center of the table into something closer to a tailgate than a quick bite between swings. It is food designed for a group, and more importantly, designed to be attacked a little at a time while everyone rotates through the tee box.

The sliders brought plenty of crunch beneath those soft buns, while the dips gave everyone an excuse to keep reaching back toward the platter. Sharing was supposedly the idea. Protecting your favorite pieces became the reality.

Even the crinkle-cut fries understood the assignment. Golden, crisp and wonderfully uncomplicated, they were exactly the kind of side that kept disappearing between turns. Nobody needs a golf simulator to track how quickly a basket of fries vanishes around a hungry group.

Then came one of the heavier hitters.

The Buffalo Chicken Dip arrived bubbling hot in a skillet beneath a generous crispy topping and fresh scallions. It delivered that familiar buffalo tang and cheesy richness without overwhelming us with heat. In fact, that was true across much of what we sampled. There was spice where appropriate, but nothing seemed determined to set our mouths on fire before the next round.

Our table eventually became a parade of shareables, pizza, dips, sliders and fried goodies that made taking your next turn at the tee increasingly questionable.

The Hot Honey Pepperoni Roman Crust Pizza was an easy standout. Its rectangular crust came loaded with those wonderfully curled pepperoni cups, while the hot honey provided sweetness and just enough warmth to make things interesting.

Despite the name, the heat never became overpowering.

That proved true throughout the meal. There was spice where appropriate, but nothing seemed determined to set our mouths on fire before the next round.

The Cheesy Macaroni Bites were another easy crowd-pleaser, delivering the familiar creamy comfort food inside a crispy fried shell. Then came the shareables, dips and enough finger food to turn our hitting bay into a dinner table with golf clubs attached.

Topgolf operates a full restaurant and bar, and Bayhosts can bring food and drinks directly to the hitting area while everyone continues playing.

It creates a dangerously efficient routine:

Swing. Eat. Swing. Eat. Check the score. Dispute the score. Eat again.

Somehow, We Still Found Room for Donuts

By dessert, common sense suggested we were finished.

Common sense had not met the Topgolf Donut Hole-In-Ones.

Even after stuffing ourselves, the cinnamon-sugar-dusted donut holes somehow

hit that sweet spot. The real fun comes from the injectable fillings, allowing you to take a syringe and fill each donut hole yourself.

Apparently, even dessert at Topgolf requires taking a shot.

They also became part of a playful birthday celebration that showed another side of the venue.

Rather than quietly dropping dessert on the table and disappearing, staff members arrived clapping and carrying a giant “IT’S A PARTY!” sign. For a few moments, our bay became its own little celebration.

Topgolf actively caters to birthdays and group events, with its Pompano Beach party offerings including gameplay, dedicated staff and optional Donut Hole-In-Ones.

Seeing the employees actually commit to the silliness made it considerably more fun.

Service Kept Pace with the Action

With golf balls flying, games changing and an increasingly ridiculous amount of food occupying the table, service could easily have gotten lost in the commotion.

It didn’t.

Our server, Alejandro, was solid throughout the visit. He was attentive without hovering and seemed to be around whenever we needed something.

That matters more here than it might at a traditional restaurant. Nobody is necessarily eating at the same pace. One person is swinging, another is ordering, somebody is checking the score and someone else is probably reaching for the last macaroni bite while hoping nobody notices.

Alejandro kept everything moving.

The rest of the staff added to the experience as well, from joining the birthday fun to offering those golf pointers when it became painfully obvious that a little assistance might be appreciated.

Nobody made the inexperienced golfers feel out of place.

My swing handled that responsibility just fine.

A Playground Disguised as a Driving Range

That may ultimately be what makes Topgolf Pompano Beach work.

Calling it a driving range does not really capture the experience.

The Pompano Beach venue combines more than 100 hitting bays with Toptracer technology, TVs, music, a restaurant, bar and event spaces. Reservations are available, but walk-ins are accepted as well.

There is also a PlayMore Membership, currently advertised at $20 per month plus tax with a three-month minimum commitment for the monthly option. Members receive a free hour of gameplay each month, a free appetizer on each visit, limited to one per bay per visit, and benefits covering the member plus as many as five guests.

For someone planning a single visit, that may not matter much. For anyone who leaves thinking, We need to do this again, it becomes considerably more interesting.

And that “again” factor is strong.

By the time darkness settled over Pompano Beach, the giant targets were glowing, the range lights were blazing, the food had mostly disappeared and scores had been celebrated, disputed and occasionally treated as though they were the result of a technological malfunction rather than operator error.

Some golf balls had also experienced trajectories their manufacturers probably never envisioned.

But nobody cared.

The golfer can work on distance and accuracy. The beginner can chase targets. Families can compete. Friends can heckle each other. Birthday groups can celebrate. Sports fans can keep an eye on the TVs. And someone who has little interest in golf can sit comfortably with a cocktail and Hot Honey Pepperoni Pizza until peer pressure eventually puts a club in their hands.

Then the game has them too.

I arrived knowing my golf game was essentially nonexistent.

I left considerably more confident.

Not good, mind you.

Let’s not get carried away.

But Topgolf managed to make every decent shot feel like an accomplishment and every terrible one part of the entertainment.

Sometimes the biggest swing isn’t the best swing.

Sometimes you ease up, make contact and surprise yourself.

And sometimes you miss completely, grab another donut hole and pretend you were just checking the wind.

Topgolf Pompano Beach
400 Lucky Lane, Pompano Beach, FL 33069
Current hours are Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., Friday 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. and Sunday 9 a.m. to midnight.