Tigermania Is Driving Young People on to the Ranges; SOCIAL TREND: UK Perception of Game as Socially Exclusive and Expensive Is Breaking Down

Byline: ROBIN TURNER

DRIVING range owner Terry Woodford is thanking Tiger Woods for a big rise in interest in the "ball blaster" golf-training venues where customers traditionally hone their skills before venturing on to club greens.

There has been a steady growth in golf-driving ranges in Wales with the use of ball-catching nets and "aquabays", where shots are lofted into water, helping to compensate for the relative lack of space.

Floodlit bays with rain cowls ensure people can practise at night and in all sorts of weather.

Terry Woodford and his wife Barbara decided two years ago to give up their previous job, running boat trips in Llangollen, and plumped instead for running one of Wales's growing colony of golf-driving centres.

The Tycroes Golf Range is on the outskirts of Ammanford in West Wales and is one of many which have grown up straddling the line of the M4 in the …

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Publication information: Article title: Tigermania Is Driving Young People on to the Ranges; SOCIAL TREND: UK Perception of Game as Socially Exclusive and Expensive Is Breaking Down. Contributors: Not available. Newspaper title: Western Mail (Cardiff, Wales). Publication date: March 25, 2002. Page number: 4. © 2009 MGN Ltd. COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group.

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