Highlands Performance Golf Center is a six-time Golf Range Association of America (GRAA) Top 50 Stand Alone Facility and has operated for roughly 30 years (under different management entities), originally known as Golden Bear Golf Center.
Highlands Performance Golf Center has 65 grass stalls (rare for the greater downtown Dallas area) and utilizes mats when conditions and weather warrant. Twenty stalls are covered for protection from those elements that sometime hinder an effective practice session or fun at the range with family and friends. Those dedicated golfers hit more than five million golf balls per year to green targets that have been built up with artificial turf so distances can be determined and proper clubs selected.
The facility’s short game practice area offers pitching and bunker practice that enables golfers to hit shots up to 50 yards. There is also a separate putting green and another natural grass putting surface coming this summer.
Brian Coe has been teaching and coaching at Highlands Performance Golf Center for the past decade. As the PGA of America General Manager of the Carrollton, Texas driving range and golf performance center since 2023, he still gives about a dozen lessons per week, scheduling them to meet his students’ schedules in between his own meetings and other GM responsibilities and duties.
Coe played golf in junior high and high school before heading to the University of Wisconsin-Parkside to pursue his degree in Sport and Fitness Administration/Management. He worked as an assistant professional at Exmoor Country Club in Illinois during and after college and spent two years at the prestigious Kansas City Country Club before attaining a teaching role at Highlands.
In the golf shop, Coe and his team stock major hard goods brands and specialize in FootJoy apparel and shoes.
Custom club fittings are conducted by Mark Maness, PGA, and teaching professional Suti Siewsurut with state-of-the-art FlightScope launch monitor technology. They are able to gather data using technology indoors and then go outdoors to see the full ball flight. This personal attention to each golfer often lead to hard goods sales.
In addition, player development programming is abundant at HPGC. With six coaches — five of whom are PGA of America Golf Professionals — they offer private lessons, group instruction and a variety of Get Golf Ready and women’s clinics that bring golfers together to learn and forge relationships. They also support local veterans with quarterly PGA HOPE sessions and offer senior-focused lunchtime golf clinics. Junior programming includes prep clinics, private coaching and six full-week summer camps. In addition, the range hosts 10 local high school golf programs who utilize the facility for practice and player development.
On-site TPI-certified golf fitness professional Chris Ownbey has been in the golf and fitness industry for over 30 years. According to the HPGC website, “He believes that there is no right or wrong way to work out, but there is a smarter, more effective way to work out for your sport. Programs with Chris begin with a TPI golf fitness assessment and the results received from the evaluation allow for him to design a golf fitness program specifically for you. Work the muscles specific to your swing and create the correct movement patterns for more speed and consistency in your golf swing.”
We highlighted Chris’s efforts in the November 2022 issue of Golf Fitness Monthly.
In addition to daily play, they host special events and promotions, like an annual customer appreciation/demo weekend in early March, featuring:
Two-for-one range pass promotions
Vendor demo/fitting days
Breakfast tacos
Raffles
Free mini golf
Participating vendors include major golf manufacturers like Callaway, TaylorMade, Ping, Titleist, Cleveland/Srixon and PXG.
As you can see, there are a lot of reasons to visit Highlands Performance Golf Center. But the range itself remains the key component of the business. In fact, roughly 70 percent of revenue comes from the driving range, the social hub for engagement and fun at any stand alone facility and at most public courses and private clubs across the country.