FWKCC kicks off new tour series at Topgolf
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Farragut West Knox Chamber of Commerce members gathered for a photo during an inaugural How Its Made tour at Topgolf, 11400 Outlet Drive, Friday March 26. - Tammy Cheek
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Aaron Dicking, Topgolf director of sales, described the process of play at Topgolf to Farragut West Knox Chamber of Commerce members. - Tammy Cheek
Farragut West Knox Chamber of Commerce members recently had an opportunity to see the behind-the-scenes action of Topgolf during the Chamber’s inaugural How It’s Made Tour at Topgolf, 11400 Outlet Drive, Friday March 27.
FWKCC president/CEO Julie Blaylock credited the Chamber’s board and education committee, chaired by Brenda Huckaby, for initiating and making the event happen.
They’ve already planned the next How It’s Made event for 10 a.m. Friday, June 26, at Daylen Products Inc., 11110 Gilbert Drive, Knoxville.
“One a quarter, that’s our goal,” Blaylock said. “I’m super excited to be at Topgolf today.”
At Topgolf, Aaron Gicking, director of sales, said the business has been in Farragut for six years.
“This is my second venue,” he said. “I opened it back in 2022. I couldn’t be happier.
“Topgolf was established back in 2000 … the idea was from two gentlemen from the [United Kingdom],” Gicking said. “Oddly enough, it took 20 years before a venue actually opened in the UK.”
Besides the United States, it now has venues across the world, such as the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, and China, among others.
“Is it true that the balls have GPS in each ball?” asked Chamber member Steve Heydel, business developer with Corporate Quarters.
“It doesn’t have GPS, but it does have an RFD chip in there,” Gicking answered. He added the chips are scanned so they can be tracked to “know exactly where it’s going.”
Gicking led the FWKCC group through to the back side of the building to see how balls are cleaned and sorted and the golf bays.
“This is where all the magic really starts,” he said. “We have our ball cleaner and sorter,” he said. “It’s going to go through the sensor to check all the RFD chips to make sure they’re working. If it doesn’t, [the machine] is going to eject [the balls] and they go through a second time. Sometimes it takes three or four times to get the chip to finally read. Once it does, we can put it back in practice.”
“We’ll finish it out on the field,” he said. “I know that’s where you all want to see what is in the holes. Then to make it fun, we’re going to take a picture on the golf course.”
