Driving range finance for bays, technology and range purchases

A range earns mostly from ball sales, through dispensers, card systems or bay booking, with coaching, a pro shop, a café or bar, short game areas and adventure golf adding to it. Ranges with ball tracking technology have shifted many customers from a quick bucket of balls to booked bay sessions, often with friends, food and drink. That changes the business from practice for golfers towards entertainment for a wider audience, and lenders look at which kind of range you run.

The costs are steady: staff, rent or the mortgage, business rates, energy for lights and heaters, and constant replacement of balls, mats and targets. Pickers, mowers and dispensers wear out on a cycle. Weather matters: covered and heated bays protect income, but an open outfield still suffers in wind and rain, and evening trade depends on good lighting.

• Installing ball tracking technology across some or all bays
• Building new bays, adding a second tier or covering and heating existing bays
• Replacing ball dispensers, washers, pickers and the range ball stock
• New mats, targets and outfield works
• Floodlights, often switching to LED, and safety netting and poles
• Refurbishing the café, bar or shop, or adding adventure golf or simulator studios
• Buying a range as a going concern, or refinancing existing borrowing

New bays, tall netting and floodlights usually need planning permission, and councils may set conditions on lighting hours and light spill, especially near homes. Lenders check that what they are funding is authorised, so have the consent and its conditions to hand. For a leased site, the lease needs to run well beyond the finance term, and the landlord may need to agree to the works and to the lender's interest in financed equipment.

Technology upgrades raise expectations: once one range nearby offers tracked bays, others may need to follow, and today's system may need refreshing before a long finance term ends. Revenue share deals reduce upfront cost but give away part of the upside. Floodlight and heating costs rise with energy prices. Test repayments against a wet winter and a quiet summer, and remember that personal guarantees are common for owner-managed ranges; our guide to personal guarantees explains what that means. Borrowing of £25,000 or less by sole traders and small partnerships can be regulated consumer credit, which brings additional protections.

Capital allowances such as the Annual Investment Allowance may apply to qualifying equipment; ask your accountant how they apply to your range.