Up your game: Technology and tradition hit a sweet spot at Choo Choo Golf Academy

Staff photo by Tim Barber/ Thomas Smith, director of instruction and operations at Choo Choo Golf Academy, uses the latest in modern technology as he teaches golf Wednesday, March 4, 2020, inside the East Brainerd facility.
Staff photo by Tim Barber/ Thomas Smith, director of instruction and operations at Choo Choo Golf Academy, uses the latest in modern technology as he teaches golf Wednesday, March 4, 2020, inside the East Brainerd facility.

For the Choo Choo Golf Academy, the arrival of Top Golf later this year in Chattanooga is met with open arms.

Wait, what?

"I think it's going to help every golf facility, to be honest," Choo Choo owner Todd Moreland says. "The more people play, the more they want to improve and get better.

"If you are going out there with your buddies, you're going to want to be able to hit the ball and get it into the air. And that's where we can help anyone."

Moreland's golfing haven in east Hamilton County on Mackey Avenue is a way station that connects the ranges of the past and the technology of the future.

With open and covered stalls across a vast driving range that has added a six-figure drainage system, the appearance from the outside feels traditional. The toys on the inside, however, are anything but.

Choo Choo has multiple high-end options to take a great player to a scratch player and a novice to the next level.

In fact, Moreland, who has owned the facility for five years, is quick to point out the only places within 100 miles with the same type of training equipment will cost you tens of thousands of dollars over the long haul to use.

"Only The Honors and the (Chattanooga Golf and) Country Club have equipment like this," he says, "and that's just for their members."

Technology, according to Choo Choo head professional Thomas Smith, is easily the biggest change in golf. Those advancements have touched every part of the game, from the balls to the players to the clubs to the training.

photo Staff photo by Tim Barber/ Gears 3D Golf creates an image of the student on a video screen as Thomas Smith, director of instruction and operations at Choo Choo Golf Academy, uses the latest in modern technology to teach golf at the East Brainerd facility.

"Without question, technology is the thing that has changed the game," Smith says. "And it's not about one single thing like distance, per se, as much as it is just the way it has affected every part of the sport."

From fitness to flexibility, the players of today are better athletes. From shafts to sand wedges and everywhere in between, the equipment is more NASA than Nicklaus.

And Choo Choo, Smith notes, offers all the technology to make sure the players are using the right gear as well as practicing the right way.

"Thanks to Todd, we have everything to make almost anyone's game better," Smith says. "The computers do not lie."

Yes, computers, and no, not like a Tiger Woods video game.

More Info

Choo Choo Golf Academy* Where: 1073 Mackey Ave.* Online: choochoogolf.com

Smith and his staff access Trackman technology and a Swing Catalyst to help players find the right clubs as well as the right fundamentals. They can offer golfers sessions with "Gears Golf" to enhance every part of their game.

It's like a NASCAR pit stop for every part of a golfer's swing and everything in his bag.

Moreland has invested more than $1 million in this venture, and the benefits to the facility are clear. A recently completed Bill Bergin-designed short-game training area is available for Choo Choo members, who for $69 a month also get a variety of discounts and scheduling opportunities with the tech gizmos, too.

"It's been a labor of love, you know," Moreland say. "But I also know we are helping people get better and enjoy the game.

Including those who turn up later this summer at Top Golf.

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