Toptracer Dropped Some Numbers That Should Scare Every Other Range Tech Company

Toptracer released its 2025/2026 growth numbers yesterday, and I’m not sure the rest of the range technology industry knows what hit it.

The press release landed July 30, and it’s not the usual corporate fluff about “strong momentum” and “continued growth.” This thing has actual numbers. Hard numbers. The kind that make you stop and say “OK, Toptracer is not just winning — they’re lapping the field.”

Let me walk you through what they dropped, because this matters if you care about where the sim golf industry is heading.

The Numbers That Matter

Every Toptracer screen deployed globally was in use an average of 6 hours a day, every single day of 2025. Think about that. Not peak hours. Not weekends. Average across the entire year. That’s 2,190 hours per screen per year of people standing in bays hitting balls. That’s not a technology company — that’s a utility.

They also saw a 29% increase in installations globally compared to the first half of 2025. That growth is happening at a time when the range tech space is more crowded than ever. Companies like Trackman (with their own range solution), AboutGolf, and a handful of smaller players are all fighting for the same installation contracts. For a look at how Trackman’s sim technology compares, see our Trackman iO review. Toptracer is still taking almost a third more market share year-over-year.

And the headline number: 45 million hours played in 2025 across 1,450 sites in 38 countries.

For context, that’s more hours than all of Netflix’s original sports content combined. It’s an absurd number for a technology that most casual golfers still think of as “those glowing ball trails at Topgolf.”

The Real Story Is AI Tracing

But the installations and hours numbers aren’t the most interesting part of this release. That belongs to something called AI Tracing, which Toptracer debuted at The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.

Here’s the thing about ball tracing technology: it’s expensive. The traditional approach requires dedicated cameras, specialized hardware, significant compute resources, and human operators in broadcast environments. That’s why not every driving range has it. That’s why your local muni with a Toptracer install paid a premium.

AI Tracing changes that equation. According to Ludvig von Schenck, Toptracer’s Director of Broadcast Technology, the new system “brings golf tracing years forward, and makes us leaner, faster, and more accurate than ever.”

The key phrase there is “leaner.” AI Tracing allows Toptracer to scale its technology at lower cost without losing quality. That’s not incremental improvement. That’s a structural cost advantage that competitors will struggle to match. If Toptracer can deploy AI Tracing across its existing 1,450 sites and use it to justify lower installation costs for new sites, the competitive moat gets deeper with every deployment.

At The Open, AI Tracing tracked 8,170 shots across all 18 holes. Every single one. Zero loss in quality compared to the traditional method. That’s a proof of concept at the highest level of the sport.

The Open Numbers Are Staggering

Toptracer’s activation at Royal Birkdale was its largest ever, and the numbers from the championship itself tell a story of their own:

• 60,433 shots traced at the Tournament Range
• 8,170 shots traced across all 18 holes with AI Tracing
• 28,880 rounds played virtually on Royal Birkdale for the Global Challenge
• 103,675 shots hit across 20 simulators in hospitality tents
• Several thousand lessons given by PGA GB&I professionals

That’s 200,000+ golf shots in a single week powered by Toptracer technology. The Global Challenge alone — where players at 1,450 Toptracer ranges worldwide could compete on Royal Birkdale’s par-3 15th — saw nearly 29,000 virtual rounds. That’s a bigger field than most PGA Tour events will see in a decade.

What This Means for the Industry

Toptracer is on a trajectory that’s hard to overstate. The company has become the default range technology for new installations, and AI Tracing gives them a cost structure advantage that’s going to accelerate that dominance. The 29% installation growth suggests they’re converting that advantage into real-world deployments.

Scott Blevins, President and General Manager of Toptracer, mentioned that they’re debuting a “new global tournament” in the coming months. Given the success of the Royal Birkdale Global Challenge — 28,880 rounds — a recurring, structured tournament format could be the next big driver of engagement. Imagine a monthly global leaderboard that connects every Toptracer range in 38 countries. That’s the kind of network effect that’s almost impossible to compete with.

For the rest of the range technology industry, the message is clear: Toptracer is building a flywheel. More installations mean more data. More data means better AI. Better AI means lower costs. Lower costs mean more installations. Every cycle makes it harder for competitors to break in.

For home sim golfers, this is all good news indirectly. The more Toptracer dominates range technology, the more normal ball tracking becomes for casual golfers. That normalization drives curiosity about simulators. More people hitting balls on Toptracer ranges means more people asking “what would it look like if I had one of these in my garage?” — the same question that leads them to home golf simulator buying guides and industry trends coverage.

That’s how the market grows. And Toptracer, intentionally or not, is the biggest driver of that growth right now.