Driving ranges in Switzerland: how they work and what a basket costs

The driving range is the cheapest place in golf and the most underrated. A basket of balls costs between CHF 3 and CHF 7 in Switzerland, no booking is needed, and at most facilities you can turn up without a course permit and without a membership. For a few years now, some of them have measured ball flight the way a simulator does.

How a range works

You buy balls from a machine, with coins, a rechargeable ball card or Twint. The machine hands out a basket or a bucket, usually 20 to 30 balls. You take it to a free bay, hit, and leave the balls where they land; they are collected by machine.

Some clubs also charge visitors a range fee; others give access away and earn on the balls. Both appear in the table below. A mat is provided, and usually a few grass positions too; in winter the grass is closed.

What a basket costs

The prices at the sixteen ranges in the directory that measure ball flight, as of September 2026:

Venue	Town	Tracking	Balls
Golf Club de Sion	Sion VS	Toptracer Range	CHF 3 / 30 balls, access free
Golfpark Holzhäusern	Holzhäusern ZG	TrackMan	CHF 3.50 / 20 balls, access free
Golfpark Oberkirch	Oberkirch LU	Toptracer	CHF 3.50 / 20 balls, ball card CHF 10
Golf Range Uster	Uster ZH	Toptracer	CHF 5 / 24 balls
Swiss Golf Bubikon	Bubikon ZH	Toptracer Range	CHF 5 / basket
Golf Club Davos	Davos Dorf GR	Toptracer	CHF 5 / token (30 balls)
Swiss Golf Park Wädenswil	Wädenswil ZH	TrackMan	CHF 5.50 / 25 balls
Golf Limpachtal	Aetingen SO	Toptracer	CHF 6 / basket, tracking included
Albis-Golf	Wettswil ZH	Toptracer	CHF 6.50 / 24 balls
Golfclub Entfelden	Oberentfelden AG	Toptracer	CHF 7 / 30 balls
Golfclub Wylihof	Luterbach SO	TrackMan	range fee CHF 20 / day
Golf Gerre Losone	Losone TI	TrackMan	CHF 30 incl. 2 × 24 balls

That works out at 12 to 25 centimes a ball. An hour with a hundred balls therefore costs CHF 12 to 25, against CHF 39 to 79 for an hour in a simulator bay. The range is the cheaper place, the bay the more precise and the warmer one.

Ranges that measure ball flight

Eleven of the sixteen use Toptracer, five use TrackMan. The difference is the technology: Toptracer follows the ball optically with cameras above the bays (Toptracer), TrackMan measures with radar (TrackMan). Both show carry, total distance and the line on a screen in the bay.

In practice that means you see for the first time how far your 7 iron actually flies, instead of guessing from where the ball came to rest. Anyone wanting to write down their distances no longer needs a bay for it, just a basket of balls at one of these facilities.

What the tracking does not replace

The screens on a range are computing with range balls. Those are harder and fly shorter than a play ball; depending on their condition, five to ten per cent of distance is missing. The numbers are therefore comparable with each other but not with what your ball does on the course.

A camera above the bay also does not measure the club. Anyone who wants face angle, attack angle and spin needs a device beside or behind the ball, so a simulator bay or a fitting. The difference is set out in Simulator or driving range.

The largest facilities

Golfpark Holzhausern leads with 80 tee positions, followed by Golf Emmental and Golf Club de Sion with 40 each. Around Zurich the largest are Uster with 22 and Wadenswil with 18. On a Saturday afternoon, size is the difference between practising and waiting.

Ten cantons have at least one range with tracking: AG, BE, GR, LU, SO, TI, VD, VS, ZG and ZH. Where your nearest one is stands on the map; range entries are labelled Driving Range there.

What to bring

Your own clubs if you have any; otherwise borrow from the office or the shop. A glove, and trainers will do. A range has no dress code worth the name, and nobody is watching.

Take seven clubs rather than fourteen: pitching wedge, 9, 7 and 5 iron, a hybrid, a wood and the driver. You need no more for an hour, and less choice means more repetition.

The range in winter

Unlike a golf course, a range often stays open, because play is off mats and the ground does not matter. The grass positions are closed, the mats are hard, and the ball flies shorter in the cold because it compresses less.

So practising outdoors in winter means reckoning with less distance without the swing being worse. That is one reason distances are better measured in a heated bay; the table for it is in Club distances.

What a ball card saves

Several facilities ask for a one-off card and then sell balls more cheaply, for example a ball card at CHF 10 and then 20 balls for CHF 3.50. At one facility with a badge a basket drops from CHF 6.50 to CHF 5.10.

Over ten visits a season the card pays for itself several times over. So ask about the card on your first visit before paying at the machine one basket at a time, which is the dearest route to the same balls.

Range etiquette in four sentences

Stay in your bay and hit only forwards. Leave enough space to your neighbours, especially on practice swings. Do not collect the balls, but take the basket with you when you go. And if a facility has tracking, log out of your session on the screen so the next person does not see your numbers (Toptracer).

Plus the one rule that applies everywhere: never collect balls yourself, not even the ones two metres in front of you. The machine drives, and nobody expects a person standing out in front of the bays.

More on this: Topgolf in Switzerland, Swin Golf in Switzerland, Pitch and putt and par-3 courses in Switzerland, Toptracer and TrackMan Range.

How to divide up an hour

A good structure for a hundred balls: twenty to warm up with the pitching wedge, thirty with the 7 iron at one fixed target, twenty with the hybrid, twenty with the driver and ten at the end back with the wedge. Never the whole basket with the driver.

And one goal per basket: a number you write down. At a range with tracking that is the average carry of your 7 iron, or the share of balls inside a target corridor. Without a goal a practice hour becomes an hour of hitting balls.

Frequently asked questions

What does a driving range cost in Switzerland?

A basket of 20 to 30 balls costs between CHF 3 and CHF 7, that is 12 to 25 centimes a ball. Some clubs also charge visitors a range fee; others give access away and earn on the balls.

Do I need a course permit for a driving range?

No. At almost every facility the range is open without a course permit and without a membership. The permit is only needed for the course itself. Clubs can usually be borrowed from the office or the shop.

What is a Toptracer range?

A driving range where cameras above the tee positions follow the ball flight and show carry, total distance and line on a screen in the bay. Eleven of the sixteen Swiss ranges in the directory use it, five use TrackMan radar.

Are the distances on a range accurate?

Relative to each other yes, in absolute terms not quite. Range balls are harder and, depending on condition, fly five to ten per cent shorter than a play ball. Compare the numbers with your own earlier ones rather than with the course.

Range or simulator in winter?

Both work, but the range is cold and the grass positions are closed. An hour on a range costs CHF 12 to 25 in balls; an hour in a bay costs CHF 39 to 79 and gives you club data, video and heating.

Sources

• Toptracer Range (optisches Tracking über den Bays)
• TrackMan Range (Radar-Tracking)
• Swiss Golf Simulators: eigene Einträge (Preise und Abschlagplätze, Stand September 2026)