ATLANTA — Jim Sanford was hitting microchipped golf balls off a mat between swigs of beer and bites of sushi. He was wearing flip flops. It was a recent 100-degree Sunday night in Scottsdale, Ariz., and Sanford and his date, Karen Boldt, were playing Topgolf, a cross between Skee-Ball and archery, with the ambience of an outdoor bowling alley, in which participants take aim at 11 color-coded targets, accruing points for accuracy and distance.
A couple of hitting bays to Sanford’s right, a barefoot man was taking cuts with a driver. Nearby, a woman in a clingy dress and black stiletto heels took her swings.