Indoor Golf Makes Egg Harbor a Year-round Golf Destination

Golf ’n More In-Door founder and owner Leslee Perley takes a shot on the 18th hole at Pebble Beach Golf Links inside one of her golf suites. A foursome can choose from almost 100 courses for $40 an hour on Perley’s golf simulators in Egg Harbor – quite a bit less than the current $575-per-person greens fee at Pebble in California. Photo by Craig Sterrett.

Golf ’n More In-Door

4614 Harbor School Road, Egg Harbor

Leslee Perley turned Door County and Egg Harbor into a year-round golf destination when she opened Golf ’n More In-Door in September.

As courses closed in the fall and snow fell, local players of all ages and skill levels found their way to her indoor facility for weekend driving-range practice, weeknight leagues, drinks with friends, private parties and lesson appointments with local pros.

“We were packed all winter long,” Perley said.

An avid golfer herself and a former social-marketing specialist for Destination Door County, Perley designed her indoor golf facility to contrast greatly with first-generation indoor golf facilities. Her two golf suites do away with the claustrophobia-inducing nets and walls behind and alongside the tee box.

“I’ve been playing on simulators for 15 years, and most places you go to, they have bays,” Perley said. “You’re about 10 feet away from the person who’s hitting next to you in the other simulator. When I first started planning this, I knew I wanted to make it different for Door County.”

In fact, she set up her suites as lounges, with space enough for players and friends to sit in comfort or play tavern-style shuffleboard or darts between golf shots. Customers can casually fetch a round of beer, soda or malt beverages from a cooler, too, and then settle up the bar bill afterward.

Room rental costs $40 per hour or $25 per half hour for up to six people. That fee doesn’t change, whether one person uses the driving range or plays nine holes on a Hawaiian course, or six players try to hit the same shots as the pros at Oakmont. The hourly rates help Perley organize her scheduling, but that doesn’t mean she’s not flexible. She lives nearby and can open a suite for play just about anytime, as noted on her website and on a sign on the door.

In addition to offering almost 100 different golf courses on the simulators, Perley can also reserve the spaces for uses other than golf. She once set up one of the 9-foot-by-12-foot screens for a boy and his friends to play PS4 video games during a birthday party. She also can set up the machines for tots, such as her five-year-old son, to play using a plastic club.

Perley thought summer would be her slow season, but as courses reopen this spring, she’s seeing repeat customers and visitors who are looking for something to do at night.

On an outdoor course, players can’t see what they’re doing wrong, but year-round, avid golfers can benefit greatly from an hour at Golf ’n More In-Door. After each shot, they can check all of their data. Light and sound sensors pick up everything and display swing analytics and impact data including sidespin, launch angle, ball speed, club speed, carry and “smash factor.” This writer, for example, realized a need to change ball position at set-up because the machine showed the clubface drastically closed at impact. 

In addition, customers can easily practice social distancing at the facility because Perley planned to have “golf suites” long before the pandemic arose. Her design was for comfort, not safety, but it has worked out well: Walls and curtains separate golf suites, and each has its own exit door. To keep everyone safe this fall and winter, she staggered tee times and left time for sanitizing between appointments.

“My business plan has been in place for over five years,” Perley said. “It happened to work out really well with the pandemic.”