Indoor Golf Opportunities Grow in Door County
- Share
- Tweet
- Pin
- Share
Indoor golf opportunities in Door County more than doubled between 2020 and 2023, and that reflects state, national and global trends.
According to a November 2023 National Golf Foundation report, the number of Americans hitting golf balls in a simulator grew by 73% between the pre-pandemic year 2019 and 2023.
Two Sturgeon Bay businessmen are tapping into that growth.
Just before Christmas, the opening of four golf bays inside the new Sandbox bar, restaurant, ax-throwing and golf facility gave Sturgeon Bay and the southern half of Door County its first significant indoor golf center.
Golf ’n More In-Door opened in downtown Egg Harbor at Harbor School Road four years ago. Owner Leslee Perley said she continues to attract leagues and get hourly rentals from northern Door County residents, as well as some of the customers from Sturgeon Bay, as she provides more of a private-room social than some of the other golf facilities. Steve Homan also occasionally opens a simulator to the public at A’Boat Time, his restaurant on Oak Street in Sturgeon Bay.
The Sandbox owners, Steve Estes and Scott Virlee, owned the building next door to their other business, Virlee Gunworks and range, and said they thought the golf simulator would be a good fit for another entertainment venue. Their new development has the Gala event center on one side of the building and the Sandbox’s golf simulators parallel to the bar and ax-throwing lanes set off in view of the dining area in the other half.
Neither Virlee nor Estes play golf, but they have experience with computer-generated targets. Their gun range has 30 different digital target layouts, such as bowling pins and barrels floating down a river.
They gained advice from local golf pros on their golf simulator equipment. They said local instructors have agreed to give lessons at scheduled times or by appointment, which is an option at many indoor golf facilities.
They chose to install aboutGolf brand simulators, after visiting several facilities such as those at the Kohler resort, NextGen Golf on Green Bay’s east side and The Turn near Lambeau Field.
“There are a bunch of training features on these that will tell people what they’re doing wrong,” Virlee said.
Having four simulators allows the new Sturgeon Bay facility to accommodate larger leagues or groups at banquets and events.
“Two of these simulators are set up so you can do multiple sports,” said Estes.
Those include kicking soccer balls at goals, hitting baseballs off a tee, throwing footballs at targets or tossing bags for cornhole.
Both the Egg Harbor business and Sturgeon Bay facility provide virtual access to famous and top-rated courses in the nation, and both rent their bays by hourly or half-hour rates The rates are the same whether six people rent a simulator for an hour or an individual rents for an hour to practice and see data such as swing speed and launch angle.
Unlike some simulators in other counties with obstructions or tables near the tee, the Egg Harbor and Sturgeon Bay simulators give the golfer plenty of room with no cramped feeling that he or she is going to strike something on a backswing.
Rates are similar in Door County as in Green Bay or the Fox Cities. NextGen Golf in Green Bay has one unique offering – the RoboGolfPro Swing Trainer that can analyze golfers’ swings, help them make slight or major changes and help them get the feel of those changes.
Wisconsin has seen significant growth of the game indoors, led in great part by Wisconsin-based X-Golf, which has seven locations in the state and 60 franchises total in the United States and Canada.
Nations with limited and expensive courses have seen a larger indoor-golf boom.
According to the United States Golf Association, 60% of golf is played indoors on simulators in South Korea. Eighty percent of Koreans who play traditional courses got their start on simulators, including women and men on professional tours who converted into “green-grass golfers.”
And, according to 360 Research, the global indoor-golf-equipment market is projected to grow from $784 million in 2021 to $1.5 billion by 2028.
Some of that growth is coming from golfers buying simulators for their garages and barns, said Perley, who has helped some of her Egg Harbor league members work through software problems.
Perley noted that she currently has her building for sale. She said unless she receives a suitable offer, she’ll make her golf space available for rent during summer and set up the simulators again by late fall 2024.
