Top Shots Golf To Bring Year-Round Golf Simulator To Saint John
SAINT JOHN–Top Shots Golf, a bid by three Saint Johners to bring virtual golf to the city, is teed up to launch.
The golf bar and lounge, set to open the first week of November, will feature four bays designed with state-of-the-art tech to imitate 96 different golf courses from around the world. It will give golfers of all stripes the ability to tee off, regardless of the weather or time of year.
The virtual program features projections and opportunities to geek-out with measurements and analysis of each swing. Top Shots co-owner Justin Corey said it’s an effort to be as lifelike as possible and to cater to the interests of golfers of all skill levels.
“You hit real balls, with real clubs, and basically you’re hitting them into a giant screen — so you’re playing a big video game,” said Corey, part of a trio of owners that includes Andrew Beale and Steven Vandenbroeck.
“We want it to feel like you’re actually outside playing.”
While the facility will attract avid golfers who are out on the green all summer, Corey and his fellow co-owners hope to pull in people who haven’t golfed before but might want to get into it.
“People are going to be able to learn how to swing a club, and take their time doing so,” Corey said.
Each of the four golfing bays planned for the facility will feature a projector, a gaming computer, and a simulator device to measure each shot and provide tracking data and analysis.
Corey said the measurements are precise, tracking in real time values like the club’s path of movement through the air and ball speed.
“It’s going to be able tell you how far you hit your clubs, how fast the ball is coming off the face. It’s going to be able to improve everybody’s game,” said Corey. “They’re going to get all the little details about the swing.”
To get the lifelike feel of playing outside, the simulation is powered by the Uneekor EYE XO Golf Simulator hardware and commercial-grade golf software – billed as some of the most customizable, responsive, accurate golf software and hardware on the market.
In addition to simulated golf courses, Top Shots plans to provide golf lessons from Class-A PGA Pro Steve Leblanc, as well as a skills competition mode.
In a call with Huddle, Corey and Beale cited a market in Saint John that was wanting as motivation to open Top Shots.
“We all live here, and after talking about it we discovered there really wasn’t anything like this in the city,” said Corey.
“There are some simulators here and there but as far as a full-blown facility there’s nothing. It’s a way to be able to play golf year-round here in Saint John.”
In addition to the four simulator bays, the facility (opening at 370 Rothesay Avenue) will feature a licensed establishment serving drinks and food provided by the Grannan Group. Grannan is a Saint John-based food purveyor that owns Grannan’s Seafood Gallery, Church Street Steakhouse, Churchill’s Pub and Steakhouse, and the Gravy Train Poutinerie.
“People are going to be able to come in, grab a drink, play some golf, and have a bite to eat. We’re going to be a bit of a full-activity-center,” said Corey.
Top Shots will offer standard tee times for walk-ins, but will also have an online booking system for small groups or larger corporate-style events—as well as discount packages for longer play times.
“If someone wants to come in and buy 10 to 15 hours, they’d get a discounted rate,” said Corey.
When asked how much it costs to set up such a facility, Corey and Beale demurred, but described it as a significant investment, noting that, with a few exceptions where contractors were hired, they did most of the construction “in house.”
Top Shots is renting its home on Rothesay Avenue, down the road from the growing East Point Shopping Centre and the site of a future multi-unit residential development recently approved by the Saint John Planning Advisory Committee.
Sam Macdonald is a Huddle reporter in Moncton. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].
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