‘Everyone Can Play’: Indoor Mini Putt And Bar Comes To Fredericton
FREDERICTON– As winter approaches, golfers will start putting their clubs in storage and long for the day the snow melts. Robert Johnson, a Frederictonian who likes to play a good game of golf, doesn’t want to wait that long. He’s decided to put his passion to the test and open an indoor mini-putt, complete with a bar.
“I’m looking forward to this being my job, I’ll tell you that,” said Johnson. “It’s something where I’m super excited to go to work every day.”
Good Guys Golf is under construction right now but is looking to open in November at 100 Woodside Lane, right off Hanwell road. It will host a 10-hole mini putt course complete with a bar, birthday party room, golf simulator, and arcade machines.
Johnson dreamed up the business in January, 2021. After working at his old job and after spending a cold winter day outside, he said to his business partner that they had to do something other than this.
“That’s kind of where we just started spit balling a bit,” he said.
The two went through a few ideas, like indoor batting cages, but always came back to an indoor mini putt.
Both Johnson and his business partner grew up going to Crystal Palace as kids and said the mini putt there was awesome. As they both have kids now and Crystal Palace closed many years ago, there is nowhere similar to bring them.
The business was also inspired by a Montreal trip the two took with their wives right before the pandemic, in January of 2020. Their group of eight was out for drinks one night and did not know what else to do in the city. They stumbled upon an indoor mini-putt and all had a great time.
When Johnson came back home and started searching for nearby indoor mini putt’s, there was not much around. Halifax has a couple, like Putting Edge, which is the same chain they went to in Montreal. He thought this would be something he could make work in Fredericton but the pandemic started and it was not a time to open an entertainment business.
While developing their business idea, Johnson and his business partner had to come up with a name.
The name stemmed from Johnson’s wife always calling him “good guy Rob” and then started doing the same thing when referring to his business partner. As they played around with different names, the two liked the alliteration of Good Guys Golf and decided to stick with it.
For the pro-golfers and the non-golfers, Johnson said the course is challenging enough for someone who golfs but can also be fun for kids and non-golfers.
“An 80-year-old can play mini putt, an eight-year-old can play mini putt,” said Johnson. “Everyone can play and that’s what I like about it.”
Johnson said the question he gets all the time is if the course will glow in the dark. He confirmed it will, but not all the time. Good Guys Golf might host glow-in-the-dark nights but that is not the constant theme of the mini-putt.
To design the theme and build the course, Good Guys Golf worked with Pro Green Atlantic to create warm and natural scenes.
“Multiple days, multiple nights. … Basically, we had like three or four whiteboards out and just designing it so that was fun and now it’s being built as we speak.”
What makes this indoor mini putt course a spot for not just kids is the addition of a bar for the adults. With the craft breweries and Fredericton being a student town, Johnson said it just made sense to build a bar and get licensed.
To serve the beer fans, they will have lots of craft and domestic beers, but they’re also going to have a menu of themed golf cocktails.
“Also nice for kids’ birthday parties – the kids can play and the dads can have a beer. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.”
Good Guys Golf is hoping to host people all throughout the year. The rise of golf simulators have caught the eye of golfers over the last few years but Johnson said they are not as popular in the summertime.
Johnson said he is proud of his new business. He kept it a secret for about a year as they planned it so now he loves telling people what he has been up to.
“I’m looking forward to growing this company. I’m looking forward to seeing it succeed and we’re going to do everything to make that happen.”
Jessica Saulnier is an intern for Huddle. Send her feedback or tips: [email protected]