If you’re chronically online like I am, you may have come across special renderings of a nine-hole golf course about an hour outside of Chicago.
Yes, we are talking about a truth indoor golf course.
All of us are familiar with the endless (and growing) supply of simulators, regardless of whether they are in an indoor simulator club like Five Iron or inside someone’s garage at home.
Through it all, I never stopped to consider that indoor golf didn’t HAVE be limited to hitting a screen.
Maybe indoor golf could be … actual golf?
Plans are in place for a full-scale indoor golf course
In what is being billed as the world’s first full-scale golf course, Megalodome Golf is planning a desert-themed nine-hole venue in Oswego, Ill. To call this Chicago would be generous—Oswego might as well be southern Wisconsin.
The Megalodome says the project will cost $50 million, a number that stopped me in my tracks. Is this a typo? Given the layouts and scale of the course, it looks like they may have forgotten to add a zero.
Four massive domes would cover the climate-controlled executive course (and a range) that would have the look and feel of Arizona.
The facility would operate year-round from 6 a.m. to midnight. Rounds will only last around 90 minutes because they are relatively short, meaning a full 18 is around three hours.
This will be on artificial turf, but will also include real sand and water.
The height of the dome? About 110 feet. Hmm… they might want to add to that.
The Megalodome’s indoor course is still in the investment stage and isn’t scheduled to open until late 2027. We know how these ventures aren’t exactly sure things, so I wouldn’t assume this is a slam dunk.
It’s entirely possible (and some would say likely) that the company shifts gears or changes scale at some point.
Is this a great or terrible idea?
Let’s assume this will be built. And let’s assume it’s functional.
They are giant guesswork but hear me out.
I feel like this can buffet.
Chicagoland is freezing cold for six months of the year. The other six months are warmer, but there will still be rain, heat and other reasons to want to stay indoors.
Then you have the ability to play for 18 hours of the day while it only takes 90 minutes to go through nine holes.
As much as I love riding a simulator, there’s nothing like seeing the ball fly through the air.
Even on an executive artificial turf course.
Now, I highly doubt that this particular project will come to fruition the way the renderings appear.
However, if anyone could pull this sort of thing offI think it would be packed. There are plenty of golf-crazed maniacs within driving distance who would love to check it out.
What are your thoughts on this? Let me know below in the comments.
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