OCONTO FALLS – By November, an Oconto Falls golf simulator business with indoor golf leagues hopes to be swinging.
Owner Steve Genett and his wife Jill were scheduled to speak before the Oconto Falls Common Council on Tuesday about their plans for the startup business and their desire to serve alcoholic beverages at the location, 323 E. Highland Drive, in the Highland Plaza.
“We’re not going to be opening a tavern or a bar. It will have some alcohol there for the people who are playing golf. We’re going to be shutting down at 9 p.m.”
Genett said he noticed other golf simulator businesses in Green Bay and Suamico seemed to be thriving, but no similar options exist closer to home.
“We thought we’d build something around here so people don’t have to drive so far in the winter months,” he said to a reporter.
In the Rough will have two simulators and a small beverage area to start. It could add a third simulator next year, Genett said.
With a 15-foot-wide screen, the simulators at In the Rough will offer a greater view of the course, he said.
He described it this way: “You are in a bay. It’s 15 feet wide by 20 feet deep. There is a screen on one end and a projector that hangs above. You can pull up a lot of different courses,” he said.
The Pebble Beach PGA Course is feasible in a simulator, he said. “You can plan that course if you don’t have the means to play it in person,” he said. “You can play all the holes they offer.”
Players bring their own golf clubs and stand about nine feet away from the large screen as they swing at the virtual ball. “It will pick up your ball spin. It will watch your club and swing and you can get a lot of analytical data to improve your game,” Genett said.
Golfers who want to work on a problem area and develop “muscle memory” can use the simulator in the winter, he said. “We’re excited to get going. We’re looking at November as our opening date.”
The project is currently in construction, he said. “We’re shooting for the simulator season, which is the winter time when all of the courses shut down,” he said. The couple hasn’t made a decision about whether to keep the business open year-round, as many golfers prefer to practice outside in the summertime, Genett said.
Genett said he moved to Oconto Falls from New London, west of Appleton, and completed a degree in leadership management that include a course in entrepreneurship at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay that resulted in him creating a limited liability company, or LLC.
“This all came about after I retired. I went back to school,” he said.
He thought about opening a bicycle shop but felt he didn’t know enough about bicycle repair. “We steered around that an sat on the LLC for a year, and now we’re on the move the golf simulators,” he said.
Genett understands the appeal of indoor golf. “I started playing golf back in ‘98 when I was younger. I got a job at a golf course. That’s where I picked it up and have been chasing that white ball ever since,” Genett said.
In the Rough started to take shape about four months ago when he did research on similar businesses in the area and found them to be successful but too far from Oconto Falls. “It’s a nice little town,” he said. “We fell in love with Oconto Falls.”
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