XGolf Indoor Golf Simulator may be on par to tee off in Ellisville by Labor Day weekend.
A conditional use permit (CUP) granted by the Ellisville City Council on March 16 would allow XGolf to operate a retail entertainment establishment complete with liquor and food sales at 15382 Manchester Road.
Owner Drew Weckbach described XGolf as an “up-and-coming franchise model that specializes in the indoor golf simulator business.” He added that most of the company’s roughly 50 locations are in northern U.S. cities, but the concept has gradually migrated to the Midwest. He said he hopes to approach 100 sites nationwide by the end of 2022. That includes a projected early September timeline for Ellisville so that people can enjoy indoor golf during the ensuing cooler weather months.
“It’s a little bit of a different model from the traditional golf simulator model you’ve seen,” Weckbach said. “This is on the high-end, (an) exclusive version that operates with cameras and spin rates instead of what you may be aware of on your phone or a trackman that uses GPS, or an outdoor simulator, or if you’re just hitting into a mattress in your garage.”
In response to a question from Mayor Mike Roemerman, Weckbach said the Ellisville XGolf location would feature a high-end combination of bottled beer and other bar beverages. The food choices offered would be simple, traditional St. Louis-style items like toasted ravioli and mozzarella cheese sticks hot out of a convection oven. The retail store will offer golf-related ƒitems, including some basic Callaway items. That said, Weckbach said his stores currently receive just 2% to 7% of their revenue from merchandising.
Weckbach was far more interested in talking about the shared experiences that can be had by his customers.
“There are three main ways people will be able to use the simulators,” he said. “It could be a traditional Saturday morning where you grab a couple of your buddies and play a round of golf. We (also) will have league nights perhaps on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights for couples, or competitive (leagues for) males or females, or recreation (leagues for) males. And then we will have lessons. The fourth one is developing and one of the keys to the franchise in the model – national tournaments.
“Something you can’t really do right now is have 5,000 people on the same course with the same conditions, same grass height at the same time on a Saturday and see who the real best golfer in America is, holding everything constant.”
Weckbach said the XGolf concept also works well for corporate parties.
“If you guys have ever done a golf scramble, you see the same three people for three hours. On an indoor golf scramble for a charity event you can bop around and see all the people throughout the Saturday. You’re not just relegated to the three people in your party.”
The city’s public hearing on the CUP uncovered a good amount of Weckbach’s contentions regarding some of the cross accesses with XGolf, the city and other landlords on the lot, and also sidewalk width details which were impossible to achieve due to electric poles being right there on the edge of sidewalk parts. Weckbach also was against proposed bike racks at the site, which he said would get in the way of golfers dropping off heavy bags of golf clubs curbside prior to finding parking spaces.
However, those items ultimately were amended or waived and the CUP passed unanimously.
“I’m very impressed with your presentation,” Roemerman told Weckbach. “I’m very excited with what you’re doing, and I can’t wait to play golf in the winter and maybe once in a while in the summer, too, indoors.”
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