If you’re considering hanging up your golf clubs for the season, you might want to reconsider. In the coming weeks, Niverville will be home to Alpha Golf, an indoor simulated golf experience that’s almost as realistic as an actual outdoor course.

Located at Unit B of 501 Pauls Street in the industrial park, the private golf lounge will offer exclusive space for anywhere between one to four people. The 20- by 30-foot room will contain $50,000 worth of golf simulator equipment, a couch, a bar, and bar stools. There’ll be a big screen TV to enjoy televised games at the same time, if users choose.

Alan Castell and Niverville native Faron Trippier are the venture’s co-owners. Admittedly, they’re both rather new to the game.

“Faron wasn’t a golfer and, until four years ago, neither was I,” Castell muses. “But I had a scholarship in volleyball and football in college. So when I got into golf, it was really with a religious fervour so I could beat my friends.”

Castell’s competitive spirit drove him to install a golf simulator in his backyard. Trippier, when he took up the game, would join him there to work on his technique.

They soon saw the value in having a private practice space where one’s swing wasn’t being scrutinized by players of higher skill levels. Indoor simulators exist in gaming businesses, but they’re noisy and distracting and also open for spectators to watch.

While Trippier and Castell are golfers, they are entrepreneurs first. The idea of Alpha Golf was born in no time.

“This is about the golf,” Castell says. “We’re not about the noise, the drinks, or the social atmosphere. This is for people that want to learn or practice their skills. People that want to come here and have the room to themselves and not worry about distractions.”

It’s also for friends who want to show up and enjoy a casual golf game in half the time of a typical game because all the walking has been cut out.

Putting his expertise in technology to good use, Castell settled on an Asian manufacturer called PGM. The simulator boasts a massive 18-foot curved screen which provides a three-dimensional effect.

“Most screens are about two-thirds of this size and they’re flat,” Castell says. “This is more like an IMAX screen. When you’re standing at the tee, an immersive [experience] is what you’re looking for.”

The high-tech equipment allows for virtually no latency, or pause, between when you hit the ball and see it in action on the screen. This, too, makes for a much more realistic golfing experience.

Mounted to the ceiling are two cameras that record the shot and instantly communicate the details to the rest of the system.

“They record at 2,000 frames per second, so it’s very realistic. It will show you your swing path and your face path and the way the ball went with all these little frames.”

Following a shot, the screen maintains the image of the ball’s path and provides vast bits of data with which to analyze it. You can see the ball’s speed, carry, distance, and launch angle, to name a few stats.

Setup of the tee and ball are automated. The tee and ball rise up from beneath the floor when the player’s ready. Near the player’s feet is a foot programmer, used to adjust tee height and other personalized features.

After the screen is struck, the ball rolls into a trough and back into a holding container beneath the floor, ready to reload.

Nearby, a console with a touchscreen monitor allows users to fully customize their golf experience. There are quite literally hundreds of top-rated golf courses from around the world available by simulation. Players can also choose their difficulty level and game mode—like, for instance, golf scramble.

Mounted to the side of the console is a third camera that allows players to pause and play back their shots.

“If there was a golf pro that wanted to bring somebody in for training, this gives them the ability to see what the shots look like.”

The floor of the simulator is also set up with three different terrain options—fairway, rough, and sand—all located right at the golfer’s feet.

Golfers will bring their own clubs, although rentals will be available if needed.

Castell and Trippier are working to get licensing to allow users to bring their own alcohol. They hope to provide QR codes in the lounge for every Niverville restaurant should users get hungry midgame.

Once open, Castell says the lounge will be available for around-the-clock use, every day of the week. This way shift workers can enjoy a little down time in the lounge when their shift is through.

The Alpha Golf website will soon be up and ready to take online bookings. The cost to use the lounge will be $50 per hour.

“I have brought three of my very refined golfing friends here,” he says. “They’ve been to simulators in Arizona, in Calgary, and in Winnipeg, and all three of them were, like, ‘Oh, this is so cool!’”