Old Line Golf Club, a membership-based golf simulator facility in Annapolis, held its soft launch on Monday. It is located at 302 Harry S. Truman Parkway, Suite E, just off Riva Road.
Featuring three TrackMan golf simulator booths and a lounge-like atmosphere, co-owners Kyle McDonnell and Kevin Kelly said they aim to create a place that supplements traditional outdoor play.
“Members come and make the experience what they want it to be, whether they want to come in and play a round of golf at a beach, or if they want to come and hit balls and work on the swing,” McDonnell said.
McDonnell and Kelly are childhood friends from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, whose paths brought them to Annapolis. Both had a passion for golfing, but felt the area was missing a simulator facility that was about networking and meetups along with the game.
The simulators are projected on to massive screens, run by high-power PCs that connect to an overhead camera that tracks a multitude of statistics, like ball and swing speed, angle of attack, and the ball’s arc through the air. Participants hit a real golf ball into the screen and watch a virtual version fly through one of hundreds of different courses. Similar technology is used to produce the statistics seen on televised golf.
A full game on a simulator takes around 45 minutes, as opposed to three hours on an actual course.
“You can quantify exactly what you’re doing and put a number to it,” McDonnell said. “If you’re slicing the ball, maybe it’s your pullback, maybe it’s the face angle in relation to the club head. It could be a multitude of things, but [the simulator] spells out, in no uncertain terms, directly on screen, exactly what you do, as opposed to a feel or just a result. So, here you’re kind of looking at the inputs versus just the output.”
The pair came up with the idea three years ago, and worked on it until they signed the lease last August.
To join the club, prospective members visit oldlinegolfclub.com and submit an application.
In the future, the club hopes to hold men’s and women’s leagues, as well as play-alongs with tours like the U.S. Open.
“Every day that you come to the course, it should feel like you’re at adult Disney World,” Kelly said, quoting a pro golfer that the pair used to know in Florida. “That’s from having logo clothing to logo tees, custom made coasters, that every day you walk In here, you want to feel special, and that’s our goal.”
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