It’s not clear exactly when two suburban golf domes that collapsed during last month’s blizzard will reopen.
The Dome on Wehrle Drive in Clarence was severely damaged on Dec. 23, the first day of the storm. The Town of Tonawanda’s Paddock Chevrolet Golf Dome in Brighton Park deflated one day later.
The Dome, formerly known as the Wehrle Golf Dome, on Wehrle Drive in Clarence collapsed in Friday’s blizzard, according to the owner of a business inside the complex.
In both cases, restaurants and other businesses located just outside the domes remain open, although their customer counts have fallen without the indoor driving ranges in operation.
The owners of the two domes are still assessing the amount of damage to the fabric coverings and to the structures inside the domes, which were partially exposed to water and snow.
Tonawanda Supervisor Joseph Emminger said the town hopes to make temporary repairs that will allow the Paddock dome to reopen as soon as next month while permanent repairs would wait until the dome closes for the summer.
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“At this point, I don’t know for sure,” Emminger said in an interview. “That’s just a wish on my part.”
Representatives of The Dome did not respond to requests for comment this week. Kim Hammerl, owner of the Local Grille at The Dome, said she hasn’t gotten a reopening timeline from the dome’s owners.
“They’re hoping to get it back up and running as soon as possible,” Hammerl said. “But I know that it is being repaired.”
The roof of The Dome, formerly the Wehrle Golf Dome, was the first to rip in the gusting winds that blew through metro Buffalo beginning early Dec. 23. A video recorded by neighbor Sandie Kobee showed a large section of the roof’s skin flapping in the pounding snowstorm.
“It just blew off. The entire dome,” she said in the 36-second video shared with WIVB-TV. “Oh my God. It is literally – it is literally gone. I cannot believe it.”
Five days later, the owners of The Dome posted on Facebook that the dome would remain closed until further notice.
Somerset Companies bought the dome in late 2015 and reopened the venue in February 2017 following extensive renovations that included a new roof and driving range stalls. The golf dome was the first indoor driving range of its kind in New York when it opened in 1994.
“We will provide more updates as we progress through this process but are looking forward to being back up as soon as possible!” they wrote.
The Golf Headquarters pro shop and the Woods to Wedges custom-fitting and club repair store both remain open.
Hammerl operates two restaurants at The Dome. One, which sits outside the area covered by the dome roof, is still open although business is down with the indoor range closed.
“We rely on that dome traffic. So it’s taken about, probably, 85% to 90% of our business away,” she said.
The restaurant and bar located inside the dome near the driving range stalls, also known as Local Grille, are closed for the foreseeable future, Hammerl said.
She said tears in the roof skin exposed sections inside the dome to water and melting snow. The affected areas included her office and spaces where she kept paper products, food and beverages.
“We had a lot of storage back there,” said Hammerl, who was still tallying up her losses.
Snow is removed around the collapsed Paddock Chevrolet Golf Dome in the Town of Tonawanda on Dec. 27, 2022. Town officials are awaiting more information on the extent of the damage and how soon the facility can reopen.
Harry Scull Jr./Buffalo News
Tonawanda had considered deflating the Paddock dome as a precautionary measure but did not after consulting with the manufacturer, which assured town officials the roof could handle gusts of up to 90 mph, Emminger said.
This turned out to be true, he said, and the dome survived the worst of the wind. Instead, it was a blower malfunction that brought down the roof, according to Emminger.
Town Board members and other Tonawanda officials were on an emergency operations Zoom call at 7:30 pm Christmas Eve when they got the news.
The Paddock dome opened in 1999. The town completed a major renovation project – including replacing the inflatable fabric dome and the driving range’s artificial turf – in 2019.
The town is still investigating what caused the blower malfunction and how much damage was done to the fabric covering and to the interior of the venue. “There is a tear. I’m told the tear is on a seam, which is good news,” Emminger said.
Once the dome roof can be raised again, the interior can be aired out and the blower can be repaired or replaced.
The main question is whether it’s possible for crews to perform a temporary repair that would allow the venue to reopen as soon as early next month. If not, Emminger said, the venue would remain closed considerably longer.
The town does not yet have an estimate for the cost of the repairs, which should be covered by insurance.
“These things happen, you know? An act of God,” Emminger said. “Obviously, I’m not happy that it happened. But it is what it is. It came down. Now we gotta get it up as quick as we can.”
The town canceled a wine, bourbon and beer tasting scheduled for Jan. 13 at the dome.
Two businesses located at the venue, but outside the area covered by the fabric skin, remain open: the Grill at the Dome restaurant, owned by Josh Edholm, and the Sportszone golf simulator, owned by his brother John Edholm Jr.
Their father, John Sr., said a small amount of water leaked into the restaurant area, but otherwise the businesses weren’t affected. The problem is that the indoor range no longer serves as a draw for customers, he said.
“The busiest season for the dome, as well as the restaurant, is between Christmas and Easter. So for it to go down Christmas Eve – that’s the perfectly worst time,” the elder Edholm said.
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