PEORIA– Visitors to the Peoria Park District’s Golf Learning Center & Academy will soon get a completely different experience – one that is on par with large golf entertainment complexes in other cities, says State Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, D-Peoria.
That expanded facility will allow both skilled and unskilled golfers to have fun and experience the good things involving the city, she said.
“If you build a narrative about yourself and the community that you live in and never get outside of that diminished narrative, then there is no hope. We have to get to a place where we see the value in ourselves and in this community,” Gordon-Booth said.
The facility would contain a multi-level driving range with booths for people to sit and watch, as well as amenities such as a bar and a restaurant. She envisions the new facility will be very similar to Topgolf, which is found in bigger cities. There will also be an update to the learning center’s “pitch and putt” course.
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During a Tuesday afternoon news conference with the park district, Gordon-Booth will announce that $4 million has been appropriated from the state’s capital improvement budget. Park officials are now working on paperwork, she said, to begin designing and planning the construction process. She views the $4 million as a “down payment” as construction costs could rise; but for now, that’s the best estimate for the total project cost.
Emily Cahill, Peoria Park District’s executive director, thinks construction could begin next spring and the entire thing could be up and running by 2024.
Gordon-Booth is excited about the idea, which she says is in the very early stages.
“We are rolling this out really out of the spirit of wanting to have transparency early on in the process,” she said, adding it is also about growing the city.
“When you go into communities and look and see growth, that’s a sign of things happening and that’s where companies want to relocate,” she said. “It’s important that we continue to dream, dream about a city that makes us smile and proud to talk about. A dream that inspires us to work together to accomplish big goals on behalf of all Peorians.”
Blending virtual golf with traditional experience
Both Cahill and Gordon-Booth called the concept a hybrid model. Instead of a massive three-story structure that might be seen at other golf entertainment sites, this will be smaller and in tune with what Peoria can support, Cahill said.
But that doesn’t mean the experience will be lacking.
“I can’t tell you how many levels or how many bays this will have, but it will have the technology, the TVs, the music, the food and beverage and all the pieces that you have at a Topgolf,” Cahill said.
She likens it to a virtual golf game where people can play various courses without ever leaving their home. The computer tracks the distance for them. Gordon-Booth says it allows those who are good at golf and others who struggle to all have fun at the same time.
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For those who want a traditional driving range experience, that will remain. In essence, the new virtual golf part will sit on part of the existing range. That traditional side will get updated as well.
Gordon-Booth sees this as a way for people who are into golf as well as people who just want to have a good time to come out and enjoy the atmosphere.
Also getting an update is the nine-hole “pitch-and-putt.” Cahill said they plan on updating the tee boxes, putting a net over a creek to collect balls that fall in, and possibly putting tables near the holes for people who want to sit and relax while playing.
Inside, the kitchen will be updated and expanded. Cahill said she wants to have a facility that people will use while they are there or will choose to stop by, grab a bite and watch the “fun.”
Gordon-Booth agreed: “This is a great opportunity to provide an experience for people. They want quality, high-level experiences and if we don’t have them, then they will take their discretionary money elsewhere. There is nothing like this anywhere between Naperville and St. Louis. Once it is up and running and there is chatter, through social and marketing opportunity, then people from outside the area will also come.”
The Golf Learning Center, located at 7815 N. Radnor Road, currently offers lessons for all age ranges and skill sets, as well as indoor putting and hitting stations, an all-season driving range and par 3 pitch-and-putt course. It is open from 9 am to 7 pm daily during the summer, according to the Peoria Park District website.
Another Peoria golf venture never panned out
This isn’t the first time someone has tried to bring something like this to Peoria. In February 2020, BigShots Golf, which said in 2016 they’d bring their multimillion-dollar virtual golf playground with an arcade and bar-restaurant to town, backed out and gave no specific reason, according to Journal Star archives.
The $8 million project, on 20 acres at 9800 N. Orange Prairie Road, was announced in March 2016. Payne, one of four partners in the project, envisioned it as a place “with activities for all ages to enjoy.” With multiple entertainment options, the venue was to mainly appeal far beyond diehard golfers.
Where this will succeed when other ventures failed is that what is being proposed isn’t completely new, Cahill said.
From 2020:BigShots Golf cancels plans to come to Peoria
“It is modernizing. It’s retrofitting the current Golf Learning Center, which opened in 2000, to be a hybrid model. We have a lot of that in place already. The $4 million can be focused on visitor experience. This is going to be a lighter lift than it would be if it was a completely standalone place,” she said.
Another reason is that golf is having a resurgence.
“If you had asked me back in 2018 and 2019 about this, my answer would have been very different than it is today,” Cahill said, noting that the pandemic brought more families to play golf as it was an activity they could do outside and together safely.
“Even with the pretty lousy weather, we are on track to exceed our totals from last year. More and more kids are playing the game. Just from a health and wellness point of view, there is a loot of good that golf can bring to a community,” she said.