GCA speaks with Bertrand Quentin about his ambitious plan to build a nine-hole desert-style course in a series of huge domes, and architect Darrell Huxham about his approach to the design
By Richard Humphreys |
It may be the first day of April, but the development of a new indoor nine-hole golf course and practice facility to be housed in four enormous climate-controlled domes 50 miles west of Chicago is no joke.
According to Bertrand Quentin, one the founders of Megalodome Golf, the vision is not far off. He and business partner Alain Desrochers are currently in the financing stage of this ambitious project that could see a first facility – with each dome 300 metres long, 100 metres wide and 35 metres high – built in Oswego, Illinois.
“We like the spot because it’s close enough to Chicago,” says Quentin. “All the preliminary plans are approved. In a place like Chicago, where there’s something like 400 golf courses and the winter is long, having an indoor golf course that is open all winter would be an amazing thing.”
A visualisation of Megalodome, a proposed indoor golf facility with nine holes ranging from 103 to 278 yards and a practice facility (Image: Megalodome Golf)
The founders turned to Canada-based Huxham Golf Design to create a nine-hole masterplan with holes inspired by the desert designs of Scottsdale, Arizona. Holes range from 103 to 278 yards, a combination of par fours and threes to give a total par of 30.
“We were approached around four years ago,” says architect Darrell Huxham. “Places like Chicago, Montreal and Toronto have big golf markets but also horrible winters. There is a huge appetite for golf, and courses in those areas will be shut for six months a year.”
Three domes will house between two to four holes each, and a fourth will contain a practice facility (Image: Huxham Golf Design)
For Huxham, the task of creating an indoor golf course on such a large scale was entirely new. “The concept was to come up with something that was really different from typical indoor golf experiences,” says Huxham. “One of our main ideas is to excavate inside the dome – perhaps three to eight meters – to allow us to create three-dimensional golf. It would be great to have undulating land with mounds two or three metres high and the fairways being two or three metres below grade. That was the sort of thing we felt would make a difference.
“This project is much more confined in comparison to our normal jobs, and we’ve toned things down a little bit. We’ve had to balance creating a stimulating environment with safety. There’ll be shots over water, expanses of sand and undulating ground. We’d want to dig down to get some extra metres of elevation, and so balls won’t hit the net near the ceiling. There will be decent width, but we have to make it 100 per cent safe so there will be some vertical netting in the centre. Holes will also play counterclockwise, which keeps holes on the left, away from slices.”
Huxham’s plan is for two par fours in one dome, a par four and two par threes in another, and four par threes in a third dome. The holes would be grassed with synthetic turf, with real sand and water used for hazards.
The plan for the first Megalodome course is an Arizona-inspired design (Image: Megalodome Golf)
“We have to consider how the ball is received by the synthetic turf,” says Huxham. “There’ll be different types for greens, fairways and rough. Ten years ago, these grasses were basically a carpet, now they receive the ball so much better.”
Megalodome Golf will be funded by a $50-60 million private placement plus bank financing. It is still in the investment phase, and the aim is for construction of the first building to begin in late 2027. The project may be built in phases, beginning with the dome that houses the practice facility.