84 An ambitious new vision that, according to one of its founders, could “transform the golf industry” may be approaching reality. The Megalodome Golf concept houses a nine-hole synthetic turf golf course and practice facility in four enormous climate-controlled domes – each one 300 metres long, 100 metres wide and 35 metres high. Preliminary plans have been approved for the first such facility to be built in Oswego, Illinois. “We like the spot because it’s close enough to Chicago,” says the man behind the project, Bertrand Quentin. “There’s something like 400 golf courses there and the winter is long, so having an indoor golf course that is open all winter would be an amazing thing.” Quentin and his business partner Alain Desrochers, who are now in the financing phase of the project, turned to Canada-based Huxham Golf Design for a masterplan that is 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. “One of our main ideas is to excavate inside the dome – perhaps three to eight metres – to allow us to create three-dimensional golf,” says architect Darrell Huxham. “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. “There’ll be shots over water, expanses of sand and undulating ground. 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.” View Huxham’s plans and read more about Megalodome Golf on the GCA website. HOLING OUT Image: Megalodome Golf Indoor golf reaches new heights Megalodome is an ambitious plan to build a nine-hole course under a series of huge domes. Image: Huxham Golf Design
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