Instead of making money for somebody else Jon Goes wanted to do it for himself.
And he wanted to do something he loved; So he opened a golf bar.
“I love two things, golf and beer,” Goes says laughing. “I was told at a young age to do what you love, so I’m trying to figure out a way to do what I love.”
Eight years later…
Goes opens Broheim’s Golf in Waukee on Feb. 3, 2017 for anyone to play golf indoors.
Players rent one of five golf simulators and choose from 66 preloaded courses. They hit marked golf balls into a large white screen that projects the course, with cameras and sensors tracking each swing. Guests pay by the hour to rent a simulator.
“It’s not as intimidating,” Goes says. “You aren’t in this big open space, you aren’t scared of losing golf balls or hitting in the trees.”
After testing out 15 different kinds of simulators Goes installed five About Golf Simulators that use a three track system to track the golf ball: Radar, camera and angle of the club.
“So if you were slicing or drawing it, and tha’s your typical show outside, that’s how it knows,” Goes says. “And the putting is what I fell in love with because it’s the most accurate putting I could find. For me, putting in here has made me a better putter outside.”
Goes said simulators can cost anywhere from $20,000-$100,000.
And while Goes says golfers can use their own balls, he recommends using ones provided by Brohiem’s Golf because they’re marked with paint patterns to track spin.
“It knows dynamic angles, launch angles, it knows if you are closing your club face, I can even show the ball spinning frame by frame,” Goes says. “We get a lot of people in here who have their egos hurt because they don’t hit it as far as what they say they do.”
‘Busy season’ is coming
Goes saw the concept at an Omaha bar eight years ago during a golf tournament a few of his buddies would do in the winter.
“And every time I went there I thought I could do it better,” Goes says. “It took me seven years to convince my wife and another year to pull it all together.”
The name “Broheim’s Golf” came from after their family golf tournament. Instead of the “Solheim Cup” their family golf tournament would be the “Broheim Cup.”
Starting with September, Goes expects Broheim’s Golf to go through its, “busy season” as temperatures decrease.
Leagues are available to sign up for or private leagues can be created. A pool and shuffleboard tables are also inside Broheim’s Golf along with flat screen televisions.
“I was hoping I could help grow the game and I feel like we are starting to,” Goes says.