Downers Grove indoor golf center a hole in one

The golf season may be coming to a close, but that doesn’t mean golfers have to put their clubs away and wait until spring before returning to the links.

X-Golf Downers Grove, a high-end indoor golf center, opened its doors Sept. 25. It offers golfers a simulated experience that’s both fun and an opportunity to sharpen their skills.

The facility is located at the Butterfield Plaza shopping center, 1310 Butterfield Road. There are two other X-Golf locations in Illinois in Libertyville and Glenview.

Michael O’Shea, X-Golf Downers Grove owner, said he was excited to take part in X-Golf when he looked into opening a Downers Grove location last year.

“I reached out to X-Golf last year, their franchise, and I felt like there was a hole in the market,” O’Shea said. “I went into an X-Golf and I was just really blown away. The simulators were better, the service was better, the decor, the layout and feel was better than any golf simulator I’ve ever been to.”

X-Golf’s high-end simulators, which rely on camera systems, infrared lasers, impact sensors and advanced gaming software, are what differentiate the center from its competitors, O’Shea said.

“So you’re playing golf, but it’s inside so you bring your own clubs, and you hit a simulator bay into a net, it’s proprietary technology, so no other simulator in the country has this software, and it’s the most accurate in the world,” O’Shea said. “It reads all the spin, the launch angle, it does 6,000 calculations on the golf ball in under half a second.”

X-Golf offers multiple amenities such as golf lessons‚ club fittings and courses for children.

O’Shea said the facility has courses for players of all levels.

“It’s a really non-intimidating experience,” he said. “You rent the bay and it’s just you, and you never lose the ball. You can just sit on the driving range and practice.”

Customers can rent a bay by the hour, and one or multiple people can play on a single bay. The center features tiered pricing: $45 an hour during the week and $65 an hour on weekends. X-Golf also hosts group events and league competitions. The center offers a full-service bar and restaurant serving beer, wine, liquor and a number of food options.

O’Shea said many golf simulation centers use the same software, which allows a shot to be read. What that software can’t read is a putt. The software at X-Golf can read a break in the slope on a green, which allows golfers to accurately putt the ball.

“At X-Golf, putting is the best part,” O’Shea said. “It’s the next best thing to golf because the putting is so accurate.”

X-Golf Downers Grove is open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to midnight Friday, 8 a.m. to midnight Saturday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

For information, visit www.xgolfdownersgrove.com.