Visiting Five Iron Detroit

Visiting Five Iron Detroit

This past week, I had the opportunity to visit the new Five Iron golf entertainment facility in the basement of the Cambria Hotel in downtown Detroit.

Five Iron Golf is a nationwide chain of nineteen (and counting) indoor golf and entertainment complexes, located in cities such as new York, Chicago, Boston, Las Vegas, Cincinnati and DC.

The downtown Detroit facility is the second in Michigan; the first is in Shelby Township.

Five Iron Golf Detroit fills 24,000 square feet of space at 600 W. Lafayette. The venue has thirteen Trackman bays, two putting greens, three bars, more television screens than I could count, plus shuffleboard, ping pong, foosball and darts. A duckpins alley is under construction.

A large food menu is available in conjunction with the Cambria Hotel’s chef and staff.

It is the kind of place where you can have a serious party. I think it would be a great Bachelor Party site.

The decor and feel are really cool. There’s lots of neon and colorful murals by local artists, polished concrete floors, and exposed ductwork and support beams. It’s gritty but slick. Industrial, but futuristic.

The star of the show are the Trackman Simulators. The custom built simulators have nice feeling artificial turf, beautiful crisp screens, and comfy seating. The program lets you do a variety of activities, including practice and video-game play like “capture the flag”.” Of course, players can also play simulated courses. There are more than two hundred available.

I played the Links at Spanish Bay.

One cool thing about the simulators is that there is a small screen off to the side that lets you see an instant replay of your swing.

I watched mine and was horrified. I may need therapy. Advice to self: Don’t look at video of your own swing.

That said, it gave me something to work on this week on the course.

Five Iron Detroit has a lot of options for play and practice. In addition to casual, one-off visits, leagues are encouraged. Lessons are available. An onsite PGA TOUR Superstore Studio will offer brand-agnostic club fitting.

The facility has more than enough bags of brand-new Callaway clubs to accommodate all of its visitors, but players can bring their own.

Hours for Five Iron Detroit are 6 am – 11 pm Monday through Thursday; 6 am to midnight Friday; 8 am to midnight Saturday; and 8 am to 10 pm Sunday.

The early start offers the opportunity to get in some practice before work. Five Iron has showers and lockers and also will store your clubs. It’s sort of a virtual country club experience.

Peak rate are $85 an hour; off peak is $70. Up to six can share the simulator at that time. Split between four people, it is really no more expensive than a round at a nice area golf course.

I enjoyed my time at Five Iron Detroit, but the experience reinforced my previous notion that I’m not really a simulator kind of guy. Although there is plenty of space, I always have the nagging feeling that I’m going to hit the walls or the ceiling with my club (even though there is plenty of space). Screens — however wonderfully rendered — don’t give me any sense of distance, resulting in lots of bad distances, particularly on pitches and chips.

And finally, simulators don’t have two of the things that are most important for me: exercise and fresh air.

Still, on those long grey winter days in Michigan, I can see myself thinking seriously about getting in some simulator time. My home course — Washtenaw Golf Club — has three simulators. I may need to take a second look at those.