Tee 2 Green

Pebble Beach in your backyard It's raining. Or you can't get your preferred tee time or you just want to see what it's like to play Pebble Beach without the travel and the expense. Then Tee 2 Green at 1010 Memorial Avenue in West Springfield is for you. The brainchild of Tom and Mike McElligott, Tee 2 Green brings high tech convenience to the world of golf. "In high school I played other sports and used to pick on my younger brothers for playing golf," said Tom, an Agawam native. "After high school, I played golf at the Agawam Municipal Golf Course, and I was hooked. I went to West Palm Beach, Florida and really became involved with the golf business. I worked [in the Pro Shop] at the President Country Club and Boca West Country Club in Boca Raton." Tom was involved in a program to become golf pro but did an about face and wound up in the mortgage industry. A Circuitous Route "I moved to Long Island and worked as a mortgage banker for eight years," said Tom. "When that industry took a downturn, I and my brother, Mike, who is in construction, put our heads together and looked at other opportunities, something," said Tom "that could be fun and exciting." They wanted something different, that nobody else had done in western Massachusetts, a something that adults and kids could enjoy. Tom had seen the high definition golf simulators on HBO's Entourage. He and his brother talked about the idea and then found the local warehouse the former Tarbell Waters building on Memorial Avenue spoke with the landlord who gave them carte blanche to do with it what they wanted. "It took about six months," said Tom, "to completely refurbish the interior of the building. And on February 17 of this year, Tee 2 Green opened." Besides his experience with golf, Tom has managed a couple of businesses both in Florida and in New York City. In fact, at one point he owned his own courier service, so entrepreneurship has been in his blood. The Design "We looked at the interior space, which is almost 10,000 square feet," said Tom, "and initially we were going to just install the simulators and perhaps lease out the front of the building. Then we decided to utilize the entire building. We added the mini-golf to attract children and birthday parties, but the golf course is a naturally landscaped course, without the windmills and clowns from the old school." "There are natural putts on the course, and the greens roll look real greens. You can one putt or five putt on any of the greens," said Tom. The course designer is Dave Fleury. He is a world renowned golf course designer who is a partner with The Golf Group. He has built courses around the world, including the United States, Portugal, Spain and Bermuda. High Def Golf Each of the simulators is built into one wall of a three-sided space, similar to a very large flat screen TV. Golfers can select one of a number of renowned courses on which they want to play, such as Pebble Beach, Bay Hill, Doral, Torrey Pines, Spyglass Hill, Harbour Town, Pinehurst No.2 and many more. Facing the screen and getting ready to swing, it's like looking down a famous fairway on a fine spring day. Players select the course to play, enter the number of players, and the simulator's computer does the rest. For each player, it will not only keep score but the built-in swing analyzer on the simulator calculates swing speed, ball speed, club path, launch angle, club face angle, trajectory and spin. Simulator pricing is $40/hour/simulator (not per person). For examples, 18 holes would take four players an average of three hours, which would total $30 per player. Golf lessons are $50 per hour by appointment. Pricing for the mini golf is $5 for nine holes and $8 for 18 holes. For more information, check out www.t2greenindoorgolf.com.