A New York Golfer’s Dream: The Big Apple’s First Virtual Golf Club

Innovative businesses are often set up by people who have had to bear the brunt of some great inconvenience. In the case of amateur golfer Craig Volcovici, he understands the trouble of New York’s golfers, who have to lug a 100-pound golf bag to far flung places on the subway just for a leisurely weekend game. This is what inspired him to come up with the idea of a virtual golf course.



Craig has been researching his idea for five years now, and what he has conceived of is a golf club complete with a pro shop, a members-only lounge, a locker room, a fitness center, a driving range and a restaurant known as the Blue Grass Bar and Grill. However, instead of heading out to the fairway to begin their game, golfers tee off on a golf simulator screen. They are faced by a high-definition screen with life-like graphics, including trees, leaves swaying in the breeze and so on. They hit a real ball in front of the screen, and the technology projects the path of the ball and takes them to their next stroke.



As with all simulators, this one offers users a variety of choices not available in real life, such as choosing their course. So, you could tee off at Augusta or Pebble Beach or any other course you please, rather than being restricted to your local country club. What Volcovici wants to use is the most technologically advanced full-swing golf simulators available in the market. Each of these costs a whopping $40,000.

With such a facility in town, golfers will no longer be restricted to spending a tiring day hitting balls at some local country club. All they would need to do is squeeze out an hour or two any time of the week. It could even be a weekday, after a day of work, or perhaps a Sunday. Essentially, this kind of a facility is ideal for the busy executive who just doesn’t have a stretch of 6 or 7 hours to give.

Volcovici has prepared a scratch power point presentation that covers the details of his idea, and he is busy looking for investors. He believes that he needs a start-up investment of $2 million to launch his unique golf course. For a venue, Volcovici feels that his native Upper West Side would be ideal, as the area attracts just the sort of people who will be game for a round of virtual golf. He was initially interested in the empty Tavern on the Green area, but the city refused him the space, saying that it was only looking for restaurants. He is now considering the vacant Ruby Foo Restaurant on Broadway and W. 77^th Street as a possible venue.



The details will work themselves out over time. For now, Craig is very excited about his idea, as are scores of golfers in New York.