Indoor golf, shooting sports provide recreation options

WASILLA — A local father and son are teaming up to bring year-round golf to the Mat-Su.

Calvin Culverwell and his father, Ron Neffendorf, opened the doors of Golf-Shot on Saturday. As a sports-oriented establishment, the store offers computer simulators for those looking to hone their skills on the golf course and the firing range. The Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sat down with Culverwell to talk about the venture unique to the Valley.

Frontiersman: Is the Golf-Shot about?

Calvin Culverwell: Basically, what we have are five different units and each of them is from a company called Full Swing. It’s as real as it could possibly be without you being outside dealing with the elements.

There’s a driving range you could go to; you could work on your approach shots and a lot of different things like that. Basically, anything you see on TV, we have those courses. We have two putting greens in here, so it really helps people work on their short game.

The putting green over there has 3 million different contours to it so you could actually play 18 different holes. We’re also going to be doing golf retail. We’re not  getting into clubs as much, but we’re going to have most of the gear. We’ll have shoes, golf balls, gloves and the clothing aspect of it as well.

We also have a shooting simulation that has a hand gun, rifle, shotgun and a bow. Each of those is set up to have 12 to 15 different simulations. You could do anything from target practice, skeet shooting and any kind of bird hunting you could possibly do. Plus, there is quite bit of big game you could go hunting for, and there are things you could do to work on accuracy.

We’ll have a small concession (stand) too. There is a coffee shop that’s right next to us here and they’re actually doing sandwiches. There is also a pizza place that’s supposed to be going here, so we’re going to have lunch specials. Eventually, once the pizza guy gets up and going, we’ll be looking to do dinner specials as well.

Frontiersman: Where are you from and why did you open a business in Wasilla?

Culverwell: I’ve been out here since first grade. There’s just not a lot for people to do around here. My dad drives into Anchorage all the time to golf and we figured if we opened a place out here for people to do something like that it could give people something to do. A lot of people our age (25) just go and blow a lot of their money at the bar. When you talk to most of them that’s not what they really want to do. They would actually rather go do something like this. It’s something that’s fun and active that people can get into.

Frontiersman: What separates your business from other similar businesses?

Culverwell: There are two businesses in Anchorage and that’s the only thing I could really compare it to. Basically, their aspect is you go in play golf and then it’s time to leave. We really want to make it so people want to be in here. It’s a place where people can come and hang out and play golf. We just want to make it friendly and welcoming to people. And other businesses are geared toward one thing or another, and I think we’re trying to get the full spectrum here.

Frontiersman: What kind of golfing experience do you have?

Culverwell: I’m just getting into golf, to tell you the truth. I’ve been doing it for about two years and I fell in love with it. We are going to have a pro in here named Chris Wright. He’s going to basically do all of our lessons and stuff for us, so we’re relying on him quite a bit for the golfing aspect of it.

Frontiersman: Why is Wasilla a good location for a business like this?

Culverwell: There are a lot of golfers out here and there are four courses just in the Valley. And there are even more people that like to hunt and shoot. To my knowledge, I don’t think there is any other place that has the shooting aspect that we have out here.

Between the growth of the Valley and the lack of fun things do around here I don’t see how it could really go wrong. So, I’m hoping it will be really successful.

Frontiersman: What future plans do you have for Alaska Golf-Shot?

Culverwell: We have a lot of aspirations for this. One of my big things is I want to get an Alaska tournament because there are other businesses that have Full Swing. There’s one in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Valdez, so I think it would be cool if we all got together because all of these things are online.

We’re really hoping we can work with the senior center, AMVETS and other things like that because this is a perfect opportunity for people of the older generations that can’t walk the 18 holes anymore to still be able to come out and play golf.

Contact Chris Gillow at chris.gillow@frontiersman.com or 352-2284.