Dick Hakes

Special to the Press-Citizen

Owners of The Leaderboard indoor golf and games bar in North Liberty are smiling.

That’s because only a few hours after this brand new business launched its “soft opening” on Feb. 22, area golfers suffering from the hard-winter blues got the word and started showing up in force.

“We’ve been busy ever since,” said Grant Uding, one of the local owners of the new business located at 680 Meade Drive.

In fact, the first league has already started with more than 100 golfers competing in two-person teams.

“We haven’t had an official grand opening yet and we’re still improving customer service and technology training for our staff,” Uding added. “Our sign didn’t even go up until March 1.”

But he’s not complaining. Uding is happy with the early customer response to its five golf bays carrying the aboutGOLF brand, which he says is the only indoor golf simulator endorsed by the PGA.

Four bays have 15-foot-wide screens. The fifth is an enclosed private party room with an 18-foot screen, three TVs, private sound, special video equipment for golf training and seating for up to 12 persons. The regular bays rent for $40 per hour.

Golfers select from a list of 40 prominent golf courses, from Pebble Beach to Hazeltine. They can bring their own clubs or rent from The Leaderboard.

The computerized simulators also offer driving ranges, miniature golf courses and even other video games such as Skee-Ball, Fortnite or Call of Duty. Elsewhere in the bar you will find pool tables and dart boards, plus six retro arcade games like Donkey Kong and, coming soon, Area 51.

“We did not want to alienate people who are not into golf,” said Uding. “We want families to feel welcome. We want grandfathers to come in on Sunday morning and play Skee-Ball or Mini Golf with the grand kids.”

The full bar features 16 taps of domestic, import and craft beers. No food will be prepared on site, but customers can bring their own food in with them, or order at their table from special menus developed through partnerships with local restaurants that will deliver. On weekends, customers will be able to order from food truck vendors in the parking lot.

The Leaderboard is the first business to open in the new strip mall across from Penn Landing along Highway 965. Construction scaffolding and equipment lace the rest of the building, a commercial development project of Grand Rail still being completed.

Uding and his partner couple John and Yvonne O’Neill, and another partner, Josh Smith, are all North Liberty residents. The owners have been friends for several years and the men are all avid golfers.

“Josh and Grant formulated the idea for this bar and offered Yvonne and I an opportunity to join them in this business,” said John O’Neill, a resident here since 1989.

He expressed some shock at the enthusiastic early customer response to their enterprise.

“We’d hoped to sign up 16 teams for the golf league out of the gate,” O’Neill said. “We now have 53. The overall reception has been very positive and we are ecstatic.”

Uding says there are several other indoor golf simulators offered in the area, but that he believes The Leaderboard is now “the biggest indoor golf facility in the Corridor.”

