Golfers tee off at area indoor facility year-round

This time of year can make some golfers impatient – even downright crabby – as they survey the brown landscapes of their backyards and daydream about green fairways and blue skies.

Eden Prairie’s 4 Seasons Golf facility can help.

Open for just over a year, the business at 14791 Martin Drive offers eight high-tech, immersive golf simulator bays, each equipped with a range of features (this is a selected, not complete, list):

• 4K, high-definition giant screens filled with inviting depictions of green fairways, trees and greens – an almost movie-like immersion (golfers choose from more than 200 golf courses from around the world).

• Available video of all distances and conditions that allow golfers to use all the shots they’d experience on a course — driver, mid-range, near-to-pin, putting, even sand shots.

• Stunning graphics that offer exhaustive data about the holes being played and about your swing.

• Video replays to help analyze your technique, compare your backswing and correct swing patterns.

• A moving platform or swing plate that rises, lowers and slants to mimic the terrain of the hole being played, along with multiple mat surfaces that simulate the varying surfaces of an outdoor course.

• Three adjustable green speeds – normal, fast and very fast – simulating Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) conditions.

• An automatic ball retrieval and teeing system for continuous play without manual setup.

Beyond the simulator bays, visitors will find a pro shop that sells balls, clubs and other equipment, rents clubs and includes a small area for purchasing snacks and soft drinks. Customers are also allowed to bring in their own food and beverages. Currently, 4 Seasons employs eight part-time employees and one full-time staffer.

Jae Park opened the facility in January 2024. Originally from Korea, he moved to the United States in 1980 and studied computer-system design at the University of Alabama.

“I’m a computer guy, but I’ve been a golfer all my life. Golf is a wonderful sport,” Park said during a conversation punctuated frequently by the distinctive thwack of club heads striking golf balls.

After college, Park began working full time coordinating an international education exchange program for Korean students who wanted to study in the United States. He eventually settled in Minnesota. Park, 65, lives in Eden Prairie with his wife, three daughters and his mother-in-law.

Park continues to work full time, coordinating the education exchange program while also operating 4 Seasons Golf. “I now have two full-time jobs,” he said with a smile.

For that first year in business in 2024, annual sales were about $400,000, according to Park. “We were not really known – it wasn’t popular at the beginning – so we struggled that first year,” he said.

This year, with word spreading about the business, Park said he expects to double that figure to $800,000 and anticipates reaching $1 million in sales by next year.

Park acknowledged that he does more business during the winter, but he hopes to change that as more golfers recognize they can practice indoors year-round. The indoor trend has been aided by the growing popularity of TGL, a new indoor professional golf league that combines advanced simulator technology with teams of PGA Tour players for weekly competitions televised on ESPN.

Park said he hopes to create a sense of community — a sort of community center — with 4 Seasons Golf. “The sport of golf brings people together,” he said. “It’s a great way to create community.”

Along those lines, he has connected with area high school golf teams, several of which now hold captains’ practices at the facility during the off-season – including varsity teams from Eden Prairie, Chanhassen, Chaska and Southwest Christian.

“They can practice before outside conditions are ready and also during the season,” Park said. “They can practice their swing, analyze it with all of the data and analytics and video, and get down to details.”

Edison Aleshire, a senior on the Chaska boys’ varsity team, said 4 Seasons Golf has been welcoming to young golfers. He has been impressed with the facility’s simulator.

“It’s always a great experience there,” said Aleshire, who noted that his team practices at the facility in the winter and early spring. “They are very welcoming, getting us involved in golf, making it very affordable for us as students. Also, it is light years ahead of any other golf simulator because the platform actually shifts with the angle of the fairway and the shot you have. They have different hitting areas and material, too, on the platform — the rough, different grasses and bunkers. … You can also putt, too. Other golf simulators allow that, but the putting at 4 Seasons is much more accurate than others.”

In addition, 4 Seasons hosts a robust slate of men’s and women’s leagues and offers golf lessons.

Golfers at 4 Seasons can choose to play by the hour or by the round. Rates range from $30 to $50 per hour, or $30 to $50 per round for 18 holes, depending on time of day.

Local golfers have been impressed.

“The (simulator) system that 4 Seasons uses is the most realistic combination of hardware and software I’ve ever seen,” said Eden Prairie resident Todd Loudenslager. “It’s very responsive and seems superior to other systems I’ve experienced. Jae’s personal interaction with customers to help them enjoy the experience is remarkable. He gave me three tips on my grip and swing that added accuracy and 30 yards to my drives. My first round on a simulated course I scored 130. That was about 12 months ago. Last month I scored a 72. I feel so much more confident about my golf game!”

That sounds like at least one less crabby golfer in EP.