Ringer Golf lets you play the game indoors

CEDAR RAPIDS — Golfing in the winter — or anytime — is now possible in Cedar Rapids with the opening of Ringer Golf in Czech Village.

Ringer Golf, which opened Dec. 10, is an indoor golf business, which uses Trackman programming to simulate more than 200 golf courses from around the world.

The Trackman system also can track data — speed and distances of hits, where the club hit the ball — for those who want to improve their golf game.

“The data that comes out of these systems is amazingly good. Most of the PGA Tour professionals, they own a Trackman device themselves,” Bob Meisterling, the owner of Ringer Golf, said.

Meisterling said he’s been wanting to open a business since before the pandemic and had been going back and forth between starting an indoor golf business or creating an app that provides a virtual substitution network for league sports.

He said he may come back to that latter idea, but for now, he’s focused on getting Ringer Sports going.

“I’ve always wanted to own a business. I have high respect for business owners and entrepreneurs and business generally,” Meisterling said.

“It’s started out a little slow getting my name out,” he said. “A lot of people have come in and said they didn’t even know it existed.

“ I don’t like hearing that. What I really do like hearing is a very high percentage of customers when they leave … they say they had a great time, they’re coming back and they’re telling their friends. I can feel the momentum building.”

Meisterling played golf competitively through high school and college, and he said he’s excited to work with young golfers who may be looking to improve their game.

Playing simulated golf courses, though, does take a bit of getting used to, he said.

A golfer using Trackman stands about 11 feet in front of a screen, which displays the course, and hits the ball directly into the screen. Laser tracking devices follow the ball to determine where it would land in the virtual game.

“Indoor golf is different from outdoor golf, especially from a ‘feels’ standpoint,” Meisterling said.

“Putting, for example, it’s a ‘feels’ game, and it’s hard to get the feel when you’re looking at a two-dimensional image. … But if you start thinking how the software thinks, you get used to it, and you play its game, just like you play the outdoor game.”

The business offers league play during the week and will have a Ringer Open tournament in April. It also has a lounge area with a self-tap beer station.

But Meisterling said he is focusing his business on golf.

“I wanted to create a place that I would want to go to, and I think we did that,” he said. “There are other simulators. A lot of places are a restaurant/bar first, that has golf involved. This is golf first, that has a bar.”

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