Hooly Sim said his family’s inspiration for getting into the indoor golf business came from South Korea.
With indoor golf being popular there due to a lack of land for golf courses, he said his family was inspired to bring it to Canada. The family started Target Indoor Golf in Ontario in 2014, offering a way for people to hone their golf game indoors.
The business’s director of marketing and growth, Sim said they followed through.
“We felt this would be a great thing to bring to Canada, and that’s exactly what he did,” he said, adding that the technology used in these places “is a great way to really get a lot better at golf.”
The company has opened a new location in Newmarket at 16700 Bayview Ave., its 11th location in Ontario. The self-service store offers golfers simulated greens and cameras that track your motion. By booking online, you can enter the facility and spend time on a simulated green based on your booking.
The company chose to start a corporately owned Newmarket store as the town has plenty of golf interest, Sim said.
“There’s a ton of golf courses in the Newmarket area,” Sim said. “We want to provide indoor golf all season long and all-year round.”
The franchise began expanding more in 2022. Sim said the pandemic led to an increase in golfers, giving indoor golf facilities the chance to expand.
“There were a lot of new golfers,” he said. “That type of golfer just picking up the new sport, we really wanted to offer them a different experience that’s really convenient and that you can use anytime.”
There are many benefits to the technology, Sim said, as it offers data and statistics on your swing.
“Recording and seeing how your swing looks can really help golfers,” he said.
After spending time in other businesses, Sim said he more recently came to join the family company.
“It’s just exciting times ahead with the growth of this.”
Although only currently situated in Ontario, Sim said they hope to grow into a nationwide company.
“Obviously, that will take some time, and there’s a lot of growing pains. But we feel that there are a ton of communities out there that are really involved with golf, that they could use something like this,” he said.
