Big Shots Golf Firestone in Akron, Ohio, opened on the Saturday before Thanksgiving and officials expressed their gratitude for the collaboration happening between two organizations. BigShots Golf Firestone is the golf entertainment venue’s seventh location nationwide, but it’s the first that is partnering with an existing golf course, the Raymond C. Firestone Public 9 Golf Course.

Big Shots Golf Firestone in Akron, Ohio, opened on the Saturday before Thanksgiving and officials expressed their gratitude for the collaboration happening between two organizations.

BigShots Golf Firestone is the golf entertainment venue’s seventh location nationwide, but it’s the first that is partnering with an existing golf course, the Raymond C. Firestone Public 9 Golf Course. This course had been operated by Firestone Country Club, but now BigShots will function as the pro shop for the course. Anyone wishing to play a round at the Firestone Public 9 will pay their green fees at BigShots, and can then warm up in a hitting bay for 15 minutes before heading out to the course.

TJ Schier, Chief Operating Officer at BigShots Golf, said Firestone CC (which has three 18-hole courses) is now closed until spring, but the public 9 course will open for play during the winter if the weather cooperates.

“There’s a very dedicated community that plays this Firestone 9 course,” Schier said. “They’re excited that the range is re-opened now.”

BigShots Golf, which has 44 heated, hitting bays, is located at the site that previously housed Hackers Bar & Grill and driving range.

The hope is that BigShots Golf will spark an interest in the game among more people, with Firestone Club Manager Kendle Deaderick noting Firestone officials want to persuade more people to both play the Public 9 and become members at the country club.

“It just builds up our flow of business,” Deaderick said. “It gives us a way for the non-golfer to be able to learn golf.”

Deaderick said Firestone members will be able to use the BigShots Golf range during the winter months at a discounted rate. She noted members who want to receive the discounted rate should contact BigShots to set up the usage deal.

“When they pay the fee, they get unlimited access to BigShots,” Deaderick said.

Schier said BigShots Golf is trying to distinguish itself from its competitors by offering opportunities for both non-golfers and more serious players.

“I think the competitors out there do a great job attracting non-golfers,” Schier said. “We want to do the same and bring all the non-golfers in and introduce them to the game, but we want the golfers to be able to come out here and enjoy working on their game and practicing.”

Avid golfers can access the TrackMan Range technology at BigShots to monitor their performance. TrackMan is a radar-based technology that provides golfers with information such as driving distance, carrying distance, ball height, ball speed and launch angle. Golfers can use the TrackMan app to store their performance data to monitor how they’re hitting the ball.

“We use real golf balls,” Schier said. “They get the true distance… and all the swing data that you get out of a TrackMan system.”

There are also about 12-13 famous golf courses that can be played virtually at BigShots Golf, including some PGA Tour and British Open sites. Beginning golfers can play a virtual Par 3 course with holes that average 90 yards.

“We try to make it easy for everybody,” Schier said. “Give them a nice bridge or a ramp into the game versus just trying to go out to a course and figure out what to do.”

BigShots Golf uses the Power Tee system that automatically tees the ball up, and golfers can — through the push of a button — adjust the height of the tee to match the club they are using.

“We’re trying to enhance the in-bay experience for the golfer by giving them a little more flexibility than some of the other things that are out there today,” Schier said.

A turf putting course will be constructed outside of the front entrance that will offer what Schier called “18 famous replica holes.” Each hole will be a “scaled-down” version of holes on well-known golf courses such as Pebble Beach, Augusta National and St. Andrews, according to Schier.

“[It’s] something that’s fun for the non-golfer, but also [for] the golfer that knows those holes, it’ll make it a little more fun and enjoyable for them, albeit in a mini version,” Schier said.

A director of player development will offer lessons and camps at the site starting in spring of 2023. Two of the bays will be used for club fittings. In addition, First Tee Akron will have some of its participants use BigShots Golf once or twice a week.

“We can help [First Tee] out by giving them some warmth and some ability to hit golf balls,” said Schier, who added there are also plans to work with the Adaptive Golf Association.

Deaderick said BigShots offers a destination for golfers who want to take a break from a typical golf round for a “fun and casual” experience. She added that, for non-golfers, BigShots is a “little less threatening.”

“Not everybody’s a golfer and not everybody has the same skill level,” Deaderick said. “We’re trying to figure out how do we attract more people… to the world of golf and open it up to beginners and not just the professionals.”

Firestone is planning to host events and programs at BigShots Golf.

“We’re just really excited about it,” Deaderick said. “This is fun…I think now it’s one more extra thing that adds to our beauty of what Firestone is, and we want to be able to…engage in different avenues and different kinds of experiences. It covers that now.”

BigShots Golf Firestone is located within a neighborhood and Schier said his company’s approach is to have a lot customers returning to the venue on a regular basis.

“Our strategy’s been to go to smaller towns,” Schier explained. “And I need frequency. The bigger towns, people might go to the golf entertainment venues once or twice a year. I want people to come here a lot…We’ve got a branded sports bar in there. We want people to come here, watch the game. I don’t care if they hit golf balls.”

Anthem Sports Bar & Kitchen offers hand-breaded boneless wings and hand-breaded, hand-cut onion rings.

“Our food is elevated,” Schier said. “We want our tee-box experience and our technology to be elevated because when you’re not the first, you got to be better. That’s what we’re trying to do.”

Brian Campbell, Vice President of Culinary and Beverage at BigShots Golf, said, “we’re trying to do a very upscale sports bar menu.”

The smash burgers have two patties with a potato bun and are cooked to order.

“We’re a very scratch kitchen,” Campbell added. “We try to do a lot of stuff as much in-house as we can. The onion rings, we cut and bread in-house. That layered dip there, we make the queso, we make the taco meat in-house.”

One unique item is a Peanut Butter & Jam burger that contains peanut butter, carmelized onions, white American cheese, pepper bacon and blueberry jam.

“It’s one of those things that people kind of look at it and go, ‘I don’t know,’ and then they try it and they go, ‘wow, that’s really good,'” Campbell said. “You have the savory peanut butter, you’ve got sweet, you’ve got the spicy bacon, the saltiness of it all. It comes together well.”

Another standout menu choice is the Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Mozzarella Bites.

“We make our own mozzarella bites in-house and coat them in flaming hot Cheetos,” Campbell stated.

He explained BigShots is trying to serve as a place “where people will come just to eat.”

BigShots Golf also offers some specialty drinks, including a Loaded Dr. Pepper, a Pineapple Margarita, a Watermelon Mojito and a Frozen Cherry Limeade.

The Loaded Dr. Pepper contains Dr. Pepper, Half and Half, coconut syrup and Captain Morgan’s Spiced Rum. The Pineapple Margarita consists of Corazon Reposado tequila, pineapple juice, and fresh lime sour. The Watermelon Mojito has Bacardi Silver rum, watermelon, mint, lime, and soda. The Frozen Cherry Limeade contains Cruzan Black Cherry Rum, fresh lime juice, and simple syrup.

Business has been good since the site opened Nov. 19.

“Everybody’s having a blast even though the temperature’s 40 degrees,” Schier said.

In about a year, BigShots will build a facility in Naples, Fla., said Schier, who added BigShots plans to build seven more sites in the next 18 months.

“We’ll double in size in the next 18 months,” he said.

The first BigShots site opened in 2019; three more opened in 2021 and another trio started operating this year.