The Swing Suite will be divided into two lounges tricked out with a simulator, HDTVs and couches and offering food-and-beverage service. The names of the lounges—Game Room Greens and Cherry Circle Links—are a nod to a trio of indoor golf “links” that were added to this former private men’s club in the early 1900s, not long after legendary Chicago amateur golfer Charles “Chick” Evans Jr. became a member.
Golf is making a comeback at the Chicago Athletic Association hotel, the Chicago Tribune reported. In July, the historic property plans to debut a Topgolf Swing Suite, featuring two indoor golf simulator lounges with hitting bays where people can tee off and play other virtual games in front of a large screen.
Topgolf Swing Suites have been popping up in hotels, casinos and entertainment venues across the country; the Chicago Athletic Association will be the first in Chicago to have one, the Tribune reported. Another Topgolf Swing Suite is slated to open later this year at Chicago’s upscale 900 North Michigan Shops. Much larger, more elaborate Topgolf venues are in suburban Illinois cities Wood Dale and Naperville, with another headed for Schaumburg.
The Chicago Athletic Association’s Topgolf outpost will be divided into two lounges tricked out with HDTVs and couches and offering food and beverage service, the Tribune reported. Each lounge has its own simulator bay where people hit golf balls into a screen that acts as a virtual course. For a total of $80 an hour, up to eight people will be able to take turns playing not only golf but a variety of virtual games, such as Hockey Shots, Baseball Pitching and Zombie Dodgeball.
The lounges will be open 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week for hotel guests and walk-ins, the Tribune reported. They can also be rented for private events, like a Super Bowl viewing party, corporate meeting or karaoke for as many as 20 guests.
The names of the lounges—Game Room Greens and Cherry Circle Links—are a nod to a trio of indoor golf “links” that were added to this former private men’s club in the early 1900s, not long after legendary Chicago amateur golfer Charles “Chick” Evans Jr. became a member, the Tribune reported. The links that once occupied the ninth floor of the Venetian Gothic building are long gone. They’ve since been replaced by a fitness center and guest rooms for the hotel, which opened across from Millennium Park four years ago.
“This is kind of an anniversary present to ourselves,” hotel general manager Patrick Hatton said about the Topgolf Swing Suite addition being built on the ground floor.
As the name of the hotel suggests, competitive pursuits like golf fit right in at this sports-minded property that used to host amateur boxing matches back when it was a private club, the Tribune reported. Reclaimed wood from the club’s old squash and fencing courts line the hotel’s elevators, and pommel horses double as benches in many of the 241 guest rooms, managed by Hyatt.
Behind the hotel’s second-floor lobby is a massive, 250-person capacity Game Room with bocce ball, foosball, pool tables and other games that are free to play, the Tribune reported. Hatton said he sees the Topgolf Swing Suite as an extension of this popular playground.
“And now we’ll have a street-side presence,” he told the Tribune while standing in the high-ceilinged, future Swing Suite space that’s under construction. Plans call for a design that’s in keeping with the upstairs Game Room, with dark wood wainscoting and walls covered in chalkboard paint.
Chicago-based Land and Sea Dept. operates Game Room, as well as the hotel’s fine-dining restaurant Cherry Circle Room and the intimate, rare spirits cocktail lounge, Milk Room, the Tribune reported. Land and Sea Dept. also will run the food and beverage end of things at the Topgolf Swing Suite, offering everything from $150 seafood towers in catering packages for private rentals to a regular menu of Game Room favorites like muffuletta sandwiches, footlong hot dogs, turkey clubs and snacks.
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