The new 12,500-sq. ft. clubhouse at Family Golf and Learning Center in St. Louis, Mo. expands training and fitness offerings with several TrackMan golf simulators and an indoor practice facility that includes a synthetic green for putting and chipping. It also includes a fitness center, golf shop, restaurant and terrace.

Family Golf and Learning Center in St. Louis, Mo. took a major step toward enhancing its ability to provide year-round golf offerings by opening a new 12,500-sq. ft. clubhouse on its grounds, the St. Louis Business Journal reported. The two-story facility expands its training and fitness offerings with several TrackMan golf simulators and an indoor practice facility—called The Scoring Lab—that includes a synthetic green for putting and chipping. It also includes a fitness center, golf shop, restaurant and terrace.

The addition of the clubhouse is one of several renovations made at the golf center under Adam Betz’s ownership, the Business Journal reported. Other new features include high-quality driving range mats and premium driving range golf balls, renovated grass tees, updated heaters for the driving range and LED lighting. All the enhancements were geared toward making Family Golf a top of line practice facility that can be used year-round, Betz said.

“Everybody in St. Louis is kind of conditioned to put the golf clubs down when it gets cold, but not here,” he said. “We like to say ‘there’s no offseason at Family Golf.’ We are a year-round facility offering St. Louis’ golf community the opportunity to practice.”

During the renovations, Family Golf has seen significant growth, the Business Journal reported. Betz said the facility in 2018 more than doubled its revenue, compared with the previous owner. Revenue was up 20% in 2019 and 36% year over year in 2020, Betz said declining to share specific revenue figures.

That growth, and Family Golf’s newly opened clubhouse, comes as golf’s popularity has increased in recent months, the Business Journal reported. In November, rounds of golf played were up 57% year over year nationally, according to the National Golf Foundation. The four months prior to November all had increases of at least 20% compared with the year-ago period, according to the foundation’s data.

“I think part of that is Covid and that golf was one of the few activities people could engage in during the pandemic and you can do so safely and social distance,” Betz said.

At Family Golf, Betz told the Business Journal rounds played have been up more than 20% and that the facility provided more than 4,000 lessons in the past year.

Moving forward, Betz plans to continue Family Golf’s renovations by redesigning and upgrading its driving range and adding a new short game practice area, the Business Journal reported. The facility in 2020 was honored by the Golf Range Association of America for having one of the “top range renovations” nationwide.

“We are changing what practice looks like in St. Louis and the midwest with our facility and especially the pinnacle of our improvement—the new clubhouse,” said Betz.