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2008 BEST NEW RANGE
All in One
Palatine, Ill.
Bob DiMeo imagined a place where state of the art fitness and golf could exist together in complete harmony, and in January 2008, that vision came to life.
Golf Nation, a 25,000-square-foot facility in Palatine, Ill., is actually a golf smorgasbord with filling entrees and tasty side dishes golfers love to indulge in—including a fitness center, driving range, pro shop, and restaurant and bar—all served on just three acres.
Featuring a reduced-size range and year-long profit centers, Golf Nation is a unique facility and Golf Range Times’ Best New Range Award winner for 2008.
“I am passionate about golf and I am passionate about working out,” says DiMeo, owner of Golf Nation.
This passion of DiMeo’s helped nurture and grow the seed for his dream facility, first planted during a family vacation to Florida. Due to an injury to his Achilles tendon, DiMeo was unable to play a full round on a course, and so instead he visited a few small pitch-and-putt facilities to satisfy his golf craving.
“I thought to myself, ‘Boy, this is kind of fun. There should be something like this up in Chicago,’” DiMeo says. “I started thinking about golf and fitness, and combining the two.”
An institutional investment consultant by day, DiMeo says his job’s traveling requirements helped him further develop the idea. DiMeo has visited his fair share of golf courses and facilities over the past five years, which came in handy when he began to design Golf Nation.
“This is my brainchild,” he says. “I conceived the idea, my wife is very active in the business, and Tim runs the place.”
Tim Wuhrman, general manager of Golf Nation, studied business in college and met DiMeo at a country club where he was working shortly after graduation.
“Bob DiMeo brought me on a couple of years ago,” Wuhrman explains. “He had the vision [for Golf Nation] about five years ago, and we kept going from there.” After being offered the general manager position, Wuhrman quit his job at the time, which was a bit of a risk. “My wife thought I was crazy,” he says. “Bob and I bought the building and went from there.”
Read about this award-winning facility and find out how
Dimeo and Wuhrman turned a vision into reality.
Enter the
2009 Competition
Now in its 13th year, the Best New Range contest highlights excellence in facility design and development. The criteria for selecting the winner are based on overall facility design and layout and take into account the range’s aesthetics, directional orientation, landing area and tee line, customer safety and convenience, weather/climate controls, creativity and functionality.
<< click here for an entry form >>
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