Boiler Bar & Grille in Orange adds golf simulator

The Boiler Bar & Grille in Orange.

The Boiler Bar & Grille in Orange. Staff Photo/Paul Franz

Matt Bardsley in the Birdie Train Golf Lounge simulator located at the Boiler Bar & Grille in Orange.

Matt Bardsley in the Birdie Train Golf Lounge simulator located at the Boiler Bar & Grille in Orange. Staff Photo/Paul Franz

Matt Bardsley drives a ball at the simulator screen at the Birdie Train Golf Lounge located at the Boiler Bar & Grille in Orange.

Matt Bardsley drives a ball at the simulator screen at the Birdie Train Golf Lounge located at the Boiler Bar & Grille in Orange. Staff Photo/Paul Franz

The Boiler Bar & Grille in Orange.

The Boiler Bar & Grille in Orange. Staff Photo/Paul Franz

By DOMENIC POLI

Staff Writer

Published: 09-19-2024 4:04 PM

ORANGE — Hitting the links at the famous Pebble Beach will easily cost you $675, and that’s before the cart and caddie fees. But visit 245 Tully Road and you can play on the same gorgeous seaside landscape for a fraction of that.

Boiler Bar & Grille has added a golf simulator to give players of all skill levels the chance to feel like they’re teeing off on 250 of the finest courses in the world without leaving the North Quabbin region.

“Golf is one of those big escapes for me, in life,” said Matt Bardsley, whose father owns the restaurant. “And [I] just wanted to kind of create something that people can do in the winter as well.”

Bardsley was a varsity golf coach at Ralph C. Mahar Regional School until a lack of funding eliminated the program when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Bardsley picked up the game as a 14-year-old Mahar student when his doctor told him to quit football after breaking two discs in his back in a devastating hit. He took to the sport instantly and later played in college at Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire.

Bardsley opened the Birdie Train Golf Lounge in June, in what used to be a billiards and darts room at the restaurant.

“It wasn’t really getting much action, so we decided to repurpose it,” Bardsley said, adding that construction of the virtual golf bay — including walls with fireproof carpeting — took about three months. “This is one of the widest bays in New England. It’s 19 feet.”

The rental rate is $50 per hour during the week and $60 per hour on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

The simulator is made by Trackman, which Bardsley said is the gold standard of the industry. Players can use a tee or simply hit a ball off an artificial green into a large screen that uses sensors to translate the shots into the software, which tracks play with precision. The system records statistics such as shot distance, club speed, spin rate, spin axis, launch angle and ball speed. Available courses include Falmouth Country Club in Maine and St. Andrews Links in Scotland, where golf was first played about 600 years ago. There are also target games for children.

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“It’s a really good environment to learn the game of golf,” Bardsley said.

The bay also has three televisions, two putting holes and a bunker mat, a piece of fabric that can be placed on the floor to simulate a shot coming out of a sand trap.

  “What happens is because the club can go right through it, it actually responds just like a bunker. It’s amazing,” he said. “If I had sand in here, it would be destroying my screen.”

He has clubs for right-handed and left-handed players, but people are allowed to bring their own, too.

He said the bay has so far been particularly popular with beginners, as avid golfers are still playing on outdoor courses this time of year. Bardsley said he is planning a winter league that can accommodate 70 players. Admission is on a first-come, first-served basis. Anyone interested in signing up or acquiring more information can call 508-801-7386 or send an email to birdietraingolflounge@gmail.com.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-930-4120.