New golf practice facility now open for play

David Peters experienced the downward economy first hand.

After getting laid off from his job at Wells Fargo in July, he decided to go after a dream of sorts.

And Thursday, his dream came to fruition with the opening of Fore Seasons Golf Practice Center just south of Newton.

“It’s been an idea inside my head for about 10 years” Peters said, who is a co-owner with his wife Dawn. “After my parents passed away and I got the land, my wife and I discussed it and decided we weren’t getting any younger and we were both tired of working for big corporations, so we took the plunge.”

The Peters broke ground on Aug. 18, 2008. It took more than a year to get the business ready to open, but David Peters said it was well worth the wait.

“When Dawn and I talked about it originally, we were going to have a little shack that would sell balls,” David Peters said. “We just kept thinking of all these ideas we wanted to try. Pretty soon we had a clubhouse, pretty soon we had a bar, pretty soon we had heated bays. It just kept evolving.”

Outdoors, Fore Seasons has a full service lighted outdoor range with tee boxes able to accommodate 30 golfers, along with putting and chipping greens.

Inside, there is a putting and chipping green. The turf acts just like a green, with the ball able to check up on the sand infield. There are also four indoor bays to help sharpen up your woods and irons.

“We have indoor heated bays that we can use 365 days of the year, as long as there isn’t a driving snow or wind out of the east,” David Peters said. “There are heaters above you, so even if it’s 10 below outside, you should be reasonably comfortable inside.”

There also is a bar with multiple televisions to watch NFL Sunday Ticket and a banquet facility for rental use.

David Peters saw this as a great addition to the area, along with a good practice facility for his son, Nick, who is on the PCM golf team.