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Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Ponte Vedra Beach

Real swings on computer courses

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When Jeff Sproat was offered a chance to play a golf simulator a few years ago, he wasn’t interested. He was a real golfer who played real courses. What interest could he have in a simulation of the game he loved?

Then, he tried it.

“I ended up spending about three hours in there. I got hooked,” Sproat recalled.

Golfer's Grail owner Jeff Sproat works in Tampa, but he can take on a driving range, or even Augusta, anytime he wants. Golfers have 66 options on the simulators, plus putt-putt courses and other games. (Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)
Golfer’s Grail owner Jeff Sproat works in Tampa, but he can take on a driving range, or even Augusta, anytime he wants. Golfers have 66 options on the simulators, plus putt-putt courses and other games.
(Michael Murillo/Staff Photo)

Years later, it’s become more than his hobby. It’s his business.

Sproat is the owner of Golfer’s Grail Indoor Golf & Tap, 10019 N. Dale Mabry Highway, Suite 100, in Tampa.

With four simulators, he’s spent the past couple of years encouraging people who are skeptical of the concept, like he was, to give it a try.

There are many aspects of the indoor golfing simulation that mirror the outside game, Sproat said.

Customers bring their own golf clubs and use them for different shots, just like they would on any course. They use real balls. They swing as hard as they would outside. And they can play just about any game you’d find at a golf club or tournament, including driving contests, closest-to-the-pin competitions and even target golf games. And the game is scored the same way, too.

Still, there are important differences, he said.

Golfers are competing on simulations of real courses and some imagined ones — 66 in all, not counting five putt-putt courses and a program that lets players smash windows for fun.

When they hit the ball, it actually makes contact with a screen onto which the course is projected. While they’re playing, LED sensors track the club swing, and audible sensors track the ball. That data provides an estimate of the accuracy and power of the shot, and the results are displayed by showing the ball either landing in a preferred spot, or somewhere else that reveals flaws in the previous swing.

The simulator is accurate enough to make golfers better at the real game, said Sproat, who plays with a single-digit handicap. Since practice is what improves technique, the simulator allows players to get in extra rounds.

Golfer’s Grail isn’t designed to replace anyone’s outside golfing experience. It’s supposed to supplement those rounds and allow players to get in the practice time they might not get otherwise.

“Every golfer wants to be better. They know that they can be better,” Sproat said. “For the avid golfer, it’s more golf.”

It’s actually more golf with a few enhancements. If a player wants a mulligan, or just to replay a hole over and over, it can be done with a couple of buttons on the console. A round of golf that takes four or five hours outside can be done in less than an hour inside. There’s no dress code, they sell beer and wine a few steps from where players swing, and food can be delivered from neighboring restaurants.

And while you might only spend time with the people in your foursome during your round outside, everyone can be part of a gallery of sorts inside, socializing and watching all the participants.

“In here you can play at whatever pace you’re comfortable,” Sproat said. “The clubhouse and the golf course are together.”

The golf courses draw a lot of attention from customers, Sproat said.

The owner himself got in some real golf at Northdale last week, then took a few swings at the challenging 12th hole at the Augusta National Golf Club (home of the Masters Golf Tournament) on the simulator that afternoon.

It’s a day of golf that couldn’t be accomplished in real life, but pretty simple to manage with a program that stays loyal to the courses they’re modeled after.

Sproat has played a little from every course on the simulator, and said they’re accurate to the real-life counterparts he’s tried out in real life.

The most popular ones are Augusta, TPC Sawgrass in Ponta Vedra Beach and the Pebble Beach Golf Links in California.

And while the players aren’t actually at those locations, they won’t get any closer to the courses without airfare, time off from work and a hard-to-get tee time.

“It is the next best thing, because you actually are hitting the ball. You’re playing the shots. When it’s uphill, you have to hit it harder; when it’s downhill, you have to account for that,” Sproat said.

While regular golfers are a big part of his customer base, he particularly enjoys bringing the game to new people.

Sproat has been hitting the links for nearly 50 years, but he knows that many people who try out the simulators don’t play at all. Fathers with younger children can spend time trying out courses together, and disabled players can do things that wouldn’t be practical on a real course.

Golfer’s Grail works with veterans groups, and that sometimes includes amputees being able to get in a round or two.

Expanding the game to those who might not get to enjoy it otherwise is a big plus for a guy who’s been playing since he was 8 years old.

“I love it. That’s probably the best feeling you can have,” Sproat said.

An hour of golf at Golfer’s Grail costs between $27 and $37, depending on the time and day. That cost is split among all players.

The venue is available for individuals, groups and charity tournaments. For more information, call (813) 969-2100 or visit GolfersGrail.net.

Published June 24, 2015

Moore tops $100,000, makes district race most expensive

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With just days before voters will choose just one of three candidates to represent the Republican ticket in the Pasco County Commission District 2 race, Mike Moore will clearly take the fundraising title after a final push this week put him over $100,000.

Mike Moore is a Wesley Chapel-based entrepreneur that says he can bring his business experience to the Pasco County Commission. He faces a primary against Ken Littlefield and Bob Robertson in an effort to succeed the retiring Pat Mulieri on the commission. (Courtesy of Mike Moore)
Mike Moore

Combined with the efforts of fellow Republicans Ken Littlefield and Bob Robertson, the three candidates have raised $134,348, already making it the most expensive District 2 race in the past decade. It tops the $121,111 raised in the 2006 election, and the $116,669 collected in 2010 — both won by Pat Mulieri. And those numbers included the general election.

Moore goes into the primary election day with just under $103,400, picking up $4,400 between Aug. 9 and Aug. 21. That includes $1,000 from the political action committee HCA West Florida Division, and $1,500 from Orsi Development and Springfield Homes in New Port Richey.

In all, Moore has spent just under $100,000 of that, with less than 45 percent of those funds — or $44,376 — staying inside Pasco County. Moore spent nearly $50,000 on advertising, all but nearly $3,000 of it, however, with a Ponte Vedra Beach company called Majority Strategies Inc. He also spent more than $15,000 — or about 15 percent of his money — with an Odessa company called Capital Consulting.

Robertson picked up a little more than $2,000 in his final two weeks of campaigning ahead of the primary, bringing his total to just under $15,600. That includes $500 each from Dobies Funeral Homes in Holiday, as well as listed Tampa property manager Lloyd Riales and also Eric Gilbertson, a volunteer director with the Samaritan Project of Zephyrhills.

Bob Robertson has stayed closely involved in the community, and wants to continue being the public advocate Pat Mulieri was on the board. In fact, the Zephyrhills financial analyst earned an endorsement from Mulieri heading into the Aug. 26 primary. (Courtesy of Bob Robertson)
Bob Robertson

Robertson has spent $14,270 of those funds, half of it locally. However, business cards and signs, among other things, were purchased outside the county — and sometimes the state — including $921 to a Texas company called Signs on the Cheap, and just under $2,300 to Delivery Signs of Orlando. Robertson, however, did do social media and other work locally with the Wesley Chapel company The Busy Buddy to the tune of $1,155.

When it came to advertising, Robertson spent far less than Moore, just $233, or less than 2 percent of his total expenditures.

Despite Friday being the deadline for final primary campaign reports, Littlefield did not file his financials by 6 p.m. with the Pasco County supervisor of elections office. Before that, he had raised $10,450 — about half of what he did four years before in his primary against Mulieri. That includes about $7,600 Littlefield put in of his own money, and not including about $9,000 in a listed in-kind donation on his own behalf for what he said was printing and postage.

Ken Littlefield, during his years as a state lawmaker, giving a speech on the floor of the state House in Tallahassee. Littlefield wants to continue serving government at the Pasco County Commission. (Courtesy of Florida House)
Ken Littlefield

Littlefield spent $10,300, with 57 percent — or $4,967 — taking place locally. Most of his non-local spending was done through Gulf Coast Imprinting in Largo.

After being asked by The Laker/Lutz News about why there was a delay in filing, Littlefield said via email that he was just getting home from work, and planned to file “after dinner.”

Republican voters will have a chance to choose from among the three candidates Aug. 26. The winner will face Democrat Erika Remsberg in the general election.