Honest Review of Iowa’s New PinSeekers Golf Entertainment Facility
Golfing entertainment facilities have grown tremendously in the past 5 years.
Whether you're taking the kids to a new indoor glow-in-the-dark mini golf course or you're visiting a driving range that is open year-round, facilities like PinSeekers have done wonders to grow the game of golf.
According to the PGA Tour, more Americans are golfing than ever before and these entertainment facilities are a huge part of that. One of the best parts about Iowa's new PinSeekers location is you don't have to be good or even care about golf to have an absolute blast!
In November of 2022, it was announced that a golf entertainment facility was coming to eastern Iowa. Construction on the new PinSeekers began in December 2022, and the facility was open for business in November 2023. The range is a golfers paradise that consists of 56 bays, that hold 1-6 people.
After 5 months of constantly asking my wife and friends to go check it out, we finally found a weekend that worked. It also just so happened to be one of the best spring weekends we've seen, as far as weather goes, in eastern Iowa. It's kind of weird how that works, isn't it...I suppose I don't blame them for not wanting to go in January or February.
Review
To be fair, I love playing golf. I would have fun hitting plastic golf balls in my backyard. For me, PinSeekers was like the ultimate golfing playground. Myself, my wife, and 4 other friends enjoyed 2 hours at the driving range.
There were 3 of us who golf fairly regularly, my wife who started golfing 2 years ago, and 2 others who have hardly played in their lives. We had a wide range of skill sets and everyone had a great time. For example, one of the easiest games to play is to hit your ball at the targets that are set out on the range and collect points.
Here's the scoreboard after the very first game we played
I ended up scoring the most points to bring home the victory. Here is how the second game turned out...
Not only did my wife, who is a brand new golfer, beat everyone, she also smoked my first-round score by over 100 points! Way to go Kori!
Whether you are just learning, have played 100 rounds, or have never picked up a club in your life, you can still have fun trying to collect points. There are closer targets for beginners to aim for or experienced golfers to work on their short game and still have the joy of collecting points and participating in the game. The further targets can result in a lot more points if you hit them in the middle, which can be tough if you're just learning.
One of the most exciting parts of the range is the technology that helps you keep track of your shots.
The driving range will share how far your ball went, how high it carried, your swing speed, etc. The technology is pretty incredible and for average to good golfers, it can show you things about your swing that you've likely never seen before.
If you think mini golf would be more your pace or the kids might enjoy a few rounds of 'duckpin' bowling, you surely don't have to spend all of or any of your time at the driving range portion of the facility. PinSeekers is climate-controlled and can be accessed year-round. They have a full-service bar and food menu as well, so if you aren't that into golf, you can still enjoy an afternoon/evening just eating and/or drinking.
PinSeekers has servers that will come and check on you but if you choose, you can order from your phone whenever you'd like, so you don't even have to wait for a server to walk around to your bay. Our service was awesome and we never were left waiting for someone to show up, so this wasn't an issue for our group at all.
For our group, it was the perfect day and we're already making plans to go again.
Bad News
This wouldn't be a full review if I didn't share the 1 negative that some people could experience and that is the clubs. PinSeekers does recommend you bring your own clubs. They do have some clubs in each bay but there is a fairly minimal selection. If you want to use a wide range of clubs or switch it up every time it's your turn, and you don't have your own clubs, you're options are limited.
I can't be 100% sure this is true but one of the reasons for this is possibly due to theft. One of the friends who was at the range with us is a member of PinSeekers and he said that when the range first opened they had plenty of clubs for people to use. Sadly, people began stealing them which has affected the amount of clubs the range has. If this is true, it's pretty pathetic a few bad apples have to ruin it for everyone else.
If you have golf clubs, this won't be an issue for you at all. Bring them in and enjoy every club in your bag. If you don't have a set of clubs, you can surely use the ones they have available, your selection will just be limited.
The weather was far too nice to spend much time inside the bar area so I wasn't able to capture any photos inside but the bar/restaurant area is huge. The next time I go back, I want to go when it's dark so I can experience the bright lights and enjoy some 'night golfing.'
For golfing nuts or for anyone who wants to just do something different, eastern Iowa is lucky to have this facility within driving distance! With warm weather finally arriving, there's no better time to get outside and enjoy a day at the driving range.
LOOK: Was 2023 The Hottest Summer On Record?
Gallery Credit: Meg Dowdy
LOOK: Best counties to retire to in Iowa
Gallery Credit: Stacker