Commuters on Interstate 380 may be wondering about the mammoth, 200-foot-tall netting that shoots into the sky outside the city of Tiffin, and the neon colors that emit from its enclosure at night.

The industrial netting belongs to PinSeekers, a hybrid-golf entertainment facility with locations in Tiffin and DeForest, Wisconsin. Residents can fulfill their curiosity at what lies beyond the fence on Nov. 17, the facility’s opening date.

Austin Palm, co-owner of PinSeekers, said he wanted to bring affordable entertainment back to his home state of Iowa at “local prices.”

“It really was just the vision of trying to bring something back home that everybody where I grew up would enjoy and want to play,” he said.

Not just for summer

Although PinSeekers is opening at the advent of winter, the 49,022 square-foot facility is designed to accommodate fun-seekers year-round. The indoor facility can accommodate over 1,000 people and features six mini bowling lanes, three multi-sport simulators, pool tables, shuffleboards, 56 all-weather heated golf suites, 200-person event spaces, two bars and a full-service restaurant. Outdoors is an 18-hole putting golf course, a turfed driving range that features Toptracer technology, 10 Smart Target Greens that illuminate upon impact, and patios with fire pits.

Toptracer technology allows players to track the distance, height and ball speed of their shot by using image sensors, captured by cameras fitted above the bays.

PinSeekers hasn’t opened yet, and already it’s receiving calls for reservations for corporate events and birthday parties.

“We’re going to be extremely busy, probably for the first year-and-a-half,” said Rachel Luke, Human Resources Specialist with PinSeekers.

COVID Collaborators 

The idea to open PinSeekers was birthed out of the 2020 pandemic. Mr. Palm and his co-founder, Ryan Ranguette – who are also next-door neighbors – collaborated on an idea that Mr. Ranguette had had after working at a similar facility in the past. Being sequestered at home and in each other’s “bubble” gave them time to dream up the logistics and features that they wanted in an indoor golf facility.  

“We thought about everything from when I grew up here – like what I would want if I was going to hang out somewhere. I just thought of everything I’d want to do and just try to put it all into one facility,” said Mr. Palm.

“It’s going to be something where every age group, every demographic is going to have something to be able to do.”

The location of Tiffin seemed like the perfect fit. Calling it an up-and-coming “mecca for businesses,” Mr. Palm said Tiffin’s location along the 380 Corridor from Iowa City to Cedar Rapids meant traffic from several locations, and its visibility and location along the interstate meant easy access for customers. 

PinSeekers joins Park Place

PinSeekers sits on a 12 acre lot at Park Place in Tiffin, a development-in-process that spans more than 450 acres and will ultimately consist of single-family residential homes, mixed-use developments, multifamily buildings, and junior box and big box commercial spaces.

The $275 million, ambitious development broke ground in 2017 and is the creation of the Ders Group, which is spearheaded by Scott Andersen and his sons, Alex and Nick.

PinSeekers is the latest to join other Park Place businesses – iGym, Coffee Emporium, Casa Tequila, Silver Token Realty and 380 Nails are located in the New York Building, and Farmers State Bank is across the street from PinSeekers. The Palms Theaters & IMAX Family Entertainment Center has plans to build there as well.

Innovative Production Solutions constructed the PinSeekers facility, which was designed by Schroeder & Hart Architects from Milwaukee.

Mr. Palm and Mr. Ranguette have tentative plans to build a PinSeekers in the Green Bay area of Wisconsin next, but won’t stop there.

“Our vision is to build seven-to-10 of these over the next five to six years,” he said.

PinSeekers is located at 1515 Anderson Place and will be open Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m.-11 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m.-midnight, and Sunday 9 a.m.-10 p.m.