Courtesy Paul Post
By Paul Post
With the click of a switch Mike Gerarde can take people from cold, wintry Glens Falls to beautiful Pebble Beach Golf Course in sunny California.
You can almost taste and smell salty ocean mist as waves pound the shore around the iconic seventh hole.
It’s all possible thanks to the high-tech, colorful simulators at Gerarde’s new business, Hometown Golf and Social, which occupies a former Trustco branch office at the top of Glen Street hill, across from Harding Mazzotti Arena.
Patrons can choose from one of 85 courses. Like Pebble Beach, some are among the most difficult in the country and host major events such as The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass, the Phoenix Open at Scottsdale or Bethpage where the Ryder Cup was held last September.
Or customers can play local links such as Hiland, Glens Falls Country Club and The Sagamore.
It’s quite a venture for Gerarde, who never played golf competitively in high school or college, but is now one of the area’s most accomplished teaching pros.
A Queensbury High School and Syracuse University alum, he discovered a knack for identifying and correcting problems in the games of people he played with. “I started giving tips, suggest they consider doing this or that and you’d see some pretty good improvement,” Gerarde said.
Friends encouraged him to take this ability more seriously and before long he obtained U.S. Golf Teaches Federation certification and launched PSG Golf, an indoor facility at 615 Maple Avenue in Saratoga Springs. PSG are the initials of his late father, who indirectly made Gerarde’s golf future possible.
His parents owned Queensbury-based KEENA PEO Services, a payroll management and human resources consulting firm, which had a corporate membership at Glens Falls Country Club when he was growing up.
“So I played a lot of golf,” Gerarde said, smiling.
Based on the success of PSG Golf, which opened in 2022, he decided to start a similar venture in Glens Falls. The building, at 100 Glen Street, is owned by Peter Hoffman, whom Gerarde leases from.
Renovating the former bank office took months of hard work in preparation for opening this past November. Teller counters and offices had to be ripped out, ceilings taken down to make room for the tall, 15-foot-wide simulators, and a small kitchen and bar area were installed.
State-of-the-art simulators help players improve considerably. For example, force plates in the floor force detect the exact percentage of weight on each foot and weight transfer when swinging. Cameras, some with face-on views, let people see what they might be doing wrong.
“If someone says they can’t stop slicing, we can identify that pretty quick, give them drills that normally work and see improvement pretty quick,” Gerarde said. “A lot of times people come in and just want their overall game to get better.”
Although similar, the business models at PSG Golf in Saratoga and Hometown Golf and Social in Glens Falls are also quite different.
PSG, which has a small chipping and putting area, is primarily for members who are given a key fob and have 24-hour access to the facility, allowing them to come in whenever they want, practice things and get a lesson (one per week) from one of the site’s four certified teachers.
“Each year we knock down the hours we’re open to the public,” Gerarde said. “We’re headed toward making it a members-only facility. But for now we are open on weekends for the public to just come in and play.”
Hometown Golf and Social is more entertainment-oriented. In addition to golf, simulators can be switched over to a variety of children’s games such as baseball, soccer and cornhole, or a birthday party-type program as well.
The bar and kitchen are bigger than in Saratoga, too.
Gerarde’s cousin, Lizzie Milligan, and his girlfriend, Morgan Flatley, serve up golf-themed menu items such as Augusta Spread, and BLT Jefferson and Fisher Club named for Jefferson Park and Fisher’s Island golf clubs, respectively.
“We do lessons here, but we also host kids parties and at night we turn the music up and play a little golf,” Gerarde said.
Hometown Golf and Social is open 5-10 p.m. Monday and Tuesday; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday; and 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday.