After decades of unsuccessful attempts to build a golf course on Mercer Island, you can finally hit the links on the island for the first time. Instead of a sprawling outdoor course, the Mercer Island Golf Club is a private indoor club where you can play some of the world’s finest courses on state-of-the-art golf simulator machines.

Located in downtown Mercer Island just south of I-90 on 76th Avenue, the club offers members the opportunity to play on legendary courses like Bandon Dunes, Bethpage Black and Pebble Beach from the comfort of a luxurious indoor setting. Mercer Island Golf Club uses cutting-edge GCHawk simulators to provide exact replicas of these famous courses while ensuring that you never have to cancel a round due to poor weather.

In addition to simulating a round of golf at your favorite course, the simulators at Mercer Island Golf Club will provide video capture of each swing, allowing even the most obsessive tinkerer to analyze their form. You can even save the recordings (and the related data analysis) to the cloud and access them anytime, from anywhere. These machines also allow you to compete with other golfers from around the globe in challenges and tournaments on the same courses.

This is not the first time golf courses have been proposed on Mercer Island. Over the years, three different proposals were submitted toward turning a portion of Pioneer Park into a golf course (in 1969, 1976 and 1990). All were defeated. In 1992, the Mercer Island Open Space Conservancy Trust was formed and effectively protected Pioneer Park from development in perpetuity. Nearly 30 years later, the wait is finally over for golf-loving Mercer Island residents.

The Mercer Island Golf Club is a private facility with limited membership, which the club says will “ensure no overcrowding.” The club uses a 24/7 keyless entry system that gives members the ability to enter the club at any time of day, using a convenient smartphone app. Golfers will need to make reservations to access the simulators, another measure that makes sure you won’t have to worry about crowds. The club also includes a comfortable lounge area complete with seating, drinks and snacks, where golfers can relax and kick back after playing a round.

Golf simulators aren’t the only attraction at the Mercer Island Golf Club. It is also the new home of the Seattle Golf Fitness gym, an organization that aims to help people improve their golf games by reducing the likelihood of injury and improving players’ power and consistency. This program includes a detailed evaluation and a personally tailored training regimen to ensure each golfer develops and maintains the right balance of core strength and flexibility.

The transformation from idea to reality has been a quick one for Mercer Island Golf Club. The club was founded in June by Daniel Marinello, who is a third-generation Mercer Island resident. Frustrated by a lack of options for golfers on the island — and with the COVID-19 pandemic grinding travel down to a halt — Marinello acted on his idea quickly.

He saw potential in a space that used to be a law office, and just four months later, Mercer Island Golf Club was open for business. When the club first opened its doors on October 1st, it had 15 founding members, giving Marinello a quick return on his investment. According to the club’s website (www.mercerislandgolf.com), Marinello plans to expand the club “in square footage, features and amenities” as demand increases.

Through a press release, Marinello says that he first became aware of how much demand Mercer Island has for golf back when he played on the Mercer Island High School golf team. While the island never was able to find the space for an outdoor course, Mercer Island Golf Club hopes to make up for that by providing golfers with an indoor simulation that feels as close as possible to the real thing.

“My goal with the MIGC is to provide golfers with a club that feels like an extension of their home,” said Marinello.

For more information regarding Mercer Island Golf Club, visit their website at www.mercerislandgolf.com. There, you can view images of the club’s interior, as well as schedule a risk-free 30-minute tour and simulator demo.

It took more than 50 years — and the facility may not be what people originally envisioned for an outdoor course a few miles south in Pioneer Park — but golfers on Mercer Island finally have a place to call their own.

Images courtesy Mercer Island Golf Club