Improve Your Golf Game in the Great Indoors

With the days getting shorter, golfers are finding it increasingly difficult to hit the course for a round or just some practice after school or work.

Though our mild climate is more conducive to year-round play than in many other areas, there's one sure way to control the weather and daylight and know that you'll have the chance to improve your game—play indoors.

That's just what you can do at Poway's Scratch Golf ... Accelerated, where in a warehouse-type building at 13000 Danielson St. (near the intersection of Scripps Poway Parkway and Community Road), junior golfers as well as adults are working on their chipping, putting and even driving every day.

To give golfers a better idea of how they can improve their play, Scratch Golf will hold an open house on Monday (Oct. 24) from 4:30 to 7 p.m., with a tour of the facilities, refreshments, and putting, closest to the pin and long-drive contests.

Long drives in a warehouse, you ask? With software and simulators taking you out to some of the finest courses in the world, it's no problem. Students hit their drives into a screen showing a fairway or green, and the "Scratch Skills Handicap System" converts the shot into digital data that keeps track of how well that golfer is progressing.

Head professional Jake Wiese and his staff also keep tabs on a student's chipping and putting, which are done on and around the facility's practice greens, with a bunker in the middle for perfecting those tough-for-most sand shots.

Sessions last 75 minutes, and from 3 to 6:45 p.m. Monday through Friday, junior skills clinics take over the facility. Much like in martial arts with its belt system, the young students progress and earn a different color golf cap to signify their skills level. Scratch Golf stresses the fact that it's providing golf training, not lessons.

Most mornings, adults are accommodated, with skills classes every day but Tuesday and Wednesday, with several ladies classes on Monday. After the junior golfers finish up at 6:45 p.m., there's a ladies beginners class on Tuesday and an adult skills session on Wednesday.

What many working golfers may appreciate are the 45-minute sessions in Scratch's Lunch Program, beginning at 11:30, 12:15 and 1 Monday through Friday. Junior leagues and men's leagues hold competitions throughout the week.

Memberships are available for one, three, six or 12 months, with one, two or three training sessions per week. The 75-minute sessions generally range from $30 to $45 each depending on the number of sessions desired and whether payment is made in advance or charged monthly. Sessions can be reschedules from the usual appointed time with advance notice.

Scratch Golf has partnerships with Callaway Golf, Odyssey Golf and Poway's Maderas Golf Club among others, allowing students discounts on equipment and greens fees. Training classes are limited to a foursome in most cases, and equipment is provided for those who haven't reached the level where they want to invest in their own clubs just yet.

To find out more about Scratch Golf ... Accelerated, visit the Scratch website, call 858-248-8144, or plan on attending Monday evening's open house.