By NICK STEWART
Mat Vachon may have started his golfing career later than most, but as the 26-year-old owner of the Northern Swing Golf Centre, he’s certainly wasted no time starting his life as an entrepreneur.
With three high-tech golfing simulators, a putting green, a club repair space as well as a retail outlet and bar service area, the four-employee-business has thrived since its March 2006 opening. Things have gone so well, in fact, that Vachon recently purchased a brand-new 7,200-square-foot building on Wilson Avenue, where he is currently relocating.
With the new Shopper’s Drug Mart nearby, Vachon expects a much higher degree of visibility, and an even healthier bottom line.
“It’s an eye-opener to see how there are a lot more casual players interested than you might think,” he says.
“It’s not just for the die-hard players, though they seem to appreciate the business as well.”
The idea for the business first took root nearly nine years ago, when at the age of 17, Vachon picked up his first golf club. Most young golfers start the sport at an earlier age, making him somewhat of a late bloomer. However, it didn’t take him long to fall in love with the sport, leading him to study recreation and leisure services at London’s Fanshawe College, followed by 16 months at California’s Professional Golfers Career College.
Following a summer spent as a club professional’s assistant at Timmins’ Spruce Needles Golf & Country Club, Vachon was approached by a friend about helping to develop a business plan for bringing a series of golf simulators to the city. However, Vachon’s vision was larger in scope than anticipated, causing his friend to back off.
Rather than abandon the idea, Vachon instead ran with it. Using the entrepreneurial knowledge he gained from his studies and his summer experiences, he forged ahead and established the Northern Swing Golf Centre.
Rather than pitch his business as the standard model of “a bar with golf centre features,” Vachon says his business is about golf first and foremost.
The jewels of the centre’s crown are three simulators, where players tee off real balls into a 10-by-15-foot screen.
Complex sensors detect the ball’s trajectory and speed to allow users to gauge their swing and determine what needs improving. Patrons can also use the equipment to play simulated versions of famous courses. A computer calculates the distance the ball will travel and communicates the information to a projector, which in turn displays the ball’s movement within a virtual course.
This is the most popular aspect of Northern Swing, Vachon says, as it provides people with an opportunity to play a round or two of golf at a time when fairways are blanketed with snow.
“You’ve got the guys who go down to northern Michigan every spring to play a round at Boyne, and now they’re able to virtually do the same thing here in Timmins. This kind of thing is proving to be more and more popular as a corporate outing, and I’d eventually like to set up leagues, not unlike a bowling alley.”
This business model isn’t without its challenges, he says, as the summer months find most golfers out on actual fairways, duffing their ball into real ponds.
However, business in the off-season is helped along by his in-house training program, where provides lessons in between instructional tours to Hearst, Kapuskasing, Chapleau, Smooth Rock Falls and his hometown of Iroquois Falls.
He hopes to be able to leverage this experience to create his own training academy, where he hopes to mentor younger golfers and provide them specific instruction on how to prepare for professional competition.
“When we were younger, there weren’t any chances for us to learn about creating portfolios, or preparing for tournaments, and that’s something I’d definitely like to be able to offer. There are a lot of good, young golfers in the area though it can be tough to sway them because most good golfers are also good hockey players. This is Northern Ontario, so most people tend to lean towards hockey.”
While such challenges may potentially complicate his plans for the future, Vachon says Timmins is the place to be. This holds true, he says, even though the nature of the business and the abundance of courses throughout North America would have allowed him to set up shop nearly anywhere.
“I’m a Northerner, born and bred. This is my home, and people know me around here from the time I’ve spent in the various local courses. I love it here, and I can’t imagine being anywhere else.”
