Wehrle golf dome in Clarence to reopen in fall

“A lot of people missed it, for sure,” said The Dome owner Caleb Huck of his Clarence recreational facility that was closed after sustaining major damage in the December 2022 blizzard. It’s set to re-open later this year.

The Dome indoor driving range on Wehrle Drive in Clarence is on its way to reopen in the fall.

The Dome has been closed since it was damaged in the December blizzard that pummeled Western New York. Roughly a quarter of the fabric of the inflatable dome was ripped in the storm.

The owners of The Dome, previously known as the Wehrle Golf Dome, decided to forgo repairing the damage to the dome, and opted to replace it instead.

It has been a “lengthy process” to get to this point, The Dome owner Caleb Huck said, but the materials for the new dome were delivered in July and crews are doing prep work to the site.

Arizon, the same Missouri company that made the dome shell installed in 2016 when the facility was renovated, manufactured the replacement dome.

Materials for the Wehrle golf dome are seen on laying on the golf surface on Monday.

Workers will begin laying down the fabric panels that make up the dome at the end of this week or early next week, Huck said. That will take about two weeks.

Then, the dome will be ready to inflate.

The dome is inflated using an air handling unit, which is a large blower that pulls air from outside the dome and blows it inside. It also circulates the air inside the dome. It takes only a couple of hours to inflate, Huck said.

After the dome is up, work still will be needed inside, such as laying new flooring and bringing in new equipment for the bar.

While he did not give an exact date, Huck anticipates The Dome will reopen by early fall.

“A lot of people are very excited to have it open,” Huck said. “A lot of people missed it, for sure.”

Once The Dome reopens, golfers will be able to enjoy some of their favorite features – such as the two-story driving range stalls and Toptracer virtual golf. The Golf Headquarters pro shop and the Woods to Wedges custom-fitting and club repair store have remained open throughout the closure.

But there will be some new features as well.

The fabric of the new dome is more opaque than the previous one, so the owners decided to put a large skylight in the center of the dome to let sunlight in during the day, Huck said.

A new restaurant, Two Nines Kitchen and Bar, will open at The Dome in early September. It will be a casual, sports bar-type restaurant with an American menu featuring burgers, sandwiches, salads, pizza and wings, said Justin Bingel, who is operating the restaurant with his brother Robert Bingel.

The brothers own Yolo Restaurant and Lounge on Transit Road in East Amherst.

Drink options will include local beers on tap, craft cocktails and beer towers, Justin Bingel said.

Golfers will be able to order food and drinks in the restaurant, from the bar inside the dome and even from their driving range bays, Bingel said.

Bingel said providing great service and hospitality is the restaurant’s goal.

“One of our main priorities is that you’re being taken care of, whether its your pitcher being filled or your dishes being cleared,” Bingel said. “That’s one of our main goals, is just service being there.”

In their first extensive comments since the devastating storm, the owners of The Dome on Wehrle Drive in Clarence said they have decided to replace the dome's skin.

The restaurant is hiring for all positions, including cooks, servers, hosts and bartenders.

The Dome is one of two indoor golf domes in Western New York.

The Paddock Chevrolet Golf Dome in the Town of Tonawanda was also damaged in the December blizzard, but it was repaired and reinflated in February.

“We’re just really excited to get it back open,” Huck said of The Dome. “We’re excited for the new restaurant. It’s going to be great.”

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