Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
The Fishers City Council on Monday night unanimously approved a plan for a driving range featuring a two-story hitting bay and surrounded by towering nets at Gray Eagle Golf Course in Fishers.
The city council voted 9-0 on Gray Eagle’s proposal, which includes a new clubhouse and restaurant on 38 acres at East 126th Street and Brooks School Road.
Plans call for the new clubhouse to include the two-story hitting bay and a 5,000-square-foot bar and restaurant.
Gray Eagle Golf Course is east of Brooks School Elementary and near multiple neighborhoods on the northeast side of Fishers.
The netting at the driving range would reach a maximum height of 160 feet and decrease to 50 feet. By comparison, the nets at TopGolf at East 116th Street and Interstate 69 reach 170 feet.
Nobody from the community spoke in opposition to the plan at Monday’s meeting, but the written staff report from city planners contained criticism from three nearby residents who expressed concern about the height of the nets and the potential for increased traffic in the area.
In 2017, I-Town Church sought approval to build a church on the site of Gray Eagle’s existing driving range and clubhouse. The church signed a contract with course owner RN Thompson Golf to buy the approximately 27-acre plot of land.
The church dropped the plan after complaints from residents and chose a location near the intersection of East 136th Street and Brooks School Road.
RN Thompson Golf announced in 2018 that it planned to close the golf course at the end of 2019.
However, in 2021, the owners, the Gray Eagle Homeowners Association and Carmel-based developer J.C. Hart Co. collaborated on plans to save the golf course and build a 55-and-older residential development on 21 acres of the course’s driving range.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
I’m sort of surprised that Fisher’s needs another driving range similar to Top Golf which is nearby. The south side in my opinion would make more sense. Never mind the Back 9 driving range downtown which is still fairly new.
It’s an existing driving range they’re just putting up netting to keep balls from flying onto the road or into the new 55 and over community being developed adjacent to the range.
Top golf is not a driving range nor is it used as an instructional facility.
Truckloads of building materials have been piled up in their parking lot for weeks. Doubt they would have taken delivery unless this “vote” was simply rubber stamping a pre-approved, non-publicized green light from the city to go ahead with the project.
Can you imagine living next to Top Golf? Grey Eagle residents are going to realize the deal they successfully quenched with iTown church was a far less invasive and disruptive option they should have supported.
The iTown Church deal was squelched because it likely would have put the rest of the golf course future in jeopardy and increased the risk of property values going down throughout all of Gray Eagle. It was not a better deal long-term.