Atomic greens: New golf venue focuses on high-tech games, local beer

Atomic Golf hopes to draw in customers with its high-tech play style and local-friendly feel when the golf entertainment venue opens this year.

Eager to tap into the ever-growing experiential entertainment industry in Las Vegas, the roughly $75 million project, created by Flite Golf and Entertainment, will have 103 hitting bays and eight putting bays in its four stories. The space is expected to be complete with LED screens and high-tech offerings incorporated in the game and the food and drink experience.

No opening date has been set yet, but the operators expect to open the venue before the Formula One Grand Prix comes to Las Vegas in November.

Atomic Golf and The Strat gave the Las Vegas Review-Journal a look at the construction progress of the site on Main Street near Sahara Avenue. Here are a few takeaways:

Tech-focused

Putting bays on the first floor will use projection mapping technology for unique interaction with the games in those bays. Each bay is set up so that others in the party can easily watch and sit nearby.

“It’s not like mini golf, where I’m on one hole and my friend is at another, and we never get to interact,” said Ashley Vaughn, national director of sales.

Each bay is equipped with a monitor that mirrors games for a different golfing experience. New games are being developed for the Atomic Golf site, Vaughn said.

“They combine competition and video game intrigue,” she said.

Bars and meeting space give alternative entertainment

The venue will have six bars, including some in-bar gaming coordinated through The Strat. The site will have a featured tap room with 15 locally brewed beers. Facilities director Derek Austin said the beer bar will also have commissioned murals from local artists. The goal is to have the bar venues reflect the neighborhood.

“This room should scream Vegas local and Arts District south,” Austin said.

Meeting space will include two luxury suites on the third and fourth floors that can fit 20 people. The suites will have access to a private bathroom, elevator and bar.

Other meeting space is available throughout the property. The property’s rooms can be rented out to accommodate parties, corporate events and more. But Vaughn said she hopes that people get even more creative than that — like a fantasy football league hosting its draft in a meeting room before playing at the hitting bays.

Layout features great view

Golden Entertainment, owners of The Strat, contributed about seven acres of land directly north of the resort-casino. The golf venue will be accessible via a Main Street entrance or by parking at The Strat and walking through the casino.

At the center of the building will be the Astrocade, where guests on any level can overlook a massive TV screen and what’s going on in the first floor. As the “heartbeat of the operation,” it can be used for special events or act as a flow space, Vaughn said.

Hitting bays will face west toward the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area. The property considered the impact of the setting sun and wind patterns, but decided the mountain scene was more important.

“When you see the view from the fourth floor, you’ll see why we chose it,” Austin said.

McKenna Ross is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Contact her at mross@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mckenna_ross_ on Twitter.