Massive domes planned for nine-hole golf course
By Jack McCarthy Chronicle Media — August 21, 2024![](https://chronicleillinois.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/KENDALL-082124-golf-dome-view-1-copy--300x109.jpg)
An overview of the interior of one of the proposed Megalodome Golf domes features part of a planned nine-hole golf course. (Image courtesy of village of Oswego)
It’s January and snowing and the wind chill hovers around 10 degrees.
It’s a perfect day for golf.
Or rather it will be if a proposed nine-hole, year-round indoor golf course comes to fruition following a recently unveiled four-dome project on Oswego’s far east side.
The village’s Planning and Zoning Commission may review plans at a scheduled Sept. 5 meeting, although an official agenda won’t be posted until closer to the meeting date.
The proposal by Quebec-based Megalodome Golf is reportedly linked with the planned Oswego Grand Development, a 600-unit housing and retail project.
A concept plan places the Megalodome site on a rural property on Rance Road, west of U.S. Route 30.
The Kendall County location, however, is destined for major home and retail projects and is adjacent to already developed areas in DuPage, Will and Kane counties.
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A map of the proposed Megalodome Golf site north of Rance Road and west of U.S. Route 20 in Oswego shows four domes containing 270,000 square feet of space apiece. (Image courtesy of village of Oswego)
Bertrand Quentin is listed as president-general manager and co-founder of Megalodome Golf, according to a LinkedIn profile. He also is listed as owner of Gym Premium since October 2013 as well as other businesses in Quebec and various real estate assets, including woodlands he manages.
Club & Resort Business, a Cleveland-based trade publication that covers operations and management of country clubs, resorts and similar operations, called the project “an unconventional golf experience.”
An Aug. 12 report added that the “unique concept is intended to provide a climate-controlled environment for golfers, shielding them from the elements. The complex would also feature a practice range and a clubhouse.”
Golf domes and indoor driving ranges are nothing new. In fact, there are two in the immediate area in Montgomery and Oswego.
But the proposed Megalodome would dwarf those existing facilities.
A draft illustration shows a four-dome facility with two to four-hole courses apiece under three domes and a practice facility under a fourth. Each building would have 270,000 square feet of space. A two-story clubhouse is also proposed.
By contrast, the indoor Whitetail Ridge Golf Dome just west of Orchard Road in Oswego measures approximately 70,000 square feet.
A Chicago-based law firm filed for trademarks for Megalodome Golf in June categorizing it as Entertainment Services providing indoor golf facilities and an indoor golf course.
The project has not unveiled a website, but did employ an Oswego design firm — Schoppe Design Associates — to create draft illustrations and specifics.
The Megalodome is the second major sports project proposed for Oswego in the past year.
A cricket stadium on Orchard Road was approved last fall by the Oswego Village Board, calling for eventual construction of a 24,000-seat facility.
Limited work was expected to start earlier this year, but the project reportedly is on hold awaiting review and approval by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.