Indoor miniature golf course named Stroke now open in Plaza Midwood

“We’re most excited about creating a country club environment without the country club price for a fully inclusive space,” said Ashleigh Gadd, who owns Stroke with her husband, Scott. The couple also created Axe Club.

Golf course: Inside and to the right, you’ll find Stroke’s 9-hole putt-putt course. It costs $10 for an annual membership, and that includes one round of golf. Every round after is $10. There are two ways to play each hole — a technical way and an easy way (good for kids or horrible golfers.) That way, you can customize your mini-golf experience. The Gadds worked with fabrication company 8Lincoln30 to design the space from scratch.

Food: “Our menu of small bites was created by Fresh Eats Catering and was designed to replicate a Masters Tournament dining experience, meaning easy but delicious foods for walking the green,” Gadd said. Stroke’s nine-item menu includes spinach and artichoke dip, pickled vegetables, pimento cheese sandwich, club sandwich, roast beef panini, and three speciality hot dogs. Order from a tablet in the back to the left of the bar, and then you’ll receive a text when your food is ready.

Booze: Stroke’s full bar includes nine signature craft cocktails, including the Tipsy Arnold – Method & Standard vodka, sweet tea, lemon juice, and Angostura bitters ($12). The lounge also has beer on draft and wine by the glass.

Hours: During its soft opening, Stroke is open from 6-9 p.m. $10 tickets can be purchased in advance here (and those include a free T-shirt, too!). Starting on Saturday, January 18, Stroke will be open its normal hours: 4 p.m. to midnight Wednesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to midnight on Saturday and Sunday (closed Monday and Tuesday). The exact address is 1318 Pecan Avenue, Suite 101.

Why it matters: These days, people want to do more than just drink when they go to a bar or brewery. A number of spots in Charlotte have recently opened that specialize in activities like duckpin bowling, ax throwing, sports simulators, and arcade games.

Queens Park Social opened in Lower South End in 2017 with bowling and shuffleboard. Pinhouse, which has duckpin bowling, opened last summer in Plaza Midwood, and Pins Mechanical, which has duckpin bowling and arcade games, opened in the fall in South End.

Pins is so popular that it generates lines out the door just to get inside.

Two other spots that have sports simulators, TopGolf Swing Suite in Uptown and Free Will Craft & Vine in NoDa, opened last year, too.

Fun fact: Putt-putt was invented in North Carolina in the early 20th century. A putting-only course called Thistle Dhu (pronounced “this’ll do”) opened in 1916 in Pinehurst, according to a USA Today story. In 1954, the Putt-Putt corporation was founded in Fayetteville, about an hour southeast of Pinehurst.

Okay, here’s a quick look around Stroke.