Randy Bedard shows off a simulation of the golf course at Pebble Beach, complete with the sight and sound of ocean waves. (Richard McGuire photo)

Imagine you’re on the course at Pebble Beach Golf Links, looking out on the ocean as waves crash into the rocky shore.

Now imagine that you can experience that without leaving Osoyoos.

That’s the idea behind a new sports simulation business that Osoyoos Coyotes owner Randy Bedard is opening this month in the former Yore Movie Store location on Main Street.

“You can play 33 different golf courses right now,” says Bedard as he shows off two giant screens. “You can play courses from Pebble Beach to Banff Springs to St. Andrews – all these well-known golf courses where the pros would play. It’s a beautiful simulation.”

The business, called Coyotes Sports Simulation, offers two huge-screen simulators focusing on golf, but also offering the chance to shoot a puck past a hockey goalie or kick a ball into a soccer net while the crowd behind goes wild.

Bedard said he hopes to bring in other games such as skeet and target shooting.

Players use real golf clubs to hit a ball into the screen and the simulator calculates and shows where the ball travels and lands.

There are different synthetic surfaces to simulate hitting the ball from the green, the rough or sand.

Besides the simulators, Bedard has installed two computers at the front that offer Oculus three-dimensional virtual reality games and experiences.

Users put on a headset that covers their eyes and ears and for some games they use hand controls.

The Osoyoos Times tried a rollercoaster ride that allowed us to sit in the front car as it slowly climbed up steep inclines and then plunged down stomach-churning drops on the other side.

As you turn your head, you see a 360-degree view of what’s around you in vivid detail with realistic sound.

Bedard said the 16 games he’s starting with include experiences such as walking through a spooky house and shooting ghouls and zombies.

He thinks the Oculus games will appeal to youth, including some committed gamers who can’t afford to have the expensive devices at home.

The golf games, he said, will appeal to all ages from young to retired, all skill levels, and both men and women.

Some may be happy to practice their golf on the simulator before heading to the golf course. Others may prefer to play indoors with climate control when it’s pouring rain outside, when temperatures soar into the 40s, or in winter when the golf course is closed.

“There are some people who want to play golf and they’re a little embarrassed because they’re not that good and they don’t want to hold people up (at a golf course),” Bedard said. “Or they don’t want people to see them. You’re pretty private in here. Whether you come in on your own or with four people, this is your private simulator stall and you can be as good or bad as you want to be and improve your game.”

As Bedard shows off the idyllic mountain setting of Banff Springs, complete with chirping birds, he suggests some people may come to get a taste of famous golf courses they might never be able to play in the real world.

Beyond the simulators and virtual reality, he’s had the store’s interior completely redone with walls in lime green and black, new LED lighting and even a new duct system for better temperature control. There’s a room at the back to relax with a snack.

“It’s a bit of a costly venture,” said Bedard, who admits it’s a leap of faith, but prefers to call it, “risk and reward.”

“It’s a vision and you can either follow through and have success or fail, or always wonder what it would have been like,” he said. “I’m the kind of person who wants to see if I’m going to succeed or fail and not just think about an idea.”

It was this same attitude that led Bedard to launch the Coyotes in a town where other Junior B hockey teams had been unsuccessful. The team is now enjoying a successful eighth year.

Osoyoos is a small market for these simulators – you would otherwise have to travel to Vancouver to find one.

But Bedard hopes to draw people from other parts of the Okanagan, from over the border and from places like Keremeos and Rock Creek.

When the space became available, he grabbed it in September and has been renovating and getting the equipment fine-tuned ever since. Some people have teased him that he hasn’t opened yet because it still isn’t perfect.

“I’m a perfectionist,” he admits. “An OCD perfectionist, for sure. I want things to be as perfect as they can be.”

Bedard hopes the simulators become so popular that he attracts a stream of regular customers booking in advance.

With a background in marketing and a successful career in broadcasting and running a hockey team, Bedard hopes to put those skills to use in this venture.

“I think if you have a passion for anything and a vision and you work hard at it, I think you can make it successful,” he said.

RICHARD McGUIRE

Osoyoos Times