Golden Rueckert created Ironwood Golf Sim and Sports Bar in Longmont to build the sort of community he loved being a part of.
As an avid golfer and a member of the local Fox Hill Club, he was ready to move in a new direction after he wound down a business producing spreadsheets and crunching data in the student loan market. He started thinking about the things he enjoyed.
“It was just time for something new, something fun, something where people get excited and that changes every day,” he said. He looked at the off-season at the club, when golfing, swimming and gathering with other members goes dormant. “When I was thinking about doing something like this, it’d be so great to replicate that communal feel, that engagement with people beyond Fox Hill, especially in the winter months.”
He thought about the level of service at some of the places he’s been able to visit as a golfer — Pebble Beach in California, Bandon Dunes in Oregon, the Broadmoor in Colorado Springs — and wanted to offer that in a different setting.
“The level of service at those places, it just makes you feel good. It makes you feel special. And if I could encapsulate everything I want Ironwood to be, I want it to be a place where you come and you feel special, feel connected,” he said.
“I love to play golf and one part that I love is all the trappings of the game,” he continued. “Trying to improve, trying to play your best, trying to play with your friends, expanding your social network, getting to know more people. I think it’s so much fun when people get introduced to the game in here and then slowly improve to where they enjoy it more.”
A key part of the Ironwood experience is the bank of golf simulators along one wall. There is league play Monday through Thursday during the winter, with each team’s pennant displayed on a wall in the bar to track the standings, and a trophy for the league winner at the end of the year.
“That was the night you got together with the same group of people, played golf, you played every other team. In doing that and spending all that time with people, friendships have been made, business deals have been consummated, swing tips exchanged, social events organized,” Rueckert said. “People went from being strangers to, after six, seven weeks, becoming friends to where I can’t split groups up now. They want to keep playing with the same people.”
Members also get their own 17-ounce Ironwood mug, which hangs behind the bar and has become a talking point for other customers.
The public can reserve time on the simulators through Ironwood’s website or step in when space is available. Rueckert said some league members coordinate tee times, while others might pop in and play 18 holes at Pebble Beach in less than an hour.
Other elements that Rueckert has pulled in are a nod to his Chicago roots. There are jerseys on the wall, Chicago teams playing on TV and a bottle of Malört on the shelf. He moved to Longmont a decade ago with no reliable way to watch his beloved Bears and Cubs, and he wants to help fill that gap for other Windy City transplants.
“We’re a Chicago sports bar, so we’ll play Cubs games. We do have Sunday Ticket through DirecTV, so we’re gonna play all the Bears games. We had a Bears draft party here,” he said. “That just goes to our communal aspirations too. There are 10, 12, 14 people I know that want to come and watch Bears games because it’s a nice little taste of being back home.”
Broncos games get airtime as well, he added, along with the Rapids and other Colorado teams. He’s also designated Ironwood as a Liverpool bar; they opened early for matches last season and are looking forward to the Premier League starting up again in mid-August.
“The Premier League fans show out and turn up — they’re out here at 7 a.m. We’ve got the coffee going and it’s really fun. It’s a great way to start your day.”
He keeps the calendar full and focused on whatever is happening at the time, from a Shiner beer special when the Cowboys and Texans played on Monday Night Football last year to a Belmont Stakes watch party this summer. Guinness co-sponsored a St. Patrick’s Day party that featured a big spread of Irish food, Premier League games and giveaways, and they held a luau with a pig roast in June.
“If there’s a big sporting event, it’s playing here. Odds are there might be something special going on around it,” he said.
He’s working to offer something for everyone, not just sports fans. Some nights feature music bingo, trivia, classic Super Nintendo games on the big simulator screens, board games, Ladies Night on Tuesdays, and Family Movie Night.
The simulators are good for more than golf. Rueckert said they have a variety of games, including carnival darts, soccer penalty kicks and zombie dodgeball (“which kids love”).
They also serve an Ironwood Lager from Longmont brewery Grossen Bart and rent the space out for parties or corporate events. Rueckert often works with the vendors at the nearby Parkway Food Hall for catering and is getting a POS system set up so that his customers can order from any of the food hall restaurants and have the food run over to Ironwood, offering him “all the benefits of a kitchen, without a kitchen.”
“My job, as I see it, is to connect with as many people in Longmont, to create as many cool events as we can,” Rueckert said. “We’re trying to make the place where you come and be a part of something and be around like-minded people, because I don’t think it’s enough to say, ‘We’re open, come on in.’”