On the eve of its 28-year anniversary, the Outback Golf Park in Pocatello, Idaho, remains a key community fixture with decades of memories made on its lush grounds and mini-golf holes.
The popular putt-putt attraction and driving range has remained one of the Gate City’s best kept secrets, drawing in residents and tourists with its affordability, comfortable laid-back vibe and friendly ownership.
The legacy that Outback Golf Park has created draws from its roots of being family-owned and focuses on a business model that treats its guests like lifelong friends. After years building and strengthening those relationships, many of those who have stepped on the park’s grounds have earned that title, forming bonds stronger than their golfing drive.
Outback Golf Park, which received its namesake because the owners were always “out back,” was first started in 1997 by Kathy Seibert and her husband Mike. The business was a true love affair, with the pair both still working their primary jobs for years as they laid the foundations for what would become one of Pocatello’s best date night spots and golfing attractions. September marks the 28-year anniversary of the longtime community mainstay.
“We’d come home from work and the only thing we didn’t do ourselves was the concrete, but everything else we planted and we did it,” Seibert said. “We pulled it together and it was a lot of hard work.”
Mike has remained essential to the golf park’s success, spending tireless hours installing the monstrous 16-acre sprinkler system along with constantly maintaining and repairing equipment.
Five years after opening the driving range, the couple was able to commit to the business full time and it wasn’t long before the creation of the park’s miniature golf course.
With tall water fountain features and a classic 18-hole layout, the miniature golf course embraces a vintage and overgrown aesthetic. Flower beds and other bountiful arrangements dot the landscape around the course. Beautiful trees sway in the breeze as relaxing music plays from hidden speakers. Laughter and cheers can be heard in the distance as groups of families, date night duos and floods of friends practice their putting and sink stylish shots.
Generations have spent time at the park, honing their golfing skills and dialing in their clubs with a bucket of cheap balls. Patrons have come to expect to see Seibert at the park’s clubhouse window, often bringing her presents as an expression of gratitude for all she and her family have done.
“Do you know how many people come to my window, some I’ve never seen before, and they’ll say, ‘Thank you for doing this for Pocatello,’” Seibert said. “They say that to me all the time, ‘I don’t know what we would do if (Outback) wasn’t here.’ If I’m not in the window, they all ask what happened to me.”
According to Seibert, the business has only raised prices a couple of times during its nearly 30-year span and only by a few dollars. That desire to maintain its affordability over the years remains a huge draw, with patrons able to enjoy hours of entertainment without breaking the bank.
In addition to the extremely cheap driving range and miniature golf prices, guests can enjoy sunny afternoons filled with ice cold beer, crisp soda, chips and other food fare that includes a truck serving items like hotdogs and hamburgers. Outback also provides catering for large company parties.
Outback also recently acquired a liquor license and now features a minibar area with a built-in plasma screen television in its lounge area. Seibert said one of her regulars describes the park as an oasis, playing cards with his friends and even inviting Seibert to join in games of pinochle.
From prom proposals and weekend date nights to company and private parties, customers commute from as far as Rexburg for a game of miniature golf with their friends and loved ones.
Over the years, Seibert has said she has welcomed guests from all over the region and places like Arizona, Montana, Minnesota and even as far as France.
“All we have to do is open up that gate and have some sunshine,” Seibert said. “We don’t do anything else. They just expect it.”
Outback Golf Park exemplifies what a homegrown, family-oriented business means and it never forgot that fact. Even as the city grew and drifted through economic uncertainty over the years, the business remained largely unchanged. While the updates it did receive are noticeable and appreciated, Outback Golf Park rests comfortably in a microcosm of time. It draws you “out back” into its rich and verdant landscape, creating memories that will endure for generations to come.
(This article first appeared in the Idaho State Journal and is used here by permission.)