Aaron Asedo doesn’t exactly have the standard golf pro training. Yes, he was a college golfer, but he also developed his artistic chops at the renowned Savannah College of Art and Design at the same time—and developed a line of custom furniture after he finished school.
When Asedo started thinking about how to grow his golf-instruction business beyond the hours he was spending on the range at elite New Jersey clubs like Knickerbocker and Mountain Ridge, his vision naturally looked different than tacking on a few early evening lessons. “Design has always been a big part of my life, so I wanted to figure out a way to blend my two passions,” says Asedo, a Golf Digest Best Young and Best-in-State teacher. “Being a player and in the club environment for 15 years and having that design background, I thought I would be able to create an environment where people would want to come and spend the day.”
Florham Park Golf Club was born in an upscale New Jersey shopping plaza 35 miles west of Manhattan. Asedo supervised every aspect of the construction and designed the interior himself, creating an industrial-modern space that contains eight simulator bays, treatment rooms for stretching and massage, plunge pool and infrared sauna, locker facilities and a clubfitting operation.
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After locating the spot—a former lower-level restaurant storage area—in early 2023, Asedo spent 10 months on the build from raw studs and bare concrete floors. “I’d teach a couple of lessons, then came back here to make sure everything was going right,” he says. “If some material needed to be cut, I was doing it.” His bet? That members of nearby clubs like Baltusrol would be interested in a year-round practice space with cutting-edge equipment—and no dress code. They would mix with former public-course players who would join for indoor practice and Florham Park’s access to member days at clubs throughout New Jersey. He sold more than 50 of the $399-per-month founders’ memberships within the first month of launch in November, and the club does a brisk trade in one-off outings and events. “It’s the subtle things that turn out to be selling points for a place like this,” says Asedo, who got backing from several deep-pocketed students as early investors. “Everything from having hitting bays with quality turf where you can use a real tee to simulators that really stimulate junior players to want to pick up a club and swing for an extended period of time. We’re offering a modernized golf experience.”
Even Asedo’s food-and-beverage operation has a modern flair. Instead of building out a full kitchen, he built partnerships with a handful of popular local restaurants and installed a dedicated order kiosk in the club. Players wanting a bite at the turn during a round at virtual St. Andrews can touch a screen and have a hot chicken sandwich from Hangry Joe’s or a cheesesteak from Tony Boy’s delivered in minutes.
The concept has proven so popular—on a given night, you might see a member of the New York Jets, who train in Florham Park, hitting balls in the next bay—that Asedo has plans to expand in New Jersey and beyond. “I love the community-building aspect of this,” says Asedo. “You see people come in and join leagues and make friends and expand their circles. It grows the game outside the building and beyond a course. That’s exciting for me.”
It’s all part of the design.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
