PGA Tour Superstore will open giant golf store in Minnetonka in the spring

As winter keeps Minnesota golfers waiting to step out onto the fairway, PGA Tour Superstore, a small chain of huge golf stores, said Friday it should have a new store open in Minnetonka just when they can head out to the course again.

The store, at 41,000 square feet, will be larger than a typical Best Buy, offer 12 interactive simulators and hitting bays as well as a putting green that is 1,500 square feet in size.

It will be the largest dedicated golf store in the Twin Cities and 26th in the PGA Tour Superstore chain, which is owned by Arthur Blank, a co-founder of Home Depot and owner of the Atlanta Falcons.

The store will occupy a space on 12380 Wayzata Blvd. that was formerly the site of a Sports Authority store.

"This is an incredible market for golf, and we believe the area is underserved for golf retail," Dick Sullivan, president of PGA Tour Superstore, said in a statement.

The company, based in Roswell, Ga., will host a job fair in early March to hire about 50 employees for the store. It has not set a precise opening date.

The store arrives in the Twin Cities a few months before the 41st Ryder Cup tournament, one of the largest events in professional golf, which will be played at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska in September.

"We are excited to bring the best experiential destination in golf retail to Twin Cities golfers during what is sure to be a banner golf season highlighted by the Ryder Cup," Sullivan said in the statement.

The PGA Tour Superstore outlet is the second mega-outlet dedicated to a single sport to arrive on the Twin Cities retail scene in recent months.

Bauer Hockey, the nation's largest maker of hockey equipment, in November opened a 24,000-square-foot superstore called Own the Moment in Bloomington. At the center of that store is a rink with real ice for shoppers to test equipment.

Ben Farniok is a University of Minnesota student on assignment for the Star Tribune.