The Grand Naniloa Hotel’s driving range is about to look very different in the evening when it becomes home to Hilo’s newest nighttime attraction — Cosmic Drive.
Cosmic Drive is a golf game in which participants hit glowing balls at targets on a driving range.
“It’s a whole light show experience,” said co-founder Ben Murimoto. “We have lights down range that’s kind of like a disco. We have music, a bar.”
“You’ll drive down Banyan Drive and just see all the lights.”
Cosmic Drive functions similarly to Top Golf, a driving range activity that has become popular on the mainland in recent years. A driving range is filled with large targets, and players receive points for hitting them — with farther targets yielding more points. It’s almost like an arcade game on a driving range.
However, Cosmic Drive has applied its own twist to the concept.
“What separates us from something like a Top Golf is that the targets talk back to you,” Murimoto said. “They actually make noise when you hit them. In Oahu, we have a gorilla that we put behind one of our targets. When you hit the target, it roars with no delay — so it’s instant gratification. If you’re sitting at the range, you get this roar behind you when you hit the gorilla target and the target lights up.”
Though Cosmic Drive originated on Oahu, its founders are looking to make the Naniloa the first permanent Cosmic Drive installation. Cosmic Drive started as a weekly operation at the Olomana Golf Club in leeward Oahu.
“It was sold out every weekend for six months,” Murimoto said.
“On Oahu, we have guys who have come out four, five times already. It’s not expensive; you come out with your friends. It fits into Hilo town where it’s not something that’s an expensive night out.”
When Olomana closed for repairs, Murimoto and his crew moved Cosmic Drive to the Hawaii Prince driving range in Ewa Beach.
“They liked it so much that they built us storage to put all of our stuff in,” Murimoto said. “We currently run it once a month, but it’s gonna move up to twice a month come May. All the guys at Hawaii Prince love it — they’re trying to make it more permanent.”
Murimoto and his Big Island partners — including co-founder and longtime Hilo resident Keenan Kaleo — are currently making the necessary improvements to the Naniloa driving range in order to make the range aesthetically pleasing, safe and fun. This includes renovating its restrooms, as well as installing range nets, a bar, seating, 14 driving bays and purchasing a ball washer and ball picker.
Murimoto said that in addition to the bar, food trucks will often set up near the range.
“The response has just been crazy good,” Murimoto said. “Hilo’s been looking for something like this — for the kids, the adults, it seems like there’s not much to do after eight o’ clock out here. The hotel’s excited.”
Cosmic Drive’s soft opening is slated for Thursday, Feb. 29 — and it will be open on Fridays and Saturdays from then on. Sundays will be reserved for private parties — and Murimoto said that Cosmic Drive will eventually be open on Thursdays.
Opening times will adjust seasonally based on when the sun sets. Initially, Cosmic Drive will be open from 6:45 p.m. to 10 p.m. In the summer, it will open earlier.
Each driving bay costs roughly $55 an hour, can host up to five people, and includes 75 glowing golf balls. Refills of glow balls will be available for an extra cost. Clubs also are provided for participants.
More details can be found at cosmicdrivehi.com.
Representatives of the Naniloa declined to comment.
Email Connor Whitt at cwhitt@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
