If you are looking for something fun to do with your family, take them to Dulles Golf Center & Sports Park. There is something for everyone to enjoy. Not only do they have a driving range, they also offer slow and fast speed softball and baseball batting cages, Lighthouse Island themed miniature golf, beach volleyball, a basketball shooting court, picnic pavilions and Rocky Mountain Mining Company, where children can pan for semi-precious gemstones in the custom-made sluice.
Batting Cages at Dulles Golf Center & Sports Park
My boys (ages 10 and 8) and I started our outing at Dulles Golf Center & Sports Park bright and early on Sunday
morning. They open at 9am so we were ready to hit some balls at the batting cages before it got too warm & busy. You have to buy tokens in the golf pro shop. Each token is 10 balls so we bought 12 tokens and the boys split them for 6 rounds of 10 balls. They choose the medium pitch machine.
It’s great that Dulles Golf Center offers 4 different speed batting machines. Kids 6+, 8+ & 10+ are marked clearly on each cage before entering. We brought our own bats and helmets. Dulles Golf Center does have bats and helmets you can borrow. You MUST wear a helmet while in a batting cage.
After the batting cages we decided to play a round of Lighthouse Island miniature golf. The 18-hole course was well maintained and challenging. I did manage to get one hole-in-one!
We also learned about some lighthouses in the United States as we made our way around the course. The decorations were lighthouse painted like the real lighthouse with information signs on each lighthouse giving the name, location, when it was built and how tall it is. What parent doesn’t love a little education while playing!
Miniature Golf Game
When our miniature golf game was over there was only one thing left to do. Pan for semi-precious gemstones! The boys wanted to do this activity first, but I knew that it was a good activity to end with because there is no time limit unlike running out of tokens for batting and finishing the 18-hole mini golf course. The boys each got at 3 lb. bag ($7/each) of sand from the golf pro shop. We headed toward the Rocky Cove Mining Company sluice. Each boy poured a portion of their sand bag into a screen bottom box and dipped in into the sluice.
They were excited at how many gemstones they got! Dulles Golf Center & Sporting Park provides an identification card so the children can find the names of their gemstones. The boys really enjoyed this activity and I had to pull them away from playing in the water. It’s a very unique activity that children of all ages seem to enjoy.
We would highly recommend Dulles Golf Center & Sport Park to Our Kids members. The staff was friendly, the whole facility was well maintained and it great working order. All the equipment provided was in good shape. All-in-all we had a wonderful family outing on a beautiful spring morning in Northern Virginia!
Things To Know Before You Go
- Be sure to call to see if they batting cages are open the day you plan to go. If it’s too cold or windy they do not open them.
- Drinks, ice cream and snacks are available for purchase in the pro shop.
- Reservations are not needed for the batting cages. It’s first come first serve.
- Birthday Party Packages are offered. Choose from The Mini Golfer (ages 3 and up) which includes a Two Hour Party Pavilion, 1 Personal Party , Unlimited Miniature Golf per Child, Chips & Soft Drinks for $175 (up to 9 children; $11.00 each additional child). OR choose The Double Header (ages 7 and up) which includes a Two Hour Party Pavilion, 1 Personal Party Attendant, Unlimited Miniature Golf per Child, Unlimited Batting Cage Tokens per Child, Chips & Soft Drinks for $200 (up to 9 children; $16.00 each additional child).
Photos Courtesy Dulles Golf website.
