The Foreland Club to open new Route 24 location
July 10, 2026
Dustin Smale and his partners are putting the final touches on The Foreland Club’s new location on Route 24 just west of Route 1. After some more bits and bobs are completed, they expect to open by the end of July.
The 24/7/365 golf simulator provider began operations just over three years ago, across the street from Bear Trap Dunes. “The location down in Ocean View has been going very well. Ever since then we’ve been reached out by a bunch of people asking to do investments. A couple of friends, [local golf pros] Chris Krueger and Ricky McCall [, Jr.] are going to be part of this venture as well as Ryan Diehl who’s down at Ocean View,” Smale said.
He considers the area between Rehoboth and Lewes underserved, based in part on a zip code analysis. Smale estimated about 20% of his current customers made the trek from Lewes/Rehoboth to Ocean View. He expects most of them to shift to the new and closer location.
“There aren’t many places to practice,” he said. “You have to go up to The Rookery or you have to go out to Baywood. There aren’t too many driving ranges to be able to practice and play, and not only that, it is just convenient.”
Most recently the location at 18806 John J. Williams Highway was a real estate office. “The space became available,” Smale said. “We came in, and it was basically a blank shell like the last place was. We figured we could fit 5 bays in here and that would be a good number,” he said.
Smale continued, “The next course of action is making sure that we have everything in the ceiling where it needs to be. We need to get blocking for the projector, blocking for the Trackman iO units and then we need to run an HDMI from the projectors down to the PC locations and clean up the ceiling. From there the screens go in, the sidewall protection, the turf is already finished. I just need to cut in the hitting mats, mount the hardware, and then bring in some furniture.”
Standard membership provides two-hour session access to four bays, furnished with ceiling-mounted Trackman iO units. Smale said the devices are in wide use for commercial operations and can read ball spin “right off the face.” The four main bay dimensions are 16 feet wide, 10 feet tall, and 17 feet deep, a foot closer to the screen than Ocean View.
The VIP unit will be a bit wider, Smale said. It features the floor-based Trackman 4s used at Ocean View. Compared to iO systems, Trackman 4s offer more swing and putting analytics. A three-camera setup also provides enhanced swing analysis.
The VIP space is set apart as a private bay, with what Smale called “a lounge-type feel.” Members at this level can book four concurrent hours.
Executive level members gain limited access to the VIP space and can book sessions for three concurrent hours.
Smale said one lesson learned from Ocean View came from observing customer use. “The lounge areas are not really used. Of all the groups we get in maybe one out of every 100 will actually utilize that space. So, we’re going to have a smaller lounge area in the front for people to wait for bay time. Most of the time when people come in, they’re just coming straight to the bays.”
“The majority of the fittings are going to stay down in Ocean View,” Smale said. “We’ll probably have a select few [fitting] carts and demo clubs here.”
Cape Region contractors prepared the new space. These included Frank McDermott Contracting, Cape Electric, and Jason Ellingsworth for plumbing.
For more information about membership options, pricing, and the access process, go to theforelandclub.com.
Clothing Our Kids tournament registration now open
Clothing Our Kids is a local nonprofit whose original mission helped clothe school children in Sussex County elementary schools. Its first fundraiser tournament over ten years ago, with participants primarily residents of The Peninsula Golf & Country Club in Millsboro, raised about $12,000.
I first wrote about COK in 2015, when the second tournament raised over $30,000.
COK took off in a big way since then, in dollars raised and the scope of those it helps. The organization expanded service to children enrolled in Head Start and in all grades of Sussex County schools.
The annual fall golf tournament remains the primary fundraiser, but COK has also received significant grants and donations from non-golf-related sources. The combined support helped COI provide 44,000 children with over 270,000 clothing items since it began.
Registration is now open for COK’s 12th Annual Golf Tournament, scheduled for Oct. 19 at The Peninsula. The $250 entry fee per golfer includes lunch, dinner, on-course beverages, gifts, prize opportunities, and an award ceremony – and the chance to play one of the Cape Region’s premier golf courses.
Go to the annual golf tournament page at clothingourkids.org to register. Contact Bob Blouin at bblouin@clothingourkids.org or 302-500-3209 to discuss sponsorship opportunities.
The tournament usually sells out, so if you’re interested don’t delay.