Jamestown, NY Outdoor Activities

Named one of America’s top 100 driving ranges by Golf Range Magazine in 2011, Broadway Driving Range & Miniature Golf invites golfers to launch towering drives under covered hitting bays toward a target field that stretches more than 350 yards. Golfers who favor a natural feel can hack through a bucket of balls at the range’s all-grass hitting areas; synthetic hitting mats cater to refined sand wedges that consider divots uncouth. Laid-back clubbers can practice pendulous putts at the complex’s miniature-golf course, where players circle around a barn built in 1932 through a farm-themed circuit of 18 miniature fairways featuring antique farm tools. Broadway Driving Range can cool down clients with soft-serve custard from Green Acres Ice Cream.

The dedicated teaching professionals at Village Glen Tennis Club oversee a wide variety of programs for adults and juniors of all skill levels, earning the club recognition as a Top 50 Tennis Welcome Center of 2007 from the U.S. Tennis Association. This honor followed on the heels of a major renovation of the club’s facilities in 2006 by a new management team, who modernized the six hard and eight clay courts and brought in new nets instead of pealing white picket fences. Today, players can take up the game through a series of classes that help them progress alongside players with similar abilities or hone specific strokes through drills designed to isolate and improve their technique. Players excited to show off a shiny new forehand or a pitch-perfect grunt can do so through the club’s adult leagues or socials.

A Golden Griffin emblem presides over Canisius College Athletics’ 17 sports teams, which traverse grass, water, and hard court in search of victory. As part of the NCAA Division I’s Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), Canisius’s athletes face off against other East Coast schools including Marist College, Niagara University, and Loyola University Maryland. From the stands, a sea of blue and gold cheers on the men’s basketball, hockey, and lacrosse teams, the women’s soccer, softball, and volleyball teams, and the adjunct professors’ annual soapbox derby.

A fleet of segways ferries tour takers to scenic outposts in downtown Houston and along the historic bayou during four tours, seven days per week. Guides lead groups of up to eight riders in snapping sunset pictures during the Twilight Bayou tour and spout off historic anecdotes during the Houston History tour. In addition to tours of the city and scenery, friendly guides can travel with a brigade of segways to a client's home or office to teach friends, families, and coworkers how to navigate the two-wheeled steeds more effectively than a renowned segway whisperer.

With two decades of racecar driving under his belt, Mr. Uli Bieri sought a means to safely share motorsports with other enthusiasts. In 1997, he found it in the form of Cayuga Dragway Park, a former airstrip built in 1955. He purchased the land, and over the years added a 3-kilometre road course that could be reconfigured for drivers of different skill levels and extensive noise-reduction berms. He constructed the tracks with a strong focus on safety, keeping the ground flat and providing ample runoff area. In 2001, he rechristened the two tracks Toronto Motorsports Park, providing a venue for amateur racers to compete, practice, and engage in instructional programs.

Today the dual stretches of pavement serve both education and entertainment for the motorsports community, regularly holding massive events featuring professionally modified vehicles and legendary drivers. Amateurs still get plenty of track time to try out new vehicles with the Test & Tune Program and race custom rides in the Bracket Series.

After spending hours on the faces of outdoor boulders and overhangs, the crew at Niagara Climbing Center brings back inspiration as a souvenir. With toughened fingers and memories of these natural rock formations, they return to their indoor facility to lay climbing routes on 6,000 square feet of vertical terrain. The gym's walls reach up to 20 feet above the ground and their features include bulges and slopes to help climbers prepare for real rocks or real trophy rooms of big-game rock hunters.