DALTON, Ga. — Dalton resident Roger Melendrez says he fell in love with ax throwing while recuperating from an injury and decided he’d bring the sport back home.

Melendrez serves in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve.

“I was deployed to Central America and injured my right wrist,” he said. “I ended up flying out, coming back to (Camp Lejeune) North Carolina. I had some buddies there who were injured as well. They heard about an ax-throwing place nearby. They asked me to go check it out, and I’m like ‘My right wrist is broken.’ But I went with them and threw with my left hand. We really enjoyed it and started going every weekend. I got pretty good with my left hand. But after going through some physical therapy and getting some strength back in my right wrist I started throwing with my right hand and really got good.”

Melendrez now owns and operates Big’s Axe Throwing in The Mill and Crown Garden, 825 Chattanooga Ave.

“A lot of people come here for The Mill experience as a whole,” he said. “We have some people come just to throw axes. But the majority of people come here to eat at one of the restaurants, shop at some of the shops and then come here to throw axes.”

Harper Carnes, project manager for The Mill, said she was excited when Melendrez approached them, looking to lease space for an ax-throwing business.

“We really want The Mill to be a destination, a one-stop shop for date night or for a day with the kids,” she said. “We hope that people will come here and have dinner and then come over here for a while, then have dessert. This is something unique to Dalton, and that’s what we wanted to bring to The Mill.”

Melendrez says people can reserve lanes.

“We do birthday parties, office parties,” he said. 

When people come into Big’s Axe Throwing, they first sign a waiver, and if they haven’t come in before they are given a demonstration on safety and basic ax throwing. It’s basically like darts, only with axes and a larger target.

Finally, they are given a choice of axes of different sizes and weights to throw.

Melendrez says so far most of the people coming in just want to throw for fun. But he said the World Axe Throwing League sanctions tournaments up to a world championship.

“I’m looking at creating a local league here for throwers who really want to compete,” he said.

Big’s Axe Throwing is open Monday through Friday from 5 to 10 p.m., Saturday from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. A 30-minute session is $15 per person. An hour session is $20 per person. The business can be found on Facebook and Instagram.

For more information, call (706) 529-4514 or email bigsaxethrowing@yahoo.com.