Feb. 20, 2026
When cousins Josh Sneller and Alex Van Holland vacation with their wives, Courtney Sneller and Haley Van Holland, the itinerary always includes a visit to a golf simulator.
They might not have realized it then, but those visits to more than three dozen businesses were serving as a foundation for their own endeavor.
The two couples opened Backspin Golf Simulators with three bays earlier this month in a strip mall in Brandon that also holds The Gruff Plates + Pours restaurant. The choice was deliberate.
“We wanted to be next to a restaurant we can partner with,” Josh Sneller said. “It will take online orders from our customers, and they can grab their food and come back here. They can get nine holes in and go about their evening. If they’re at Gruff and have the babysitter for another hour, they can walk another 10 steps to the north and come and see if we have a simulator open. We have clubs for rent.”
Backspin Golf Simulators offers memberships for $35 a month, which includes unlimited access to book any available times during public and membership hours, among other benefits. Hours are 2 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to midnight Friday, 8 a.m. to midnight Saturday and 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday. Member hours expand to early mornings and late evenings.
The co-owners wanted a golf simulator that looks like none other.
“We built what everybody dreams of building, and that’s what we wanted to build,” Sneller said. “It’s not carpet on the walls — Austad’s laser-measured all of the panels on the walls. They were perfectly cut and ready to install. I didn’t want to see fish netting in our bays.”
The co-owners chose the largest screens on the market for the visibility of the projectors, Sneller said. The screens are 16 feet wide by 12 feet tall. The staff at Austad’s Golf told him those are the biggest screens the company has been involved in.
Epoxy floors simulate a sand trap by appearance. A coffee shop is next door to Backspin Golf, and a fireplace with seating near Backspin’s door encourages people to bring their drinks along. The business also has a clubhouse that offers cold drinks.
A loft offers a place where people can watch the golfers or wait for their tee times. The same attention to detail in the golf bays was put into the loft.
“It’s a gorgeous cable railing like you might see in an outside deck,” Sneller said. “Everyone can see what’s going on.”
Sneller and Alex Van Holland did much of the work themselves, putting in hundreds of hours. They turned a former clothing store into a golf simulator with three bays in nine weeks, Sneller said. Companies like Austad’s and Elite Electric offered excellent expertise in the planning and installation stages, he said.
Many golf simulators don’t allow golfers to have a good putting experience, but Backspin Golf’s equipment offers an accurate experience, Sneller said. Customers can choose from more than 1,200 golf courses to play, with more being added daily.
The co-owners talked with multiple other owners of golf simulators while designing their business. Using that advice, they made the bays extra wide and installed thick mats that won’t make the golfer feel as though they’re standing on concrete, Sneller said.
“All we’ve heard is ‘this is the most accurate golf simulator we’ve been on,’ Sneller said.
The third bay has special offerings for children, include Frisbee golf, basketball, cornhole and other games. That bay was deliberately designed to be wider by about 3 feet than the other two, particularly for children.
“You can be golfing in Bay 2 with a couple of friends and spouses while the kiddos can play in Bay 3,” Sneller said. “We’re not trying to be the master-of-all-trades but trying to get the stuff the community will appreciate. We built it for Brandon and the east side of Sioux Falls so they don’t have to drive 20 to 40 minutes, and they can golf year-round. I love Brandon’s golf course, and I will be out there golfing this summer, but this will allow people to enjoy golf year-around.”
The Snellers live in Brandon, while the Van Hollands reside near Sioux Center, Iowa. Sneller is a paramedic, Van Holland farms with a few thousand head of cattle, and both women work in human resources. They also will hire several people to help staff Backspin Golf.
The couples feel positive about the future.
“I think Brandon is the town for this,” Sneller said. “They want community; they want to gather together. A golfer can come in here and get the best experience.”