The Swing Bays is working with development firm Fransmart to grow the golf simulator brand nationwide.
Whether they’re getting serious about their golf game or taking the family out for a fun activity, customers are showing interest in golf simulators—and franchises are drawing a big slice of the action. Touting top-of-the-line technology, franchisors such as The Back Nine Golf, The Swing Bays and TruGolf Links have big expansion plans in mind.
To determine when golf became popular as a general entertainment activity—rather than one traditionally reserved for country club members—one might look to Topgolf.
The brand experience allows customers to rent a bay for themselves and friends where they can play golf-based games while ordering food and drinks from the bar. Instead of remaining quiet and polite like on a traditional golf course, players can be rowdy and party like they would at a bowling alley or dive bar.
In 2020, Callaway Golf announced plans to buy a majority stake in the experiential brand—which does not franchise domestically—at a $2 billion valuation. The deal closed in March 2021.
Less than four years after changing its name to Topgolf Callaway Brands, the publicly traded golf manufacturing company in January sold a 60 percent stake in Topgolf to private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners in a transaction valued at $1.1 billion. (Callaway is also changing its name back.)
Net revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2025, was down 1.4 percent year over year, according to the company’s third-quarter earnings report. From 2023 to 2024, Topgolf sales were up 2.7 percent, but there were integration challenges and the departure of top management led to problems executing on the broader vision.
Since the pandemic, golf simulator franchises—some with similar business models to Topgolf—have popped up left and right. But if 100-unit Topgolf can lose nearly $1 billion in valuation in a span of just a few years, what does that mean for the little guys?
Heads of the brands Golf Crypt, The Swing Bays, TruGolf Links and The Back Nine Golf have faith in their franchises to stand the test of time and make golf more accessible year-round for the general public. Whether as brands aimed mainly at attracting customers who want to level up their game or those with heavier bar and food revenue goals, these franchises are looking to grow nationwide and even internationally.
Ben Litalien, chief development officer for TrueGolf Links, says the brand’s ability to render local courses makes it popular with avid golfers.
TruGolf Links caters to different types of clienteles with its two models. TruGolf Links Executive, which has one location in Illinois, doesn’t have a food and beverage component and is meant for golfers looking to practice their backswings. Traditional units, meanwhile, lean into the entertainment aspect with their food and beverage offering, which Chief Development Officer Ben Litalien called “a high-end sports bar, meaning it has to be good enough for my wife to want to go there to eat.”
He continued, “We’ve curated a menu that is attractive to golfers that want to go and work on their game and take their kids or grandkids.”
TruGolf Links has the advantage of name recognition. TruGolf has been operating since 1983 as an indoor golf software company. The brand has more than 10,000 courses ready to go, so golfers can practice playing at pretty much any course. For those who want to play something not offered, though, TruGolf’s technology can render a course in minutes.
“If your local course, let me say, is ABC Municipal, you can literally type that in and in about 10 minutes it will render that course,” Litalien said. “You can play your local course—which is the No. 1 most-requested course … because you want to go out and beat your buddies on Saturday.”
The Swing Bays caters to serious golfers with its PGA instructors and life-like simulations. But, like TruGolf Links, it holds the interest of the novices or just-for-fun players with its food and drink.
Founder Dustin Miller is a PGA teaching professional and decided to create something to bring golf to the masses.
“I wanted to create a one-stop shop for everybody, a place where you could be a serious golfer,” Miller said. “But I also wanted to create something that the recreational person could come into and still feel unintimidated.”
The initial investment cost for a franchise ranges from $246,000 to $999,000. It ended 2025 with one location, which grossed more than $1 million from July 2024 through June 2025. The brand signed several multi-unit agreements in markets such as Raleigh, North Carolina, Birmingham, Alabama, and Denver, and expects to open two units this year.
All day, all night
Outsiders might be surprised to learn how many people enjoy playing golf when most of us are asleep. But Frank Drago founded the company Golf Crypt with plans to offer around-the-clock golf simulator access in Florida.
Customers at The Back Nine Golf can check out a golf simulator bay any time of day, any day of the week. The brand has 150 locations and is opening, on average, 20 units a month.
Golf Crypt wants its simulators to be as close to the real deal as possible, so it uses Trackman technology—the same tech that PGA golfers practice with, Drago said.
As an unmanned model, Golf Crypt doesn’t require employees and Drago said franchisees don’t need to quit their 9-to-5s to operate the business. Each location requires one to three bays.
“The profit margins are pretty attractive. With all the franchise fees loaded in, you’re probably looking at, once you’re fully up and running, mid-40 percent profit margins,” Drago said.
The brand, with two locations in Florida, is selling franchises primarily in the southern United States.
“We are talking to some folks up north, but what we have found in the Southeast and the Southwest is there’s not as much seasonality to this indoor golf business as there is maybe up north,” he said.
In the northern climates, indoor golf is more attractive in the winter, but golfers relish the summer weather and play outside. In the South, where temperatures are warmer year-round, customer traffic is more consistent through the seasons, Drago said.
Marketing the brand as a life-like experience is what sells memberships. “This isn’t ‘Field of Dreams.’ Open it, and they don’t necessarily just roll in the door,” Drago said.
Frank Drago created Golf Crypt to offer golf simulator access to customers at any time of day—or night.
The Back Nine Golf is another brand that’s made a name for itself with its 24/7 tee times and fully automated business model that’s helping to fuel faster growth.
“Any of our locations that are nearby an engineering plant or a hospital, we get a ton of golfers, especially from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m., and then the early birds that come in at like 4 or 5,” founder and CEO Wil Bangerter said. “It’s pretty much around the clock.”
The Back Nine has about 150 locations and, on average, is opening 20 units per month. In addition to its U.S. expansion, it’s selling units in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.
Bangerter founded Back Nine in 2020 in St. George, Utah, with the goal of providing technology that felt like the real thing.
He knew that if he wanted to grow Back Nine, it needed its own software to simplify scheduling and operations. It took about eight months to lock down the basic framework, he said.
“By the time your ball hits the screen at 200 miles per hour, it knows exactly where it’s hitting on the screen and it goes right into the virtual world instantly, and it just feels so real,” he said. “We’ll never replace outdoor golf. We all love it. … Once you have access to the data as a golfer, you cannot live without it.”
The cost to open a Back Nine franchise ranges from $307,050 to $688,500, according to the brand’s FDD. Of the 45 locations analyzed in the FDD, average monthly revenue last year was $19,770 for a unit open more than six months. That’s up about 33 percent from $13,252 the year prior.
Facilities are between 2,000 and 4,000 square feet. Back Nine can open several locations in a metropolitan area, Bangerter said, in comparison to businesses like Topgolf or traditional golf courses that require a ton of open space. Franchisees must have three to six simulators per location.
What’s next?
Two more brands in expansion mode are X-Golf and Five Iron Golf. X-Golf has nearly doubled its footprint since 2023 and ended last year with 133 locations in the U.S.
Dustin Miller
Backed by private equity firm North Castle Partners since 2020, Five Iron attracted a $30 million minority investment from Callaway Golf in late 2021, and in 2024 Danny Meyer’s Enlightened Hospitality Investments put $20 million into the brand. It has 38 domestic locations to go along with a handful of units in Australia, India, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and London.
Related: Five Iron Amps Up Entertainment Value to Stand Out in UAE
Despite so many golf simulation franchises, Miller said he’s not fazed by the competition. “I feel so highly about our brand,” he said.
Looking forward, the Swing Bays team is already operating “like we have 100 stores,” Miller said. “That’s what I want. … Hopefully in a short amount of time people see The Swing Bays brand and the logo. It’s gonna become a household name.”
Last year, the golf simulator industry overall was valued at about $1.9 billion, according to Fortune Business Insights. By 2034, the research company projects a market value of $4.7 billion.
Perhaps the dedicated golfers will drive the industry forward, compared to the less-serious players that were once driving traffic at Topgolf and got it to that $2 billion valuation. Or maybe those in it purely for entertainment will continue to enjoy golf nights in much smaller venues. Either way, there are franchises ready with their own spin.