Get a FREE indoor golf business plan

We've developed a 10 page business plan guide for those thinking about launching a golf simulator business. Over 1,500 visitors have downloaded our indoor golf business plan to date. Get yours and be on your way to opening up a golf center, golf simulator bar, or indoor golf facility soon.

In addition to the free golf simulator business plan, we are now including our personal financial planning spreadsheet to help you assess your financial goals.

The plan and spreadsheet are 100% free to download!

Get My Free Plan

** Check out our new indoor golf revenue calculator in the top nav under "Open a Center" **

How to start an indoor golf business

Starting an indoor golf center is a little like buying a house. You want to research the neighborhood and builder before pulling the trigger to make the purchase. In starting a golf simulator bar, you want to find out whether there is demand for your idea, how the golf center business model works, and what are some of the best practices of a successful indoor golf bar. This is where our research comes in - it helps you get a quick handle on these topics to develop an educated approach to your indoor golf business plan.

Over 500 visitors purchased our study to develop a business plan and get a handle on:

What sort of indoor golf visitor volume to expect by month of the year
The effectiveness of various marketing strategies as indicated by current indoor golf facility owners
What indoor golf center owners are charging customers to play at their facility
Key factors driving profitability for indoor golf bars
and so much more. . .

In addition to getting a good idea of how an indoor golf bar makes money, our research will help you:

Helps you get a loan by showing lender industry grounded figures on revenues
Test your assumptions on revenues and costs
Find out how many golf simulators would give you the best profit

Running a profitable indoor golf simulator bar

Yardstick Golf surveyed over 200 indoor golfers to understand their preferences and find out more about what might make their experience more enjoyable or more frequent. These insights combined with other research help us get a sense of what it takes to run a successful golf simulator bar. Think of our research as an alternative to paying to start a franchise golf center - or at least going into a franchise relationship armed with facts and figures. Instead of an additional up front cost to buy into the franchise and ongoing sharing of revenue, get a plan and be independent. Run it your way, not someone else's.

Our research will help you may more than a just a business plan. We include a startup model to allow you to test assumptions and model how they impact indoor golf profitability. Our financial plan helps you look at your finances to understand how much money you need your business to make. Our location guide and lease checklist help ensure you get the best location and lease terms for your golf business. On top of it all, we include the indoor golf player preferences study to help you understand what indoor golfers want. As you look to develop an indoor golf business plan, here are some things to keep in mind to run a profitable golf simulator business.

Location is critical to indoor golf facilities

Your potential customers often begin the journey to you by searching on something like “indoor golf near me”. We asked what is the farthest golfers would consider driving to play at an indoor golf club. Two-thirds of respondents indicated the most they would drive is 20-30 minutes to play on a golf simulator. In general, high handicap golfers are willing to drive a little farther to play indoor golf than are low handicap golfers. It does appear that one of the reasons that the low handicap golfers are not as willing to drive as far is that they play indoor golf more often. They come more often to hit a "bucket of balls" so to speak as they would at a golf driving range. They like the feedback on their swing and ball flight that the simulator provides to help them improve performance. Folks who play less frequently may be willing to drive a bit farther for the entertainment experience of a golf simulator.

There are two ways this impacts your choice of location. First, you want a location within 20 to 30 minutes from a large population of golfers. That fits their desire for a facility nearby (as mentioned in our survey). It also allows you options to look for differences in rent which is going to be one of your largest expenses in opening a golf center. Maybe a place close to golfers, but not in a high end commercial center would yield the best profit for your business.

indoor golf is entertainment

While the golf simulator is the biggest part of your golf facility, it is not the only thing that is important to your customers. Food and beverage sales are an important part of your business. In the player preferences study, it was cited one of the top items in driving repeat visits. Ensuring your guests have enough room to socialize and feel comfortable swinging the club are key. Just look at TopGolf from a space requirements perspective and you’ll get a sense of how they are emphasizing socializing as part of the entertainment experience. They have comfortable sitting areas in proximity to the hitting area. As a result, it is easy to engage in the action and socialize at the same time.

People play indoor golf because they want to have fun. That has ramifications for the systems you choose and how you set them up. Make sure your golf simulator is easy to use. In our survey, golfers wanted a system that they could use without help and had intuitive menu’s and features. If your system requires an extensive orientation, folks won't remember how to use it. You'll either be spending your time setting it up for them or they won't be coming back. It is an added burden to your staff and a risk to your golfer retention.

They also wanted systems where the golf simulator load speed and regeneration of the simulated course was fast. In general, faster golf simulators equates to more frequent play. One of the most important things cited by golfers was a good quality golf mat. In fact, a good quality mat was the second most important thing behind the simulator itself. They want it to feel real and to be a bit easier on the elbows and wrists than a hard mat on a concrete pad.

choose your golf offerings your customers want

Whether you offer lessons, merchandise, food and beverage service, club storage, memberships, leagues, or just simulator rental is up to you. As you are starting out, make an effort to connect with potential customers and find out what they would find most desirable at your golf center. You are in business and your profit will be determined by how well you are able to to satisfy your golf customer's needs. It sounds silly, but if you just offer space, balls a simulator and a golf net, customers won't find that too appealing.

Try to think about what could make your golf club unique, entertaining and rewarding without breaking the bank. Use your money wisely and invest in features and services customers are willing to pay for and return to use.

pick your simulator carefully

There are a number of really great simulators in the market today. That is great when it comes to being able to get exactly what you need, but it can become overwhelming when you begin to select the right one. Spend some time with potential customers to learn what is important to them. Spend time with the simulator companies to understand what they offer. Read our research on golf simulator features and prices. Take some time in this decision as it is one of the most critical ones you'll make. Buy one without the features your customers want and your sales will suffer. Buy one that has a lot of features you don't need and you waste money. Take your time, be thoughtful about what you need, research the brands and keep good notes.

Get to know your customers

Did you know that it costs five times as much to get a new customer as it does to retain one? Once you get a customer in your indoor golf center, do everything you can to get to know them and make sure they have a great experience. Build a database of customers even if you keep it in Excel. Note their favorite times to come, which golf courses they prefer to play, and their contact information. This can help you ensure you give them a great indoor golf experience and make them feel appreciated. You can also use this information to encourage play in your slow season. It can become part of your promotion process. If you knew the most popular course across all your customers, you could run a favorite course tournament to drive play. Encourage them to bring friends and make it worth their while. Doing a great job retaining your current customers is vital to running a profitable indoor golf center.

The flip side to this is that your customers get to know you. Think about how you feel when you really know the owner of a business. It feels special, you feel like an insider and you want to keep coming back. Taking the time to get to know your customers not only helps you serve them better, but it gets them to emotionally invest in you a bit and that is a good thing.

Weather greatly impacts indoor golf profitability

Every day you can’t play outside is a great day to own an indoor golf bar. Golf simulators get a lot more play in cold, snowy and rainy months than on clear sunny days as it is less likely that people would attempt to play on a local golf course. As such, indoor golf revenue tends to get a boost in cold and wet climates. If you are planning a facility in a climate where golfers can play year round, you’ll have to do that much more to get them to play your golf simulator. That doesn’t mean indoor golf is a bad idea in nice climates, but you will have to develop an indoor golf business plan with a great offering that competes with playing golf outside.

Your golf facility doesn’t just compete against outdoor golf

Those same customers that searched on “indoor golf near me” probably searched on “entertainment near me”, “bars near me”, “movies in my town”, etc. You get the point, many of your prospective customers are looking for things to do. They could come to your indoor golf facility or they could go to a driving range or a movie or bowling. You need to rank on searches other than "indoor golf near me". That means you need to make sure those are searches where you’ll be found. SEO or search engine optimization is a big part of being where your customers look. Get content on your website that will emphasize the entertainment aspect of your business. Take a little time to make sure your site is optimized for local search and you’ll get more customer flow.

a good online presence is critical

Getting customers to find your golf business is critical to your success. Having a good website that explains your service in an easy to understand manner is a good first step. Make sure the site is representative of your brand, speaks to your target customer and is easy to find. being easy to find involves understanding how to leverage Google Local, doing some search engine optimization on key items your customers might search goes a long way.

Your online presence is about more than just your website. It includes your email and social strategies. Get your customer's email. It is the best way to market golf events to them. Also make it easy and even encourage customers to take and post pictures having a good time at your golf facility. It helps your marketing budget and helps draw customers. Invite others to your golf club that may help you get noticed. Host realtors, host the local news crew, even leveraging key supplier relationships can help bring you customers.

Lastly, put a sign up as soon as you start any physical work on the location. Get your website up even sooner and start collecting e-mails for a grand opening notice. Every time I see a new business going up that doesn't have a sign I am baffled. New construction, new tenant attract attention and conversation. Use the opportunity to tell everyone what you are doing and they will help spread the word.

Check out a pga tour pro golf simulator setup

Gary Woodland has a great golf simulator package. He has plenty of hitting area, a high quality golf mat, high end simulator software that allows him to do a lot of game improvement work,

Let's connect

Autism Awareness is an important cause to us at Yardstick Golf. We've been touched personally and contribute half our April revenue to the cause every year. Thanks to our customers for helping us raise funds every year for the Autism Society Central Virginia 5K Walk.

Lem Clevenger

REQUEST A FREE INDOOR GOLF CONSULTATION

Provide your contact information and we'll have our partner, Ace Indoor Golf contact you about their free consultation. The founders of Ace Indoor Golf have a combined experience of over 18 years in the indoor golf simulator industry. They have installed over 200 simulators in both the commercial and residential markets.

By representing more than one manufacturer, Ace can customize products to meet customer’s specific demands and help you assess:

Golf simulator comparisons
What the various golf simulators cost
Whether you'd be better off with a golf simulator lease or buying a simulator
Golf simulator bar setup

Request more information - brett@aceindoorgolf.com.

Turn your love for golf into a new career