What is Back Nine Golf and why is it growing so fast? Back Nine Golf is a 24/7 unmanned indoor golf franchise with 226+ locations across 44 states. Members book online, get a phone link to unlock the door, and play Full Swing simulators with no staff on site. The model works because it eliminates the two biggest pain points of traditional golf — scheduling and time commitment — while also eliminating the biggest expense of running a venue: payroll. Franchisees invest $307K-688K and can run the business in 20-30 hours per week.
In 2020, a law student in Utah named Wil Bangerter wanted to practice golf at midnight. He didn’t have access to a course. He didn’t have space for a home sim. He found a warehouse in St. George, rented a bay, and put a Full Swing simulator in it. The idea was simple: pay for his own simulator habit by letting other people use it when he wasn’t.
Six years later, that warehouse experiment is a 226-location franchise network across 44 states, with locations in Canada, master franchise agreements in New Zealand, and expansion planned for the UK and Australia. Back Nine Golf is opening 15 to 20 new locations per month. They went from 5 full-time employees to 74 in a single year. They’ve sold roughly 560 franchise territories total. That makes Back Nine the fastest-growing indoor golf franchise in the country, and it’s happening quietly enough that most home sim enthusiasts haven’t noticed what it means for them.
Let me break down how this happened, what the model looks like, and why it matters if you’re building a sim in your garage.
The Origin Story Matters
The founding story of Back Nine is not a PowerPoint deck written by consultants. It’s a guy who wanted to hit balls at 2 AM and couldn’t.
Bangerter was a BYU law student with zero free time. The only window he had to practice was late at night, after studying. He put a simulator in a warehouse, gave himself 24/7 access, and realized other people wanted the same thing. He started the business with two partners, Tanner Atkin and Rudy Odorizzi.
Bangerter kept practicing law full-time while running Back Nine on the side. Eventually he realized he couldn’t do both, so he put the business up for sale. Brady Carlsen, a neighbor with 20 years of sales experience, heard about it and bought in. Carlsen brought a business partner, that partner eventually left to start his own venture, and Kaden Creager joined as a board member. The three of them — Bangerter, Carlsen, and Creager — are the team that turned a warehouse sim into a national franchise.
The key detail: they didn’t start with a grand plan to build 226 locations. They started with a problem — “I can’t practice at midnight” — and built a business around the solution. That matters because it means the model was designed by someone who actually used it, not by a franchise development firm.
How the 24/7 Unmanned Model Works
Back Nine facilities are 2,000 to 4,000 square feet. Each location has 3 to 6 simulator bays, all running Full Swing simulators — the same technology Tiger Woods uses and is a part-owner of. Members book tee times online through Back Nine’s proprietary software, and receive a text message with a link to unlock the building. No keys, no codes, no front desk — the door unlocks from your phone.
There’s no on-site staff. No one to schedule, manage payroll for, or deal with when they call in sick. The biggest expense for most franchise businesses — payroll — is zero. The primary overhead is rent, utilities, and software.
The economics work because the customer journey is self-contained. You book online, you show up, you play, you leave. There’s no equipment handoff, no food service, no instruction to coordinate. The product is a simulator bay and the time to use it. That’s it.
Brady Carlsen told TechBuzz News that owners typically spend 20 to 30 hours per week on business-related tasks. That’s not a full-time job. For someone looking for semi-passive income or a second-act career, the appeal is obvious.
The Numbers Are Real
Back Nine sold its first franchise in Cedar City, Utah in 2023. Here’s the growth trajectory since:
2023: 1 franchise (Cedar City, UT) Mid-2025: ~45 locations Early 2026: ~150 locations August 2026: 226+ operating locations across 44 states, ~560 territories sold
According to the Franchise Disclosure Document, average monthly revenue for a location open more than six months was $19,770 last year. That’s up 33% from $13,252 the year prior. At $19,770/month, a single location generates roughly $237,000 in annual revenue. With no payroll costs beyond the owner’s time and $307K-688K in total startup investment, the unit economics work.
The franchise fee is not publicly listed, but the FDD puts total investment at $307,050 to $688,500 depending on location size, build-out, and equipment. That’s cheaper than opening a fast-casual restaurant, and the operational complexity is significantly lower.
The Full Swing Partnership Is Strategic
Back Nine uses Full Swing simulators exclusively. Full Swing is the same technology used by Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, and most PGA Tour players. Tiger is also a part-owner of Full Swing, which gives the brand credibility that matters for marketing.
The Full Swing partnership also means Back Nine franchisees get access to Full Swing’s full course library, practice tools, and the Skill Strike platform — which is worth watching because Skill Strike is one of the first real-money sim competition platforms that’s gaining traction. If Back Nine venues become Skill Strike hubs, that’s an additional revenue stream the franchisees didn’t plan for when they signed up.
The International Expansion Is Fast
Back Nine has already opened locations in Canada and signed a master franchise agreement for New Zealand. They’re targeting the United Kingdom and Australia next.
The international expansion tells me two things. First, the 24/7 unmanned model works across different markets, not just in the US. Second, the demand for indoor golf is global, not regional. Golfers in New Zealand want to hit balls at 2 AM just as much as golfers in Utah.
What’s Next for Back Nine
The company isn’t stopping at simulator bays. Here’s what they’re building:
AI swing analysis. Back Nine is developing machine learning models that analyze swing data captured from their simulators and provide feedback to members. This would make every Back Nine location a de facto coaching studio without hiring a single teaching pro.
Club fitting services. Testing golf club fitting as an add-on service. Walk into a Back Nine, hit 20 shots on a fitted club, get data, buy the club, walk out. No appointment with a fitter needed.
Retail equipment sales. If you’re already hitting wedges at a Back Nine, why not buy the wedge from them?
Apparel brand. “No Lost Balls” is their in-house clothing line. Every franchisee gets to sell branded apparel.
Mobile app. The app would let members access sim data from outdoor rounds, effectively connecting practice performance to on-course results.
Each of these is a new revenue stream for franchisees without adding meaningful operational complexity.
What This Means for Home Sim Buyers
Here’s the question nobody is asking: if there’s a 24/7 indoor golf facility with Full Swing simulators 10 minutes from your house, does it still make sense to spend $5,000 on a home setup?
The answer depends on when and how you use a simulator.
If you’re the type of person who wants to hit 20 balls on a Tuesday at 11 PM, then strip down and go to bed — a facility membership is probably better. Back Nine memberships vary by location but generally run $100-250/month for 24/7 access. Compare that to $1,995 for a SkyTrak+ and $250/year for GSPro, and the facility wins on convenience and capital outlay for most casual users.
But if you want to run drills every day, leave your clubs set up, hit balls for 15 minutes during a work break without driving anywhere, or practice at 6 AM in your boxers — you still need a home sim.
The facilities solve the access problem. They don’t solve the friction problem. Walking from your kitchen to your garage is always going to be easier than driving to a Back Nine.
The facility boom and the home sim boom are happening at the same time because they serve different use cases. Back Nine is for the golfer who needs a place to play. Home sims are for the golfer who needs a place to practice. The crossover is smaller than you’d think.
The Bigger Picture
Back Nine’s growth is not an anomaly. It’s a signal that the business model behind indoor golf has fundamentally changed. The old model required staff, food and beverage, high rent for visible retail space, and 12-hour operating days. The new model requires a booking system, smart locks, and simulators — and runs 24 hours a day with zero staff.
The numbers bear this out. Golf O’Clock, the booking platform behind 200+ venues, reports median monthly revenue of $883 per bay across their network. For a 5-bay facility, that’s roughly $14,000 per month. Launch House, another player in the space, reports autonomous facilities generating “revenue while the owner sleeps.”
This is not a fad. The technology to run an unmanned golf facility is mature, the demand is real, and the franchise economics are proven. Back Nine is the biggest example, but they’re not the only one. Another Nine, Golf VX, GolfCrypt, and Tempo Golf are all in various stages of franchise expansion.
For home golf, this is good news. The more people who get exposed to sim golf through facilities, the more people will eventually want to build their own. The facility boom is not competition for the home sim market. It’s the farm system.