The Franchise Milestone: Another Nine Opens Its First Corporate-Owned Location (And It’s Not Corporate-Owned)
Another Nine opened its first franchise location on June 16 in Cornelius, North Carolina — a Lake Norman suburb of Charlotte. Franchisee Matt Hess cut the ribbon on the first of five locations he plans to open across the greater Charlotte metro.
This is a bigger deal than it sounds like.
Another Nine has signed 75-plus franchise territories since launching its franchise program in July 2024. That’s an aggressive pace by any standard. But signing territories and opening facilities are two different things. The Cornelius opening proves the concept can replicate outside the Cincinnati home market — that the 24/7, no-membership, all-private-suite model works in other cities with different demographics and real estate dynamics.
Charlotte is now the first fully sold-out region in Another Nine’s network, with 12 locations planned across the metro. The brand is putting priority on the Midwest and Northeast next — dense suburban markets where year-round golf demand and multi-unit operators align with its low-footprint model.
The capital structure supports the ambition. Another Nine closed a $2 million funding round in May 2026, entirely from existing investors, and reported operational profitability in Q1 2026. That’s a clean signal. Existing investors doubling down and the company making money before it’s fully scaled.
Cross-reference: I covered Another Nine’s franchise model in detail in the franchise comparison guide and the independent vs franchise analysis.
The Big Money: Five Iron’s Series E and What Coral Tree Partners Brings
Five Iron Golf closed its Series E on March 17, 2026, led by Coral Tree Partners — a Los Angeles-based private equity firm with over $500 million in assets under management focused on sports, media, entertainment, technology, and gaming.
This is Five Iron’s fifth institutional round, backed by North Castle Partners, Callaway Golf Company, Enlightened Hospitality Investments, and now Coral Tree. The company was founded in 2017 and has been the dominant premium sim lounge chain in the US ever since.
Coral Tree’s portfolio gives you a sense of where Five Iron is headed: AMI Entertainment (location-based entertainment tech), Appetize (concession POS systems), and FanDuel (sports betting). Coral Tree founding partner Alan Resnikoff will join Five Iron’s board.
The stated use of funds: expansion, technology investment, and programming evolution.
What this means in practice: Five Iron is positioning for the convergence of golf simulators, competitive gaming, sports betting, and hospitality. The Coral Tree investment isn’t about opening more locations — it’s about making each location more profitable through technology and programming. Real-money tournaments (which Five Iron already launched). Digital engagement. Membership technology. The play is to extract more revenue per bay through software and services, not just more bays.
Five Iron also opened its first Texas location — Fort Worth — in May 2026 (grand opening June 11). The 10,000-square-foot space has 12 Trackman bays, multisport simulators, and a full bar. That’s a $1.5 million-plus buildout in a single location. Five Iron is not a lean model. It’s a premium experience built for high-income urban markets.
Cross-reference: See the franchise comparison for how Five Iron’s premium model stacks against Another Nine’s lean 24/7 model and Back Nine’s mid-market approach.
The $530 Million Story: Versant Acquires Full Swing
This is the biggest single story in this update, and it’s not close.
Versant Media Group — the company that owns Golf Channel and GolfNow — agreed to acquire Full Swing from Bruin Capital for $530 million in cash.
Let me give you the timeline so you understand the valuation trajectory:
- 2019: Bruin Capital acquired a controlling stake in Full Swing from North Castle Partners for approximately $160 million.
- 2026: Bruin Capital sells Full Swing to Versant for $530 million.
That’s a 3.3x return in seven years, but the more important number is the absolute price. $530 million for a golf simulator company.
Full Swing is the official licensed simulator of the PGA Tour. It’s used by Tiger Woods, Jon Rahm, and Jordan Spieth. It runs TPC courses. It was the first simulator integrated into Golf Channel programming (starting in 2019). And Versant CEO Mark Lazarus called it “exactly the kind of strategic platform” the company wants to build around.
What this means for sim facility operators:
Full Swing is becoming a media play. Versant doesn’t just own simulators — it owns Golf Channel (49 million TV homes), GolfNow (40 million tee times booked last year), and a digital platform generating $826 million in annual revenue. The integration between simulator data and media content is the prize. Imagine booking a tee time on GolfNow, practicing on a Full Swing simulator, and having your swing data show up in Golf Channel coverage. That’s the Versant vision.
Full Swing equipment costs may change. Versant could subsidize simulator hardware to drive network adoption — the same way Amazon subsidizes Fire devices to sell Prime subscriptions. If Full Swing sims become cheaper because Versant makes money on the media side, that reshapes the commercial equipment competitive landscape for GOLFZON, Trackman, and Foresight.
The deal values the commercial sim market at a new level. When a media conglomerate pays half a billion dollars for a simulator company, the message to investors is clear: this category has a 10-year growth runway. More capital will flow into the space. More competitors will enter. The economics of opening a sim facility may improve as the cost of equipment declines under competitive pressure from a media-subsidized Full Swing.
The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2026. Subject to customary regulatory approval, but no red flags reported.
Cross-reference: Read our commercial equipment guide for how Full Swing stacks against GOLFZON, Trackman, and Foresight in the facility context.
New Openings: 7+ Facilities Across 6 States
Tee Box — Regency Mall, Richmond, VA (First East Coast Location)
Tee Box, a Utah-based 24/7 indoor golf franchise, opened its first East Coast location in the Regency Mall food court in Henrico, Virginia (Richmond metro). Franchisee Kai Laird spent approximately $1 million to equip 5,000 square feet with four hitting bays, an interactive putting green, and a 1,000-square-foot gym designed for golf-specific strength training.
The gym differentiator is worth noting. Tee Box isn’t just a sim facility — it’s a golf performance center with strength training. That’s a distinct positioning in the increasingly crowded Richmond market, which already has Back Nine, X-Golf, Indoor Golf RVA, Tee It Up, and GreenClub operating.
Memberships cost $399/month with an annual commitment. Laird had pre-sold approximately three dozen memberships before opening. The facility operates 24/7 via app-based self-serve access.
Laird moved from Trinidad and Tobago to Richmond specifically to start this franchise. That level of commitment — a cross-country, cross-industry move to open a sim facility — tells you something about how compelling the franchise economics look to operators who’ve done the math.
Golf Envy — Albuquerque, NM (First New Mexico Location)
Golf Envy, a California-based franchise founded in 2023, opened its first New Mexico location in Albuquerque in June 2026. The 2,400-square-foot space in a shopping center strip houses four simulators — each costing $75,000 to $100,000 — with a $200,000 buildout.
The ownership group is three couples: Chris and Taryn Rivera (short-term rental business owners), Brian and Salina Palmerton (Massage Envy franchisees and electric company owners), and Brad and Sheree Palmerton. They met playing golf more than a decade ago.
Fifty members signed up before opening. Capacity is approximately 160 due to space constraints. Startup costs for Golf Envy franchisees range from $349,179 to $696,724, according to the company’s Franchise Disclosure Document. Golf Envy currently has 11 locations nationwide.
The Albuquerque opening is exactly the kind of secondary-market expansion that proves the sim facility trend isn’t limited to coastal metros. New Mexico is not a state anyone would have predicted for a premium indoor golf franchise — but the demand exists.
Five Iron Golf — Fort Worth, TX (First Texas Location)
Covered above in the Series E section, but worth flagging as a standalone opening: 12 Trackman bays, 10,000 square feet, full bar, grand opening June 11. Five Iron’s pricing: approximately $35 per half-hour session, $99 for a one-hour swing evaluation.
Pure Strike Golf Club — Lynchburg, VA
Pure Strike Golf Club opened on June 18 in Lynchburg, Virginia — a private indoor simulator facility with online booking and three membership tiers (Par, Birdie, Eagle). Founder-driven, not franchise. The facility focuses on accessibility, community, and year-round access.
Lynchburg is not a market that would naturally attract a franchise chain — it’s a city of 80,000 in central Virginia. Pure Strike represents the independent operator model: local passion, modest scale, community focus.
The Swing Bays — Rowland Heights, CA
The Swing Bays, a Colorado-based franchise, signed a five-unit development agreement in Southern California with franchisees Sam and Corinna Chang. The first location in Rowland Heights (targeting spring 2026 opening) will feature six indoor simulator bays, including a private bay, beverage service, and partnerships with local restaurants for events. Four additional Southern California locations to follow.
The Swing Bays positions itself as a performance training facility with instruction, fitness, and club fitting — not just a sim rental space.
Closures: Two Permanent, One Transition, One Retirement
Every update I write about closures gets easier to write and harder to read. These are real people who invested real money. But the failures teach more than the successes.
Eagle Golf and Grill — Springfield, IL (Closed June 7, 2026)
Second permanent closure in our tracking. Eagle Golf and Grill operated for just over two years at 3941 Pintail Drive in Springfield. Five simulation bays. Full-service restaurant and bar. A 1,200-square-foot chipping green for youth training.
Owners Jim and Amber Lee announced the closure via social media on June 7, thanking the community and expressing hope that a new owner would continue the vision as a resource for youth golfers and family gatherings. The deadline for business inquiries was June 14.
The pattern is familiar. A sim-plus-restaurant hybrid with five bays — arguably too many bays for a food-driven concept and too much restaurant for a sim-driven concept. The operators who make it in this space pick one primary revenue driver and optimize for it. The ones who try to be everything to everyone — sims and food and youth training — end up being good at none of it.
Eagle Golf and Grill is the second confirmed permanent closure after the Springfield facility we tracked in Update #4 (which turned out to be a different facility). The coincidence of geography — both in Springfield — is probably random, but it does make you wonder about the Illinois market.
Tark’s Indoor Golf — Saratoga Springs, NY (Closing April 2026)
Tark’s Indoor Golf closed after 18 years in Saratoga Springs. Owner Kent Tarkleson is relocating to Michigan to care for his aging mother and hoped to transfer the lease to a new operator. The request was “unexpectedly denied,” resulting in permanent closure.
Eighteen years is a remarkable run for an indoor golf facility. Tark’s predates almost every sim franchise concept on the market today. The closure isn’t a failure of the business model — it’s a personal decision driven by family circumstances compounded by an uncooperative landlord.
But here’s the lesson: lease transfer risk is real. Tarkleson had a willing buyer. The landlord blocked the transfer. The business died not because it was unprofitable, but because the lease didn’t have a transfer provision that worked. Every sim facility operator should have a lease clause that permits assignment or sublease with landlord’s consent not unreasonably withheld. If you don’t have that language, your business’s exit value is zero.
DC Sports — Wappingers, NY (Closed April 26, 2026)
DC Sports was a family entertainment center in the Hudson Valley that operated for 10 years on the site of the former Fun Central. It had indoor mini golf (glow golf), an outdoor course, batting cages turned into a volleyball court, rock climbing, basketball, arcade, and a golf simulator.
The closure was sudden. Owners cited changes “out of our control” in the preceding month. Some activities (volleyball, cornhole) will continue at a new location.
DC Sports isn’t a pure sim facility failure — the golf simulator was one amenity among many. But the closure is worth noting because it represents the broader entertainment venue category that sim facilities compete with. When a 10-year family entertainment center closes in an established market, the competitive signal is that the entertainment dollar is being spent somewhere else.
Valley Golf Center — Fresno, CA (Closing July 29, 2026 — Potential New Operator)
Valley Golf Center in north Fresno is closing at the end of July as its current operators — LPGA teaching professional Cindy Vining and her business partner — retire after eight years. The facility had recently invested in Toptracer technology.
But Valley Children’s Healthcare, which owns the property, is in discussions with potential new operators. The closure may be temporary.
This is a retirement, not a failure. The operators put in eight years, made technology investments, and are leaving on their terms. If a new operator takes over, the facility survives with continuity. If not, Fresno loses a facility.
The Full Swing Acquisition: Operational Implications
The Versant-Full Swing deal deserves more space because it directly affects every sim facility operator who uses or competes with Full Swing hardware.
Short-term: No change. The deal doesn’t close until H2 2026. Full Swing continues operating as before. Ryan Dotters (Full Swing leadership) will report to Versant’s Will McIntosh.
Medium-term (2027-2028): Expect Full Swing to integrate with GolfNow tee time booking and possibly Golf Channel media content. A simulator that books your GolfNow tee time and reviews your swing data on Golf Channel is a compelling ecosystem play. Facilities running Full Swing hardware may get preferential access to GolfNow’s 40 million annual tee-time bookers.
Long-term (2028+): Versant could subsidize Full Swing hardware to drive network adoption, compressing margins for competitors. A $530 million acquisition with a media company behind it can absorb hardware losses in ways that pure-play simulator companies can’t. GOLFZON, Trackman, and Foresight need to be watching this closely.
Versant’s golf business generates roughly $2.96 billion annually across linear TV ($4.09B distribution), advertising ($1.58B), and platforms ($826M) — though these are Versant-wide figures, not Golf-specific. Even a fraction of that revenue allocated to simulator development creates a development budget that competitors can’t match.
Cross-reference: The commercial equipment guide covers the competitive landscape that Versant is about to disrupt.
Funding Roundup: Who’s Getting Capital
Three funding stories in this update signal where institutional capital is flowing:
| Company | Amount | Type | Lead/Backing | Use of Funds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Five Iron Golf | Undisclosed (Series E) | Equity | Coral Tree Partners ($500M AUM PE) | Expansion, tech, programming |
| Another Nine | $2M | Equity | Existing investors (all insider round) | HQ expansion, A9OS tech, franchise network |
| GolfTRK | $900K | Seed | Angel (including KS Angel Tax Credit program) | Franchise expansion, tech infrastructure |
The pattern: capital is flowing to franchise models, not standalone independents. Five Iron has the strongest backing (multiple PE firms plus Callaway). Another Nine has the tightest capital structure (insider round, already operationally profitable). GolfTRK is the smallest but most technology-forward (proprietary “Noonan” digital caddie app, performance analytics platform).
No independent operator funding rounds appeared in our tracking this cycle. That doesn’t mean independents can’t get funded — but the capital markets clearly prefer the franchise model’s standardized operations, brand recognition, and multi-unit scalability.
Market Structure: What The Data Says
After 11 updates tracking this boom, the data is telling a consistent story:
The 24/7 self-serve model is the fastest-growing format. Another Nine’s franchise network is the strongest signal. Tee Box’s East Coast expansion is another. The 24/7 model requires less labor, lower occupancy cost, and simpler operations than premium lounge concepts. It’s the franchising sweet spot.
The premium lounge model has the deepest pockets. Five Iron’s Series E with Coral Tree gives it firing power that no other concept matches. The Fort Worth location shows they’re building flagship facilities (12 bays, 10,000 square feet) in secondary markets now.
The mid-market sim bar model is the most vulnerable. Five-bay sim-plus-restaurant concepts like Eagle Golf and Grill are the ones closing. The overhead of food service combined with the limited revenue from five sim bays creates a profit margin that’s too thin for the risk. Either go full premium (lean into the sim experience with high per-hour pricing) or go full bar (lean into F&B with sims as the draw). The middle is where facilities die.
Equipment consolidation is coming. The Versant-Full Swing deal at $530 million is a signal that the sim hardware market is moving from fragmented competition to platform-based ecosystems. There will be more M&A before this cycle ends. The question is whether GOLFZON, Trackman, or Foresight will be buyers or targets.
Geographic Trends
- North Carolina enters the tracking. Another Nine’s Charlotte expansion (12 locations planned) makes NC a market to watch. The state has a strong golf culture and suburban population growth.
- Virginia is building density. Lynchburg (Pure Strike), Richmond (Tee Box, plus existing Back Nine, X-Golf), Reston Station (from Update #10). Virginia has coverage from the DC suburbs to the southwest corner of the state.
- Texas keeps growing. Five Iron enters Texas with Fort Worth. League City, Prosper, Allen, Tyler (from Update #10). Texas remains the dominant sim facility state.
- New Mexico enters the tracking. Golf Envy in Albuquerque is the first premium sim franchise in the state.
- New York loses two facilities. Tark’s (18 years) and DC Sports (10 years) both closing within weeks of each other. Both in upstate/suburban NY markets, not NYC.
- The Midwest is a mixed story. Another Nine is winning in the Midwest. Eagle Golf and Grill is failing in the Midwest. Valley Golf Center (Fresno) is retiring. The data says the franchise model wins in the Midwest; independent sim-restaurant hybrids struggle.
What I’m Watching Next
The Full Swing-Versant closing (expected H2 2026). If the deal closes, expect an immediate acceleration of Full Swing’s commercial sales program — possibly subsidized hardware pricing for franchise groups.
Another Nine’s next franchise openings. Cornelius was the first. If the second and third open within 60-90 days, the model has replicability. If they stall, the rollout slows down.
Five Iron’s real-money tournament adoption. The Series E capital should accelerate the tournament platform. If Five Iron can prove that sim golf generates recurring revenue through competitive play (not just bay rentals), the unit economics improve dramatically.
Eagle Golf and Grill’s facility. If a new owner takes over within 60 days, the model may have viability with different execution. If it stays dark, add another data point to the “five-bay sim restaurant hybrid doesn’t work” thesis.
Two permanent closures in one update. A $530 million acquisition. A Series E from a $500 million PE firm. A franchise milestone for the 24/7 model. The story of the sim facility boom is no longer “how many facilities are opening.” It’s “which models are surviving, which are failing, and who’s making the big bets.”
I’ll keep tracking as long as the data keeps coming. And if the next update has half as much signal as this one, we’re in for an interesting ride.
Browse all facility boom updates → · Read the franchise comparison → · Understand startup costs → · How much do sim facilities make? → · Commercial equipment guide →