Staffless Golf: 24/7 Unmanned Sim Facilities Are Reshaping Indoor Golf
What is a 24/7 unmanned golf simulator facility? A staffless indoor golf facility that operates around the clock with no on-site employees. Members or guests book private simulator bays through an app, receive a digital door code, and access the facility at any hour. The model removes labor costs entirely, allowing operators to offer lower membership prices and smaller footprints. Brands like Back Nine (160+ locations), Another Nine (75+ territories), and Golf Crypt have pioneered the model, which is now the fastest-growing segment in indoor golf franchising.
You unlock the door with your phone at 2:17 AM on a Tuesday. The lights come on automatically. The simulator is already booted up. You hit balls for an hour in complete privacy. Nobody asks if you want a drink. Nobody offers to check your swing. Nobody charges you a green fee or asks for a tee time. You leave the same way you came in — by yourself, through a locked door.
This is not a sci-fi concept. This is Back Nine Golf, which has 160 locations doing exactly this, and opens 20 more per month. This is Another Nine, which sold 75 franchise territories in its first year and just opened its first franchise location in Cornelius, North Carolina. This is Golf Crypt, the Florida-based members-only model that tells franchisees they do not need to quit their day jobs because the business runs itself.
The staffless golf facility is the most interesting thing happening in indoor golf right now. It asks a question the golf industry has never seriously considered: what if the game could exist without the people who make it run? The margins are thin. The technology is just a smart lock on a simulator. The question is worth asking anyway.
The Three Flavors of Nobody
There are three companies building the staffless future, and they each have a different theory about how it should work.
Back Nine Golf is the growth story. It opened its first location in 2021 and now has 160+ locations with 300 more in the pipeline. The model is membership-based — you pay monthly for unlimited access, get a door code, and play on Full Swing simulators. The economics are simple: no labor, no food, no booze. The average location does about $194,000 in annual revenue on a $300,000 to $689,000 investment. The numbers are not going to make anyone rich, but the SBA charge-off rate across 107 loans is 0.0%. Banks love this model because it’s basically a 24-hour gym with golf clubs.
Another Nine takes a different approach. It is membership-free — you book by the hour, no commitment required. The facilities use Trackman simulators in all-private suites, and the entire operation runs on the company’s proprietary A9OS platform, which handles booking, access, payment, and facility management. Another Nine has sold 75+ territories in 16 states and just closed a $2 million funding round from existing investors. The first franchise location opened in June 2026 in Cornelius, North Carolina, with 12 more planned for the Charlotte metro alone.
Golf Crypt is the most aggressive version of the thesis. It operates as a members-only club with 24/7 keycard access, Trackman 4 technology, and no employees. The company tells franchisees they can operate the business as a semi-passive investment — the model is designed so you do not need to quit your job. The flagship location in Jupiter, Florida operates at over 50% profit margins. The initial investment for a franchise runs from $246,000 to $999,000, depending on the number of bays and buildout.
Three companies. Three models. Same bet: golf works as a vending machine.
The Economics of Nobody
The staffless model works because labor is the single biggest expense in any service business. A typical Five Iron Golf location with 10-12 simulators, a full bar, and event space employs 20-30 people and costs $1.7 million to $4.4 million to build. A staffless facility with 3-6 simulators costs $300,000 to $700,000 and employs zero people.
This changes the math fundamentally.
A Back Nine location doing $194,000 in revenue has a 50-60% profit margin because the only real costs are rent, software subscriptions, utilities, insurance, and maintenance. A Five Iron location doing $2.4 million in revenue has a 14% EBITDA margin because 30% of that revenue goes to payroll and another 25% goes to food cost.
The model is not trying to maximize revenue. It is trying to maximize the ratio of revenue to headache. And in that metric, it is winning.
But there is a catch. The staffless model has a hard revenue ceiling. Back Nine’s average revenue per bay is roughly $40,000 to $80,000 per year. Five Iron’s is $167,000 to $200,000. The difference is F&B, events, corporate outings, and lessons — all of which require staff. You cannot host a corporate happy hour in a facility with no bartender. You cannot give a lesson in a facility with no pro. The tradeoff is revenue ceiling for operational simplicity.
The question is whether that trade works for enough operators to matter. Back Nine is opening 20 locations per month, which suggests the answer is yes. But the average Back Nine generates $194,000 in revenue. The average Five Iron generates $2.4 million. This approach isn’t replacing the full-service model. It’s creating a parallel universe where the economics are different, the expectations are lower, and the business is simpler.
What Gets Lost
I have spent a lot of time in golf simulators. The best sessions I have ever had were not about the data. They were about the person next to me. The friend who pointed out a flaw in my setup. The random guy at the next bay who asked what I was working on. The pro who walked over and said “your left shoulder is opening too early.”
All of that goes away.
Golf has always been a social sport. Even the solo practice session at the range has a social component — the guy next to you, the pro walking by, the teenager working the counter who knows your name. The 19th hole is not a separate activity. It is part of the experience. The post-round beer, the argument about the putt that lipped out, the guy who tells you about the course he played last weekend — that is the infrastructure of the game, not an add-on.
That infrastructure gets stripped away. You walk in alone, hit balls alone, walk out alone. The technology is the same. The data is the same. The experience is completely different.
This is not necessarily a bad thing. Some people want exactly this. The guy who works third shift and wants to hit balls at 4 AM. The introvert who does not want to make small talk. The parent who has 45 minutes between dropping the kids off and picking them up. The person who is embarrassed about their swing and does not want anyone watching.
It serves a real need. But it’s not the same thing as golf. It’s a different activity that happens to use the same equipment.
The Parallel Universe
The 24/7 unmanned facility is not replacing the traditional golf experience. It is creating a parallel lane — a different way to engage with the game that sits alongside the country club, the municipal course, and the full-service sim bar.
The data supports this. The NGF reports that 19 million Americans participated exclusively in off-course golf in 2025 — hitting balls at simulators, driving ranges, and entertainment venues without ever setting foot on a course. The average off-course golfer is 36 years old, compared to 44 for on-course players, and is more likely to be female or non-white. This is a different demographic with different expectations. They do not want the 19th hole. They want the 45-minute session on their schedule.
This is the logical endpoint of the trend. It removes every barrier except the fundamental one: do you want to hit golf balls? No tee time. No dress code. No pro shop. No small talk. Just a simulator, a keycard, and a door that opens when you want it to.
This is not a threat to traditional golf. It is a new entry point. The guy who starts at a Back Nine at 2 AM might eventually join a country club. The introvert who hits alone for six months might eventually take a lesson. The parent who sneaks in a session between school drop-off and work might eventually bring their kid.
But the opposite is also true. It might also create a generation of golfers who have never experienced the social side of the game. Who do not know what a pro shop looks like. Who have never sat at the 19th hole. Who think golf is something you do alone, in a room, with a screen.
The Verdict
The staffless golf facility is the most interesting experiment in the indoor golf space right now. It tests a fundamental assumption about the game: that golf is a social experience. The margins are not the reason — a Back Nine location does $194K, not $2.4M. The technology is not the reason — it is a simulator with a smart lock. The question it asks is the reason.
If it works at scale — and the growth numbers suggest it will — it changes the definition of what golf is. It creates a version of the game that exists entirely outside the social infrastructure that has supported it for 500 years. There are no caddies, no pros, no bar, and no community. Just you, a club, a ball, and a screen.
Is that golf? I think the answer is yes, but a different kind of yes than we are used to. It is the same relationship between a home gym and a CrossFit box. Both are exercise. Both make you stronger. But they are different experiences, and they serve different people.
Think of it as the home gym of golf. It is not better or worse. It is just different. And the numbers suggest that different is exactly what a lot of people want.
The question is not whether the staffless model will survive. It already is. The question is what happens when a generation of golfers grows up thinking this is normal.
For a deeper look at the economics, see our 24/7 golf simulator facilities guide and the indoor golf franchise economics analysis.