The indoor golf facility business is pulling in two directions at the same time.
On one side, the venue boom keeps accelerating. Another Nine is opening three new Cincinnati locations by September. The Swing Bays just opened its first franchise — converting a former kickboxing gym in Alabama in under four months. Backspin Social is opening its second location this weekend. Operators are signing leases, cutting ribbons, and selling memberships.
On the other side, the financial signals are flashing yellow. Topgolf lost half its valuation in the Leonard Green deal. TruGolf’s stock is down 97.82% year over year. The gap between expansion headlines and market reality is getting wider.
This update covers both sides. Because the facility boom is real — and it is complicated.
Another Nine: Three More Cincinnati Locations — Five Total in One Metro Area: 24/7 Sim Venue Density
Another Nine just confirmed three new franchised locations in Greater Cincinnati. Combined with the two existing locations, that gives the brand five facilities in a single metro area.
The new locations:
- 7004 Suite B Loomis Lane, Liberty Township (2 facilities)
- 2902 W US Highway 22 and 3, Maineville
Liberty Township gets two. Maineville gets one. All three are expected to open by September 2026.
This is the highest-density play any 24/7 self-serve brand has made in a single market. Five locations in one metro area means Another Nine is testing whether the model works as a network — where members can access any bay in any location using the same app, and where proximity to a bay is never more than 15 minutes away regardless of which suburb you live in.
The Cincinnati strategy is the purest expression of the 24/7 model’s thesis: eliminate labor costs, keep the footprint small, saturate a market, and let the network effect kick in. If five locations in Cincinnati generate higher per-bay revenue than three locations spread across different cities, the density strategy wins. If they cannibalize each other, the model has a ceiling.
I’m watching this one closely because it’s the first real test of density in the self-serve space. Five Iron operates multiple locations in Manhattan and Chicago, but that’s a premium model with different economics. Another Nine at five locations in a mid-market metro is a different experiment entirely.
Cross-reference: Facility Boom Update #11 covered Another Nine’s first franchise opening in Cornelius, NC and the $2M insider funding round.
The Swing Bays Opens Its First Franchise — A Different Model Worth Watching: Golf Simulator Business
The Swing Bays opened its first franchise location on July 22 in Calera, Alabama. The facility occupies a converted kickboxing gym at 10864 Highway 25. Three Trackman bays. Four membership tiers from $35 to $595 per month. Co-founded by PGA Professional Dustin Miller, a Golf Digest Best Teacher.
The conversion took less than four months. Franchisee Loren Richardson signed in February and opened in July. That’s a fast buildout by any standard, and it tells you something about the real estate model: a former kickboxing gym has the right bones for a sim facility — open floor plan, adequate ceiling height, existing electrical and HVAC — at a fraction of the cost of ground-up construction.
The Swing Bays occupies a different position in the franchise landscape than Another Nine, Back Nine, or Five Iron. It is a performance training facility with instruction, fitness, and club fitting — not a sim rental space or a social lounge. This is a useful contrast to the social-entertainment model (Five Iron, Back Nine, X-Golf) and the self-serve model (Another Nine). The Swing Bays is betting that instructional revenue is more stable and higher-margin than bay rental revenue. Given that sim facility closures tend to hit the mid-market sim-plus-restaurant hybrids hardest (see: Eagle Golf and Grill in Update #11), a focused instruction model may actually have better unit economics than either the social or self-serve approaches.
Cross-reference: I covered The Swing Bays’ corporate-owned Rowland Heights, CA location in Facility Boom Update #11. The franchise fee comparison guide covers their $40,000 franchise fee — the lowest in the sector.
Topgolf PE Restructuring: $2B to $1.1B, 300 Layoffs, Ex-CEC CEO — Indoor Golf Market Trends
The golf industry’s most visible brand is going through a restructuring that most golfers haven’t heard about. Here’s what happened.
Leonard Green & Partners acquired a 60% stake in Topgolf at a $1.1 billion valuation. That’s about half the $2 billion valuation from the 2020 merger with Callaway (which later spun off as Topgolf Callaway Brands before the Revelyst split).
CEO David McKillips — formerly of Chuck E. Cheese — laid off approximately 300 people and cut $40 million in costs. Three to five new U.S. venues per year is the new pace, down from the double-digit growth the company projected during the 2020-2022 boom.
The $1.1 billion valuation is worth sitting with. Topgolf was the hottest concept in golf during the pandemic. Eighty venues. Toptracer technology deployed at 1,450+ ranges. The biggest championship activation in Open history at Royal Birkdale just two weeks ago. And yet, private equity valued it at half the 2020 merger price.
The PE restructuring story and the consumer-facing brand story are diverging. Topgolf the experience is thriving. Topgolf the business is being restructured. For home sim buyers, the takeaway is indirect but real: the commercial indoor golf market is not a straight line up. Even the biggest brand in the space is cutting costs and slowing expansion.
Cross-reference: Our existing Topgolf coverage covers McKillips’s sim league plans and $5 youth pricing. The Parsippany prototype article covers the new venue format.
TruGolf: Flagship Opens, Stock Crater — Commercial Golf Simulator Franchise News
TruGolf is living the expansion-reckoning tension in a single company.
The good news: TruGolf Links just signed the lease for its first flagship franchise in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The facility is 6,045 square feet with five Full Swing bays, a 17-foot Horizon screen, and a full restaurant and bar. Grand opening is August 4-8. TruGolf has over 100 location commitments in its pipeline. The franchise model is growing.
The bad news: TRUG stock is at $1.28 per share. Down 97.82% year over year. Market cap around $1.5 million. Revenue of $18.66 million, down 13.2% year over year. Net income of negative $14 million. The earnings report is due between August 19 and August 26.
The gap between the franchise expansion story and the stock market story is almost comically wide. TruGolf is simultaneously opening flagship locations, signing franchise commitments, and watching its valuation evaporate. The stock price suggests the market doesn’t believe the franchise story will produce the revenue needed to cover the corporate overhead.
For home sim buyers, the real question is whether TruGolf’s platform — E6, the LauchBox, the full simulator packages — has a stable future regardless of what happens to the parent company. If TruGolf goes under, E6’s 200,000+ users don’t lose their software. The platform has standalone value. But the uncertainty is real, and it’s worth watching.
Cross-reference: I covered the Romeoville, IL flagship earlier this year. The franchise fee comparison covers TruGolf’s $45,000 fee and 6% royalty.
Backspin Social Opens Second Location This Weekend: Sim Venue Expansion
Backspin Social is opening its second location in Leland, North Carolina this weekend — July 24-26.
The facility runs three oversized 16x16-foot simulator bays, a bar and lounge, sports viewing, and occupies 5,500 square feet. It’s a social-entertainment model, in the Five Iron / Back Nine mold, but at a smaller scale.
Backspin Social is worth tracking because it’s an independent operator, not a franchise. The founders are building one location at a time in secondary coastal markets — Wilmington/Leland is a growing area with a strong golf culture and limited indoor options. Independent operators have been an undercovered story in the facility boom series. Most coverage focuses on the big franchise chains. But independents like Backspin Social are proving the model works at a local level with local capital and local ownership.
Also Happening This Weekend: GA Golf Lab and the Grand Opening Wave
GA Golf Lab in Forsyth County, Georgia is holding its grand opening this weekend with a free two-day event including prizes and food. The facility adds to the Atlanta metro’s growing indoor golf density, which is becoming one of the most competitive markets in the Southeast.
The July 18-26 window has been the busiest single week of facility openings I’ve tracked since starting this series. Swing Bays Rowland Heights, Backspin Social Leland, GA Golf Lab Forsyth County — three grand openings in eight days across three states. The pace is real.
Technology Signal: ProTee VX AI Swing Trainer Now in Public Beta — Golf Simulator Software Innovation
A technology story that intersects with the facility boom. GolfSwings.ai — a real-time AI swing analysis platform for the ProTee VX — has entered public beta.
The platform uses the ProTee VX’s five-camera data to analyze swing path, face angle, club speed, and tempo in real time. It’s essentially an AI coach that lives inside the launch monitor data stream, providing the same kind of swing analysis that GOLFTEC’s Game Evaluation provides — but inside your own sim.
The connection to the facility boom: sim facilities that install ProTee VX units now have a coaching AI they can sell as an upsell. The hardware is the same. The data is already being collected. GolfSwings.ai just adds the interpretation layer. For the Swing Bays instruction model, for Five Iron’s coaching programs, for any facility that positions itself as a performance center — this is the kind of software upgrade that increases per-bay revenue without adding hardware cost.
GOLFTEC’s Game Evaluation is the proof of concept for this model. Now independent sim facilities can offer something similar without GOLFTEC’s proprietary hardware. That’s the story worth watching.
Cross-reference: ProTee VX Review · GOLFTEC Game Evaluation · AI Swing Analysis
Hardware Signal: Nvisage N1 Now Shipping at $4,995 — Overhead Launch Monitor Pricing
The Nvisage N1 overhead launch monitor — previewed at PGA Show 2026 — is now in stock and shipping at $4,995.
Dual 2,000 FPS cameras, PhysX 6D Physics Engine, a 16x20-inch hitting zone, and no-subscription Murlie software with 20 courses included. It’s positioned as the most budget-friendly overhead launch monitor on the market.
$4,995 for an overhead launch monitor with no subscription is a price point that matters for the facility boom. Every franchise chain evaluating hardware — The Swing Bays at three bays per location, Another Nine at two bays per location, Back Nine at four to eight bays — makes a per-bay hardware decision that affects their unit economics for years. A $4,995 overhead option with no ongoing software fees competes directly with Trackman ($12,000+), Uneekor ($6,000+), and ProTee VX ($7,000+). For a broader look at the category, see our best overhead launch monitors guide and overhead vs floor launch monitor comparison.
For home buyers, the same dynamic applies: the overhead category just got a price anchor at $5,000 that didn’t exist six months ago. Uneekor’s Eye Mini Lite was the previous floor. Nvisage N1 undercuts it. Check our best launch monitors under $5,000 guide for alternatives.
Cross-reference: Nvisage N1 Preview · Nvisage NEO-E Review
The Numbers
| Signal | Beat Sources | What Happened | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Another Nine Cincinnati | Industry Intel + Research Scout | 3 new locations, 5 total in metro | Open by September |
| Swing Bays Calera | Sim Business + Research Scout | First franchise, former kickboxing gym, 4-month build | OPEN Jul 22 |
| Topgolf PE Restructuring | Industry Intel + Brand Watch | $2B→$1.1B valuation, 300 layoffs, ex-CEC CEO | Active |
| TruGolf Stock | Brand Watch + Sim Business | $1.28/share, -97.82% YoY, earnings due Aug 19-26 | Watch |
| Backspin Social Leland | Research Scout | 2nd location, 3 bays, bar/lounge, 5,500 sq ft | OPEN Jul 24-26 |
| GA Golf Lab Forsyth | Industry Intel | Free 2-day grand opening weekend | OPEN Jul 24-26 |
| ProTee VX AI Trainer | Research Scout + Tech | GolfSwings.ai public beta, real-time AI coaching | Beta Live |
| Nvisage N1 Shipping | Product Reviews + Research Scout | $4,995, dual cameras, no subscription | Now Shipping |
The Trend
Twelve updates into this series, the signal is getting clearer.
The facility boom is real. New locations are opening at a pace I have to check my own tracking to believe. Another Nine at five locations in Cincinnati. Swing Bays franchising in Alabama. Backspin Social proving the independent operator model. GA Golf Lab filling in Atlanta. The infrastructure buildout is happening.
But the financial side is not matching the expansion side. Topgolf cut 300 jobs and took a 50% valuation haircut. TruGolf is losing money and watching its stock price approach zero. The expansion is being funded by franchisee capital and private equity, not by operating cash flow from existing facilities. That works as long as franchisees keep signing and PE keeps deploying. It stops working when either of those spigots turns off.
The winner in this environment is the model with the highest profit margin per bay. That’s why I’m watching the instruction-first model (Swing Bays), the self-serve model (Another Nine), and the technology-upgrade model (ProTee VX AI, Nvisage N1). The social-entertainment model has the most revenue per bay but the highest overhead. The 24/7 self-serve model has the lowest overhead but the lowest revenue per bay. The instruction model sits in the middle — lower revenue than social, lower overhead than social, and higher-margin revenue per customer.
The next six months will tell us which model scales best. Another Nine’s Cincinnati density experiment. Swing Bays’s second and third franchise locations. TruGolf’s Q3 earnings. The Backspin Social repeatability test.
I’ll keep tracking.
Browse all facility boom updates → · Read the franchise comparison → · Understand startup costs → · How much do sim facilities make? → · Commercial equipment guide →
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