FT Says Home Sims Are on the Upswing

---

The Financial Times published a story about home golf simulators.

Let me say that again slowly. The Financial Times. The pink paper. The one that covers sovereign wealth funds and central bank interest rates and whether LNG terminals in Louisiana are a good investment. They published a feature on why people are putting launch monitors in their garages.

Title: “Home golf simulators are on the upswing.”

The FT does not cover consumer trends for fun. They don’t have a “cool garage gadgets” desk. They cover things when the numbers get big enough that their readers — fund managers, private equity partners, corporate boards — need to know about it.

So here’s what it means when the FT says golf sims are on the upswing.

This Is Bigger Than Forbes

The PGA Tour Superstore sim showroom story in Forbes a few weeks back was already a mainstream validation milestone. Forbes covers consumer tech all the time — it’s part of their beat. But the FT is different.

The FT’s audience is institutional. People who move money. People who decide whether a $500 million facility gets built or a $10 million startup gets funded. When the FT tells them “home golf simulators” are a growing market, that capital starts flowing into the space.

You’ve already seen it happen. Another Nine hit 50 franchises. Five Iron launched real-money tournaments. Back Nine is expanding internationally. The facility boom isn’t slowing down — it’s accelerating. And the FT just told the people who fund these companies that the trend is real.

What the FT Article Probably Covers

I can’t read the FT article directly — it’s behind the paywall (like everything the FT publishes that’s worth reading). But the title tells you everything: “Home golf simulators are on the upswing.” We’ve got a broader breakdown here if you want the full analysis from our angle.

The FT doesn’t write a story like that without data. They’ve got numbers. They’ve got market analysis. They’ve got quotes from industry insiders. They’ve probably got a chart showing year-over-year growth in launch monitor sales or sim facility openings or both.

The key data points the FT is likely working with:

• The facility boom has added hundreds of new indoor sim locations since 2024
• The PGA Tour Superstore rollout put demo sims in 82 stores nationwide
• TGL Season 2 drew 21.8 million viewers
• The WTGL is launching with 14 LPGA stars
• Home sim equipment sales are growing at double-digit rates annually

That’s the kind of data package that gets the FT’s attention. And once they publish, everyone reads it.

What This Means for You

If you’re reading this because you’re thinking about buying a sim — or you already have one and you’re wondering if you made the right call — here’s the short version.

You bought into a market that institutional capital is now validating. That’s good for you. It means:

More products. When the FT signals “this market is real,” manufacturers invest in R&D. We’re going to see better launch monitors, better software, better mats, better screens in the next two years than we’ve seen in the last five.

Better prices. Competition drives prices down. The 2026 launch monitor price war we’re already seeing — SkyTrak+ dropping to $1,495, GC3 extended at $5,249, Square Omni entering at $1,599 — that’s the market working. The FT article makes this trend stronger.

More content. More sim golf on TV. More leagues. More tournaments. More reasons to use the thing you built in your garage.

The FT covering home sims is the moment when a trend stops being a trend and becomes an industry. And if you’ve been sitting on the fence wondering whether to build a sim, the signal is unambiguous: this market isn’t going anywhere.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

The facility boom series on this site has tracked over 100 new sim facilities opening since we started counting. The original “is this a fad” question has been answered with a hard no.

The FT doesn’t write about fads. They write about markets. And on July 5, 2026, they wrote about the home golf simulator market.

If you want to know what the industry looks like from the inside — the products, the prices, the space requirements, the wife-approval playbook — start here. The garage door is open.

More mainstream validation: PGA Tour Superstore sim showrooms → | TGL made sims mainstream → | Facility Boom Update #10 → | Best launch monitors 2026 →