TruGolf Links Opens Its First Flagship. The 100-Location Plan Starts Here.

Yesterday, at the Plaza at Cherry Hill in New Jersey, Cherry Hill Mayor Dave Fleisher picked up a pair of oversized scissors and cut a ribbon in front of a 6,045-square-foot space that used to be just another retail unit. The crowd included franchisee Nick Reimondo, TruGolf corporate brass, and a handful of locals who wandered over from the mall.

They were there to open the first TruGolf Links franchise location. And if TruGolf’s ambitions are real — and the commitments they’ve signed say they are — you’re going to see a lot more of these ribbon cuttings.

TruGolf (Nasdaq: TRUG) has been selling golf simulators for decades. They’re a technology and manufacturing company based in Utah. They make the hardware, the software, the enclosures. They’ve got a Nasdaq listing and a SPAC merger in their rearview mirror. But selling simulators to other people is a different business than building your own venues. This Cherry Hill opening is the test of whether TruGolf can do what Topgolf did: turn a hardware business into a hospitality brand.

What Actually Opened

The Cherry Hill venue sits at 6,045 square feet in the Plaza at Cherry Hill, right next to the Cherry Hill Mall and anchored by Guitar Center, Aldi, and Total Wine & More. It’s a franchise operated by Nick Reimondo, who brings 17 years of hospitality experience and signed on as a regional developer.

Inside, you get:

• Five premium simulator bays, including the flagship Horizon simulator with a 17-foot screen and an elevated platform
• More than 17,000 courses in the library, including local New Jersey tracks like Pennsauken, Rancocas, and Medford Lake
• A chef-inspired restaurant and full-service bar, because the “eatertainment” model requires the “eating” part to be as good as the “tainment” part
• A multisport arcade for the non-golfers in your group
• League play, private lessons, and memberships starting at $99/month
• Walk-in hourly bay rentals starting at $60/hour

The grand opening celebration continues through this weekend (Aug 7-8) with PXG’s mobile fitting van on site, a live radio broadcast from SOJO 104.9, and the kind of closest-to-the-pin contest where the prize is Ed Sheeran tickets.

Yes, Ed Sheeran tickets. The golf simulator business is weird now. Get used to it.

The Bigger Play

This is not a single location opening. That would be a local news story. This is the pilot for a franchise model that TruGolf has been working on since at least August 2024, when they first announced the TruGolf Links concept.

Here’s the math that matters:

TruGolf has signed regional developer agreements covering New Jersey, New York, and Illinois. Those developers have collectively committed to more than 100 future locations. Signed leases are already in place for Westbury and Farmingdale, New York, targeting Fall 2026 openings.

That’s the number. One hundred locations. For context, Topgolf has about 100 locations globally after nearly 25 years of operation. Five Iron Golf has around 30 locations across 20 states and 7 countries. X-Golf has about 40 locations worldwide.

If TruGolf executes on 100 locations in the next few years — and the Cherry Hill flagship is the proof of concept — they skip straight into the top tier of indoor golf venue operators. Not by growing slowly. By franchising aggressively.

The Franchise Math

TruGolf’s model is asset-light on the corporate side. The company is selling simulators, software, and brand rights to franchisees like Reimondo, who put up the capital for the buildout and operations. Corporate collects franchise fees, equipment sales, and ongoing software revenue. The franchisee takes the construction risk and the operational headache.

This is the same model that turned McDonald’s into a real estate company that happens to sell hamburgers. TruGolf wants to be a franchise company that happens to sell simulator bays.

The question is whether the unit economics work at $60/hour with $99/month memberships. Cherry Hill will be the first real test. If Reimondo’s location starts generating the kind of EBITDA that attracts more franchisees, the 100-location commitment turns into 200, then 500. If it struggles, the expansion stalls before it leaves the parking lot.

Why This Matters for the Industry

Every simulator venue that opens is a data point in a much larger story: the normalization of indoor golf as a social activity.

Five years ago, simulator venues were mostly pro shops with a hitting bay in the back. The business model was lesson-driven. You went to see your coach, hit some balls on the simulator, and left.

Today, we’re watching the emergence of a pure entertainment model. Simulator bays as the centerpiece of a night out. Food, drinks, arcade games, and a 17-foot screen showing Royal Melbourne instead of the game. No lesson required. No membership needed. Just show up, rent a bay, and hit balls.

TruGolf’s Cherry Hill location is a bet that this market is big enough to support a dedicated franchise brand. The 17,000-course library, the chef-driven menu, the multisport arcade — they’re optimizing for the group that shows up looking for something to do on a Friday night, not the golfer who wants to dial in his irons before a Saturday round.

Both customers exist. The question is which one fills enough bays to pay for a 6,045-square-foot buildout.

The Competition

TruGolf Links enters a crowded and growing market.

Topgolf is the 800-pound gorilla. They’ve got the brand recognition, the real estate portfolio, and the entertainment infrastructure that comes from 25 years of operation. Leonard Green & Partners just acquired a 60% stake. They’re not going anywhere.

Five Iron Golf is the premium option. Sim-only (no Topgolf-style driving range), higher-end food and beverage, and a membership model that appeals to serious golfers. They just opened at London’s Broadgate campus and have an Abu Dhabi location on the way. They’re backed by Coral Tree Partners, North Castle Partners, Callaway Golf, and Danny Meyer’s hospitality group. They’re well-capitalized and growing internationally. For the full competitive landscape, see our indoor golf franchise war analysis and Five Iron vs X-Golf vs Back Nine operator comparison.

X-Golf runs about 40 locations globally with a franchise model similar to TruGolf’s. They’ve been at it longer and have a proven playbook. They also sell their simulators directly, same as TruGolf.

Golf VX is the technology leader. Their new Quantum platform with 4,000 fps cameras and a moving terrain plate raised the bar on what’s technically possible in a commercial sim. But they’re operating their own locations, not franchising. Different growth model.

TruGolf’s differentiator is the Nasdaq listing. Being a public company gives them access to capital markets that private franchise operators don’t have. They can raise money, issue stock, and fund expansion in ways that X-Golf and Golf VX can’t. Whether that’s an advantage or a liability depends entirely on execution. For the broader trend of venue expansion, see our Five Iron Golf London flagship coverage and Topgolf media networks launch.

The Risk

Let me be clear about what I’m not saying. I’m not saying TruGolf Links is the next Topgolf. Topgolf built its brand on a differentiated driving-range experience that doesn’t require simulator technology. TruGolf is building a simulator venue that competes with other simulator venues. That’s a harder sell to the general public, because the general public doesn’t know what a simulator is the way they know what a driving range is.

I’m also not ignoring the financial picture. TruGolf reported roughly $22 million in annual revenue for 2024. They’re loss-making. They completed a 1-for-10 reverse stock split recently. There’s significant dilution risk. The company is a speculative micro-cap turnaround story as much as it is an ambitious franchise expansion.

But the franchise commitments are real. The Cherry Hill location is real. And the broader trend — indoor golf as entertainment, not just practice — is real.

What to Watch

Over the next six months, watch three things:

1. Cherry Hill’s utilization. How many bookings per bay per week? What’s the average spend per visit? If the numbers look good, more franchisees sign. If they don’t, the expansion slows.

2. The Westbury and Farmingdale openings. If TruGolf hits its Fall 2026 timeline for the New York locations, that’s a signal that the franchise model is repeatable. If those slip into 2027, it tells you something about the complexity of the buildout.

3. Same-store revenue trends for TruGolf’s core hardware business. Franchising is the growth story, but TruGolf still needs its manufacturing and direct sales business to keep the lights on while the venue pipeline ramps up. If that core business deteriorates, the whole house of cards gets shaky.

The Bottom Line

TruGolf Links Cherry Hill is a small opening with big implications. The first TruGolf Links franchise is now live. The ribbon is cut. The simulators are on. The food is being cooked.

If this works, you’re going to see TruGolf Links locations in every mid-sized market in the Northeast within five years. Not because the technology is revolutionary — it’s not, TruGolf’s sims are solid but not class-leading — but because the business model is smarter than most of what’s out there.

A Nasdaq-listed hardware company pivoting to franchised hospitality is an unusual move. But the sim industry is unusual territory. The old rules don’t apply. And sometimes the best strategy in a gold rush is selling shovels through franchisees who know their local markets better than corporate ever will.

Cherry Hill is the test. We’ll know by Christmas whether it passed.

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