Golf is a $100 billion industry built on history, exclusivity, and a lot of slow Saturday mornings.
But as a legacy pastime, it's currently colliding with three unstoppable forces: record golf participation, rapidly advancing tech, and decreasing course supply.
Just as bowling alleys have morphed into lounge-style hangouts and arcades transformed into esports arenas, golf has also been quietly reinventing itself.
Have you noticed?
The days of needing four hours, a dress code, and perfect weather to play 18 holes are changing as more curated options become available.
Now, you are seeing more simulators with swing analytics and spaces designed for convenience, fun, and flexibility.
For years, “indoor golf” meant a couple of simulators shoved into the back of a bar as a novelty, rather than the main event.
Then came the wave of massive open-bay facilities that brought golf indoors at scale, but often with trade-offs like crowded spaces, a customer experience that leaves something to be desired, and the same operational headaches as running a restaurant.
These models are all great in their own respective right, but they also miss something critical: the modern player doesn’t just want entertainment. They also want ease, personalization, and the ability to play when they want, not when the clubhouse opens.
They want to play more golf, but on their terms.
That’s where Another Nine comes in, but not in the way you’d expect.
This company wasn’t born from a franchising think tank or Silicon Valley startup. It began in 2023 with two dads in Cincinnati who loved golf but hated how hard it was to find time to play consistently.
Between work schedules, kids’ activities, and unpredictable Midwest weather, finding four hours to hit the course became a challenge all of a sudden and any indoor options left something to be desired.
They asked a simple question: “What if we built the experience we wanted - elevated, private suites, the best tech - and it was accessible and flexible to our schedules? ”
The answer became Cincinnati’s first 24/7, fully self-service indoor golf facility.
Picture this: all-private simulator suites, 350+ courses to choose from, BYOB mini-fridges, full audio-visual setups, and seamless booking through a proprietary operating system that lets you reserve a suite at 10 PM on a Tuesday if that’s when you’ve got the time.
What started as a passion project quickly caught fire. Locals loved it so much they assumed it was already a franchise and began asking, “When are you opening one in my neighborhood?”
The demand from golfers was what they were hoping for, but the unexpected demand for the model revealed what the founders had really built: a turnkey business tailor-made for franchising.
Now, Another Nine is proving that tech, simplicity, and hospitality can converge to reshape not just how people golf, but how franchisees build businesses.
So with that being said, let’s get into the details of how Another Nine is executing on a vision bigger than they initially imagined.
