- Enlightened Hospitality Group, the investment firm co-led by Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer, has invested $20 million in indoor golf entertainment company Five Iron Golf.
- Five Iron Golf has 24 locations, including a new flagship store in New York City's Grand Central Station, offering golf simulator rentals, golf lessons, and food and beverages.
- The investment comes not only as golf's popularity increases, but also as more players play the game off the course than on it.
Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer admits he wasn't always a golfer, but when he finally decided he wanted to start playing, he realized the problems many players have with the sport. I faced it. Difficult to find a course to play.
That led Meyer to take professional golf lessons in an indoor simulator, an experience that ultimately led him and his investment company Enlightened Hospitality Investments to raise $20 million for indoor golf entertainment company Five Iron Golf. This gave us the opportunity to make a minority investment.
“What they're doing in golf is what we always try to do in restaurants, which is make quality food more accessible to more people,” Meyer said. he said.
Founded in 2017, Five Iron Golf has grown to appeal to different types of golfers, CEO Jared Solomon said. The company's stores offer the same type of golf simulators used by professional players, and in addition to leagues and lessons, some are open early in the morning so you can play before work. Solomon said these locations will also have food and drinks and will be available for events and parties, helping Meyer and his team improve the business sector.
“The core of Five Iron Golf is that it's a great place for serious golfers as well as entertainment types,” Solomon said.
The combination of golf and entertainment is driving the growth of the sport. An estimated 45 million people in the United States will play some form of golf in 2023, an increase of about 9% from the previous year and a new record, according to data from the National Golf Foundation.
However, the number of people who only play golf on the course is decreasing, down 9% from the previous year. Rather, it's those who only play the sport off the course, or a combination of both, that are experiencing growth, with these groups increasing by 19% and 17%, respectively, from 2022.
In fact, according to NGF data, there are currently more golf entertainment facilities like Top Golf, separate driving ranges, and golf clubs with simulators and screen golf setups than there are players playing on the course. It is said that there are many players who play in the business.