TL;DR
Cliff Stevens, founder of ForeFront Simulator Solutions, and Corey Ferger of The Club Partners say bay count follows purpose: how many members you have, how much space you have, and what the bays are for. Stevens recommends a phased approach, such as starting with three bays and building three more if they are jam packed. For access, clubs can offer 24/7 self-service through apps, automated power-on and door PIN codes, or staff-managed booking that lets the club schedule bartenders and servers.
- Bay count depends on the club’s goal, its ROI story, how many members it has and how much space it has. Space is sometimes the constraint.
- Carnoustie built seven or eight simulator bays as its warm-up area because the course lacks a traditional driving range. Fewer bays could not have handled the number of golfers heading out to play.
- A phased approach lowers risk. A club that is confident it can keep three bays busy can build those first and add three more if they are jam packed.
- 24/7 access calls for a different technology stack: door lock control, power control and automated simulator start-up. With ForeFront’s software, a 2AM booking powers the simulator on at 1:45 and emails the member a door PIN code.
- Bay booking should run in the same member app used for tee times and tennis courts, not on a separate website with a separate login.
- Scheduling lets the club staff to demand. It can put a bartender or server on shift when bays are blocked off for several hours.
How many simulator bays should a club build?
Corey Ferger: It all comes back to what are we trying to accomplish? What do we want to accomplish? What do we have space to accomplish? How do we want to go about accomplishing that? Answering those questions early on in the process will really drive what we’re looking for here.
There’s any number of clubs here in Metro Atlanta where, on a nice day, you can go out there and see an entire driving range completely full. There’s obviously an appetite for folks who want to work on their games. Having a simulator can offload some of that and take some of the stress off the outdoor practice area. If you’re trying to accomplish that, that’s going to look different in the number of bays set up and the number of areas to hit with that data.
Cliff Stevens: I did a Scotland golf trip last year. We were at Carnoustie. Amazing storied golf course, super traditionally Scottish. They had seven or eight amazing simulator bays because they don’t have a great driving range. Scottish golf courses typically don’t. The experience of those courses is you go hit balls into a net off of a mat before you go play, just to get your body moving.
But they recognize that tourists from all over the world expect a driving range, so they put in these amazing simulator bays. Theirs is primarily intended for people to go warm up and practice before they go play the course. They had to build seven or eight because there’s no way you could accommodate all the golfers that are going to go out and play if you didn’t build that many.
It goes back to what are we trying to achieve? What’s the ROI story? How many members do we have? How much space do we have? Sometimes we’re constrained by space. We met with a commercial client yesterday. He’s looking at somewhere between 3,500 and 5,500 square feet in Kennesaw. It was a lot about how many members he thinks he’s going to have, balancing the space for a bar versus a putting green versus the simulator.
Should a club build simulator bays in phases?
Cliff Stevens: We also like to see people consider a phased approach. Maybe this is a new thing for this club, and we want to see how popular it is. We know we can keep three bays busy and make them useful. We think we could do six, so let’s do it in a phased approach. We’ll start with three. If they’re jam packed, we’ll build three more, and we can build that plan intentionally with that in mind.
Should members get 24/7 access to club simulators?
Corey Ferger: Each club is unique. What is important and imperative to one club to accomplish would be an absolute nightmare and impossible for another. I’ve seen some really good, practical applications across a couple different models.
I’ve seen clubs give 24/7 access to members by way of apps, either Pacesetter or some of these other member-facing apps. I think that’s great. Now the problem is you have less control over that experience. If a member is there by themselves at 11:00 at night, there’s additional challenges that come with that. If they were to click a button wrong, mess something up, hit themselves in the ankle with a golf club. There’s probably less access to food and beverage, which hinders the experience.
It depends what the member expectations are and what you’re trying to accomplish. For me, I tend to light up more when a club goes, hey, we want to enhance what we’re already doing for the membership with this offering. Through that, they’re able to have a direct hand in managing that experience. We have the greatest hospitality experts running clubs all over the country. Having them not be involved in that member experience seems like a miss. It’d be like having Patrick Mahomes sitting on the bench and going, I wish we had better quarterback play.
All things being equal, leveraging the staff of the club and the other offerings the club has for the membership to supplement what’s going on with the simulator is always where I’m going to lean. But there are applications for that 24/7 access, for the ability for members to control their own adventure, as well.
Cliff Stevens: If we say we’re going 24/7 access, we need to think about our technology stack differently. If the member books it, how does it give them door access? How do we control the locks to the room? How do we control power? How do we automate turning on the simulators?
We at ForeFront have built our own software that automates turning the simulators on. You can turn them on remotely. We can integrate scheduling software. If a member says, I’m booking the 2AM slot, the simulator fires on at 1:45. They get emailed a door PIN code. It’s not just, I want to be 24/7. Now you’ve got to think about how do I enable that to actually happen, and there’s a lot of logistical and technical things you’ve got to solve.
How should members book simulator bays at a club?
Cliff Stevens: If you’re not going 24/7, how do I manage members booking it? At my country club, we have a little app where I can book a tee time. I hate it when they roll something out, and I have to go to some other website and have some other login. Roll it out on my same little app so I can book the simulator bay. I could book tennis courts, I could book my simulator bay, and I could book my tee times. Not terribly complicated if you think about it on the front end and plan for it and make sure everything you’re implementing coordinates with that.
If you’re not going in an autonomous way, how do we train our staff? Who’s going to be there to make sure the simulator bay turns on appropriately and is working for the member, tidies up after, and makes sure there’s not balls and clubs everywhere?
Corey Ferger: When we’re having that scheduling piece, it allows the club to staff appropriately. If they know we’ve got this blocked off for the next six hours with a handful of different members involved, they can have a bartender on staff. They can have some sort of server available. Whatever that setup is, it allows them to better serve the members utilizing the space as well.
| Access model | How it works | Considerations |
|---|---|---|
| 24/7 self-service | Member-facing apps handle booking; software controls room locks and power, turns simulators on automatically and emails a door PIN code | Less control over the experience, safety concerns for members alone late at night, and less access to food and beverage |
| Staff-managed | Members book through the club app; trained staff make sure the bay is working and tidy up afterward | Club hospitality staff shape the experience, and scheduling lets the club put a bartender or server on shift |
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you decide how many simulator bays a club needs?
Start with what the bays are meant to accomplish, then factor in the ROI story, how many members the club has and how much space is available. A club using simulators to take pressure off a full driving range will need a different bay count than one building a social space.
Can a club add simulator bays over time?
Yes. Cliff Stevens recommends a phased approach: if a club knows it can keep three bays busy and thinks it could support six, it can build three first and add three more if they are jam packed. The initial plan should be designed with the later expansion in mind.
What does 24/7 simulator access require?
The club needs control over room locks and power, plus automated simulator start-up tied to booking. With ForeFront’s software, a member who books a 2AM slot has the simulator power on at 1:45 and receives a door PIN code by email.
What are the downsides of unstaffed 24/7 access?
The club has less control over the experience, and a member alone late at night could make a technical mistake or injure themselves. Food and beverage access is also usually limited, which weakens the experience.
Why does bay scheduling matter for club staffing?
When the club knows bays are blocked off for several hours with members booked, it can schedule a bartender or server to match. Booking should also run through the same member app used for tee times rather than a separate login.
Edited for length and clarity from a recorded conversation with Corey Ferger and Cliff Stevens.
