Club Twirl Golf Lounge in Phoenix hosts a Thursday night golf league, where players come to practice their game and unwind after work. (Photo by Max Williams/Cronkite News)
PHOENIX – Professional golfers make their way to the Valley every year for the PGA Tour’s WM Phoenix Open – which is the crown jewel of local golf events – the PGA Tour Champions Charles Schwab Cup Championship and the LPGA Tour’s Ford Championship.
But even the best of the best have noticed the positive trend of taking the game indoors with virtual golf simulators, especially Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.
The two PGA Tour legends founded the Tomorrow Golf League, which wraps up its inaugural season with a three-match final that began Monday. The new tech-infused, team-based golf league combines real golf elements like putting greens and bunkers with modern simulator technology on an extra large scale. TGL golfers tee off from real grass tee boxes to play custom-designed virtual holes projected onto a 64-by-53-foot screen, more than 24 times larger than a standard golf simulator screen.
As the temperature in the Valley rises, golfers tend to look for cooler places to practice their swing. With local businesses such as Desert Links Indoor Golf Club, amateur players can enjoy a similar experience to TGL, but on a smaller scale.
The indoor golf facility in Phoenix, which Busacca opened in September 2024, uses a Trackman launch monitor to accurately record and track golfers’ swings, ball speed and flight. The Trackman iO (indoor optimized) is a ceiling-mounted compact design that combines radar, infrared and high-speed imaging to produce real ball and club data, including measured 3D spin and spin axis.
In 2024, Trackman tracked an average of 100 shots every second, according to Joe Rosenthal, Trackman’s regional sales manager of the Southwest U.S. The company also saw 48% growth in the total number of shots tracked compared to 2023.
“(Trackman’s) ability to consistently put out new practice environments and tools, new coaching tools, new golf courses, new games for friends and families to enjoy, and everything that goes on in that software; it’s not just designed for one segment of golfer, it’s designed for all types of golfers and all types of businesses.
“Ultimately, I think that’s super advantageous,” Rosenthal said.
Former GCU golfer and current golf instructor Terence Daniels watches during Club Twirl Golf Lounge’s Thursday night league. (Photo by Max Williams/Cronkite News)
Desert Links preaches convenience, providing a fully autonomous indoor golf facility open to the public 24/7. After reserving one of the two golf simulator bays, golfers are granted a code to punch in at the door for access – and it’s as easy as that. Even golfers with the most unconventional schedules can find time to work on their game.
“We have one guy who works until 11 o’clock at night … He hasn’t calmed down from work yet, so he comes in here, burns some energy just hitting some balls. He’s got the place to himself,” Busacca said.
Busacca goes above and beyond to make his guests feel at home. With NFL Redzone, Sunday Ticket and other live sports on the two televisions in each golf bay, customers can play a round while feeling like they haven’t left their living room.
Busacca said it can be a great gathering place for friends, who can “come in here, they can watch live sports, they can bring food … play 18, just have everything kind of right there for them.”
Much of what draws customers to the simulators is the opportunity to play on courses that they otherwise might never get the chance to play, layouts such as Pebble Beach Golf Links or Augusta National Golf Club.
At Loft Golf Studios in Tempe, players can even experience the infamous 16th hole of TPC Scottsdale made famous by the stadium-like setup there during the WM Phoenix Open, complete with booing from the virtual crowd if a golfer misses the green and, of course, cheers if the ball finds the green.
Pete Jacobson, co-owner of Loft Golf Studios, chose to utilize the Uneekor EYE XO2 launch monitor, which allows players to tee off from user-created custom courses. This feature caters to the imagination of users, some creating courses that go beyond what a real-life course could possibly offer.
“You can play all these fancy courses that cost hundreds of dollars to play at, but in your neighborhood,” said Anthony Bohorquez, a league member at Club Twirl Golf Lounge in North Phoenix. Bohorquez also happens to be a new father and being a member of the indoor golf community allows him to continue to find time to work on his game while caring for his little one.
Suvansh Arora, owner of Club Twirl Golf Lounge, emphasizes the importance of the community of indoor golf. Arora organized a league where players can come together every Thursday to compete and work on their game.
“Just to be able to have a spot where … like-minded people can just practice after work and unwind and have a good time and work on their game, and it still stays a part of their life even after they transition into either corporate America or a full-time gig” Arora said.
Terence Daniels is a former Grand Canyon University golfer and current instructor at Club Twirl in addition to his full-time job. Daniels said simulator golf has helped players with a wide range of skill sets improve their game – and for a lot less money.
“Places like this are popping up everywhere. All over the country. Golf is expensive, so places like this are kind of a happy medium,” Daniels said.
