Business Concepts
Top Golf Competitors: 6 Topgolf Alternatives Compared
Top golf competitors compared: Drive Shack, Five Iron, PopStroke and more. See which Topgolf competitor fits your group, skill levels and budget per bay.
The top golf competitors are Drive Shack, BigShots Golf, Five Iron Golf, X-Golf, PopStroke and Main Event Entertainment. Each one copies a different slice of what Topgolf does well: the hitting bays, the food and drink menu, the tech, or simply the night out with friends who have never held a golf club.
Quick answer
Drive Shack is Topgolf's closest direct competitor, with outdoor hitting bays, a full-service restaurant and Puttery mini golf. Indoor golf simulators like Five Iron Golf and X-Golf compete on year-round, all-weather play and real golf instruction. PopStroke and Main Event win the casual crowd that wants putting, bowling or an arcade more than a full swing.
Key takeaways
- Drive Shack is the most direct Topgolf alternative, but it now operates in only three markets.
- Topgolf owns Toptracer technology, so most rivals track the ball with Trackman radar instead.
- Indoor golf simulators are the fastest-growing group of Topgolf competitors and the best pick for golf practice.
- Pick by intent: birthday parties and corporate events, or golf lessons, stats and club fitting.
Who Are the Top Golf Competitors Today?
Topgolf sits in the entertainment and leisure industry as much as in golf. Its rivals split into three camps: outdoor venues with a driving range and hitting bays, indoor golf simulators, and putting or multi-sport venues. Each camp attacks a different part of the original idea.
Ownership changed too. Topgolf Callaway Brands sold a 60% stake in Topgolf and Toptracer to Leonard Green & Partners, effective January 1, 2026, at a valuation of about $1.1 billion, according to the company's SEC filing. Callaway kept 40% and went back to the name Callaway Golf Company.
That makes Topgolf a venue chain backed by private equity, not an equipment maker's side project. It is a useful case study for our business concepts library: one company creates a category, then rivals pick it apart from the premium end and the budget end at the same time.
What Topgolf Offers That Every Competitor Must Match
Topgolf offers a package built for non-golfers: climate-controlled bays, a long food and drink menu, event spaces, and games for all skill levels. It strips out golf's slow pace and dress codes. Points come from microchipped golf balls landing in targets, so a first-timer and a scratch golfer can compete in the same bay.
The result is an interactive golfing experience that feels closer to bowling than to a round on a golf course. Nobody walks 18 holes, nobody waits on a slow group at the tee, and the golf game resets every few minutes.
No competitor matches all four pillars. Some copy the social energy, with something for everyone in the group. Others copy the golf experience and the data. Reading which pillar a rival leans on tells you who it is built for before you book a bay.
Drive Shack, BigShots and Other Venue-Based Topgolf Alternatives
Drive Shack is the venue most people mean when they ask for a Topgolf alternative. It pairs hitting bays with a full-service restaurant and an 18-hole Puttery mini golf course, and it now operates in Raleigh, Richmond and West Palm Beach.
Its pricing model is the detail to know. Drive Shack rents bays by the hour rather than per person, with up to 6 guests sharing one bay, according to its own FAQ. A full bay of six is cheap per head; a pair is not.
BigShots Golf, run by club operator Invited, is the other outdoor venue brand. It mixes its own interactive games with Trackman virtual courses, which appeals to golfers who want real numbers between rounds of a party game. Check the location list before planning a trip, since it has far fewer venues than Topgolf.
Regional operators fill the gaps between the chains. 4ORE Golf in Lubbock, Texas, for example, runs climate-controlled tee boxes with ball tracking, a full-service grille and a cocktail lounge. Single-site venues like this compete on local loyalty rather than national scale.
Why Most Topgolf Competitors Track the Ball With Trackman
Most comparison lists skip this. Toptracer, the camera-based ball-tracking system you see on golf broadcasts, belongs to Topgolf and was part of the same 2026 sale. Topgolf markets it as industry-leading Toptracer technology, and a direct competitor that installs it is paying its rival for the core of its gameplay.
So the main challengers chose Trackman, a radar system that pro tours and coaches already trust. Drive Shack, BigShots and Five Iron all run on it. For the guest, that means accurate stats on ball speed, carry and spin, providing real-time feedback of the kind a coach would use in a lesson.
Topgolf's real moat was never the golf. It was turning a driving range into a place non-golfers want to spend an evening.
Golf Simulators: The Indoor Topgolf Competitors
The fastest-growing group of Topgolf competitors never builds an outfield at all. Indoor golf simulators recreate famous golf courses on a screen using high-speed sensors and 3D ball flight. They are climate-controlled and open year-round, which matters in cold cities and on rainy weekends.
Five Iron Golf is the scale leader. It reports more than 50 locations across 20+ states and seven countries, and on September 30, 2026 it announced Five Iron Studio, a 3,000 to 5,000 square foot format with three to five Trackman simulator rooms.
X-Golf is the franchise alternative, with its own simulator technology and a strong presence in suburban strip centers. Both brands sell golf lessons, leagues and practice time per hour, so the same bay that hosts a birthday on Saturday can run a swing session on Monday morning.
For serious golfers, this tech-driven, state-of-the-art simulation is where practice happens. Pair a simulator membership with a shot-tracking sensor like Arccos on your own golf equipment and you have an advanced golf setup, not just a night out. Some studios add fitting, so you can test a new club before you buy it.
The trade-off is atmosphere. A simulator room rarely has the crowd, music or rooftop buzz of an outdoor venue, and the food is often closer to pizza and bar snacks than a full kitchen. It suits people who care more about the game of golf than the party around it.
PopStroke and Main Event: Casual Topgolf Competitors
PopStroke, the putting venue backed by Tiger Woods, drops the full swing entirely. It builds two 18-hole putting courses on synthetic turf with fairways, bunkers and rough, then adds digital scoring and phone ordering. Families and mixed groups like it because nobody needs golf skills to play.
Main Event Entertainment, owned by Dave & Buster's, is the broadest rival. Golf there means mini golf, next to lanes where you can bowl, laser tag, billiards and a large arcade. For birthday parties where half the group will never swing a club, that versatile, laid-back format often wins.
Top Golf Competitors Compared Side by Side
| Competitor | Format | Best for | Ball tracking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drive Shack | Outdoor bays + Puttery mini golf | Closest Topgolf experience | Trackman radar |
| BigShots Golf | Outdoor hitting bays | Golfers who want a venue | Trackman + own games |
| Five Iron Golf | Indoor golf simulators | Lessons, leagues, winter practice | Trackman simulators |
| X-Golf | Indoor simulator franchise | Local, all-weather play | Proprietary simulator |
| PopStroke | Outdoor putting courses | Families, mixed skill levels | Digital scoring app |
| Main Event | Bowling, arcade, mini golf | Kids' parties, big groups | None (casual games) |
The Business Economics Behind Topgolf Alternatives
A Topgolf-style venue is a heavy bet. The land, multi-level bays and tracking hardware are fixed assets. Depreciation, in plain terms, means their book value is written down every year whether the bays are full or empty. A simulator studio carries a fraction of that cost.
Scale is Topgolf's answer. By definition, economies of scale mean costs per unit fall as volume grows, so a chain with more than 100 venues spreads menus, marketing and software across every site. Smaller rivals cannot match that, so they chase niches instead.
The risk on both sides is overproduction of venues: building more bays than a market fills on a Tuesday night. That is why the newest formats, like Five Iron Studio, are smaller. The same unbundling logic shows up in how reintermediation reshapes an industry.
How to Choose Between Topgolf Competitors
Start with intent. For a gathering with food, drinks and a rooftop bar where skill levels do not matter, Drive Shack or a Topgolf venue fits best. For a group that wants variety, Main Event and PopStroke cater to people who would rather bowl or putt.
For golf practice that lowers your handicap, choose an indoor simulator. You trade the outdoor venue energy for accurate data, golf lessons and a mobile app that logs every shot. Weather tips the scale too: simulators are the safe year-round pick in northern cities.
Book big occasions early. Father’s Day, holiday corporate events and graduation weekends fill venues fast, and many venues ask for a deposit or minimum spend for event spaces. Topgolf created the category, and its rivals are winning by niche, a pattern we cover in the benefits and risks of innovation.
Top Golf Competitors: FAQ
Who is Topgolf's biggest competitor?
Drive Shack is Topgolf's biggest direct competitor, with hitting bays, Trackman ball tracking, Puttery mini golf and a full-service restaurant, though it now runs in only three US markets.
Which places are Topgolf competitors with a similar experience?
The Topgolf competitors with the most similar experience are Drive Shack and BigShots Golf, which both offer outdoor hitting bays, ball tracking and food service, plus local driving ranges that have installed tracking bays.
Which brands are Topgolf competitors indoors?
Five Iron Golf and X-Golf are the main indoor Topgolf competitors, both built on golf simulators that run year-round and add lessons, leagues and practice time.
Are golf equipment companies Topgolf competitors?
No, golf equipment companies are mostly partners or owners rather than Topgolf competitors: Callaway still owns 40% of Topgolf, and radar maker Trackman supplies the tech that rival venues use.
Are top golf competitors cheaper than Topgolf?
Top golf competitors are often cheaper per person for full groups, because venues like Drive Shack price bays by the hour, but a simulator booked for one or two people can cost more per head.