Business
Bryson DeChambeau behind new Topgolf competitor, UnderPar Life
After a successful season that included two individual wins and the LIV Golf Team title, Bryson DeChambeau hopes his next major golf victory comes in the business world.
The 2020 U.S. Open champion is the headlining name in a group planning to launch UnderPar Life, which is billed as a competitor to Topgolf. According to D Magazine, the company's first location will be at Hawks Creek Golf Course, a municipal course just outside of Fort Worth.
“Expense is a barrier to most things in life,” Dechambeau told D Magazine. “It is an unusually high barrier to experience the joy of golf. UnderPar Life at Hawks Creek is the first of many locations designed to redefine access to golf by reducing cost barriers. Our initiatives are geared toward making golf more affordable, approachable, and enjoyable for everyone. Our approach, partnering with municipally owned golf courses, removes significant financial obstacles and allows us to grow the community of golfers.”
The two-story, 16,000-square-foot venue is expected to have 42 hitting bays in addition to a short game practice area. There will also be a fitness area, a golf academy, three bars, and a kitchen led by celebrity chef Christian Lehrmann. Here's a look at more renderings of the project:
"UnderPar Life will be, hands down, the premier public-use golf practice facility in the state of Texas," co-founder David Deering said. “And it could very well be the premier facility in the entire United States."
Construction on the project is expected to break ground sometime before the end of the year, with the first UnderPar Life to be completed 12 to 18 months after that. But that's just the beginning with investors are planning to open 30 locations across the country.
“We think we will have regular customers who never hit a golf ball,” Deering added. “No one has ever said, ‘Hey let’s go to the Topgolf for lunch,’ but people will do that at UnderPar Life.”