Five Iron’s new live cash competitions will revolutionize the definition of ‘simulator golf’

Five Iron Golf is doing for golf competition what daily fantasy sports did for sports fans—making meaningful competition available whenever players have time to play. The company’s new product, Five Iron Tournaments, lets golfers put real money on the line and compete on a simulator in an hour or less, no tee time or foursome required.

Instead of waiting for league night or coordinating a foursome, golfers can walk into any Five Iron in 15 markets and 11 states, including Washington D.C., enter a live cash tournament, play whenever it fits their schedule and compete against golfers across the country.

Jared Solomon, CEO of Five Iron Golf, compares the platform to the evolution of online poker—always available, data-driven and built around flexible competition.

Players can enter closest-to-the-pin contests, longest drive competitions, stroke play events, scrambles and more, with live leaderboards, digital payouts and real-time standings. During a recent demo, our writer won a closest-to-the-pin competition within five minutes of arriving at one of Five Iron’s seven New York City locations—proof of how quickly the platform can hook a golfer with limited time.

“This is a response to the trends we’ve observed and what people want and enjoy,” Solomon said. “People are asking for more opportunities for social competition, and this is a great way to do that.”

The Five Iron Tournament product is now live after three years of development with beta testing occurring late last year. Among 1,000 users, participants entered more than 20,000 tournaments—meaning each user entered an average of 20 competitions—incredible repeat engagement that proved to the company its product was a game-changer.

Martin Adler, the President of New Ventures at Five Iron Golf, points to what may be the most telling shift in the data: People don’t just hit balls anymore. They practice with purpose. Adding stakes to every swing turns idle bay time into something closer to competitive preparation, and that shift—from casual practice to purposeful competition—is poised to change the industry. Rather than needing a specific night of the week to free up for league play, Five Iron Tournaments weaves into members’ lives whenever they have time, offering ongoing competition against real opponents instead of a fixed schedule.

“At all the times of the day, it feels like league night,” said Co-Founder and Chief Golf Office Mike Doyle. That’s exactly what Five Iron is trying to recreate: the excitement of league night without requiring everyone to show up at the same time. The company already built the largest indoor golf league in the world. Now, with a tournament running every hour, league night doesn’t have to happen once a week—it can happen every night, for every golfer, on their own schedule. Five Iron has noticed golfers monitoring their leaderboard position repeatedly, returning to replay events in an effort to improve their standing, a behavior you wouldn’t observe at any other traditional simulator.

The executives at Five Iron Golf have also thought a lot about understanding players’ abilities and creating opportunities for all levels, from beginners to experts. The Five Iron Tournaments interface will create flighted events, so users of all abilities can compete against members of similar skill levels—fairness and accessibility that Doyle points to as key to making the product work.

Five Iron Tournaments will launch in New York City, Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Atlanta, Washington D.C., Indianapolis, Las Vegas, Seattle and venues across Florida, Kentucky and Ohio—with Baltimore, Minneapolis, and Oklahoma to follow shortly.

Five Iron’s national footprint is what has turned its idea into a game-changer. It takes standardized technology across every bay, so a shot in Seattle means the same thing as a shot in Atlanta, a national player base large enough to fill competitions, a digital wallet to move money instantly and enough locations to create real liquidity in every tournament.

With more than 50 locations and over 500 simulators nationwide, Five Iron has quietly built something golf has never really had before—a persistent competitive network where golfers can compete for real money against players across the country whenever they have an hour to spare.