X-Golf Takes Full Advantage of Simulator Craze and Golf’s Tumultuous Growth By Dave Silbar
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f you haven’t heard of X-Golf yet, odds are good that you will soon. The Los Angeles-based chain of virtual golf/restaurant-bar entertainment centers is hoping to increasing the number of Chicago area locations from 3 to 13 in the next year. Those numbers are in line with parent company, X-Golf America, which is planning to increase the number of centers on a national scale from 44 currently to 80 in operation by the end of 2022. It’s been a wild ride not only for the company, but for Illinois native and DePaul University graduate Ryan D’Arcy, X-Golf CEO, who started as an account executive with the company a decade ago. In that time, X-Golf has grown into one of the largest chains of golf simulator centers,
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and is widely known for having the best technology in the booming virtual golf industry. That technology is especially noteworthy in the short game and putting areas, normally the thorn in the side of any golf simulator experience. Putting accuracy on the Korean-designed X-Golf system is enhanced by an infrared laser that hovers just a foot away from the golf ball gathering all pertinent stroke data (roll speed, direction off the face, etc.) immediately upon impact. Like most, if not all simulators, green undulation is clearly displayed on the screen, making gauging slope and reading breaks a breeze. “The struggle a lot of our competitors face is short game playability so chipping and putting has traditionally been a sore subject for indoor golf,” adds D’Arcy. “When we were launching our first few centers, a lot of our new customers asked if they could turn chipping and putting off. Our answer was always ‘no’ and they’d tell us our competitors
