Denver indoor golf facility swings into Fort Collins

This story first ran on BusinessDen.com, a BizWest news partner.

Kelly Huff has some long drives in his future.

The founder of South Broadway Country Club, an indoor golf training facility with two Denver locations, is preparing to open a third one in Fort Collins early next year. 

“There’s a really awesome golf scene in Fort Collins, and I think there’s a need for what we do.” Huff said. “I love the town, and every time I visit it gets cooler and cooler. My wife went to CSU, so she’s pretty passionate about it as well, so it was an easy option.” 

Huff opened his first location in 2018 at 2265 S. Broadway in the Overland neighborhood, then added the second a year later at 4200 Tennyson Street in Berkeley.  

“I have a pretty long list of students and clients that I’ve developed now, and some of them travel from Fort Collins, and I’ve gone up there to play with them as well, so it felt like the right move,” he added.

Huff leased 3,100 square foot at 17 Old Town Square in downtown Fort Collins. He hopes to open the new location by February. 

The third iteration will keep the South Broadway Country Club name and feature three TrackMan golf simulators and a full bar. Huff hired Denver-based Chord Design Studio to design the space and Dacono-based Symmetry Builders to handle construction, which will include custom bays and garage doors overlooking Old Town’s amphitheater.

Customers can reserve the TrackMan simulators for $50 an hour, which is about 18 holes, or book a lesson from Huff or other golf instructors on the machines. Private lessons cost $125 for 30 minutes or $200 for an hour. Huff is hoping to hire two teaching professionals for the new Fort Collins location.

“I use the best technology, and I want a true golfer to appreciate the experience, but it’s also a cool hangout scene for non-golfers, too,” Huff said. “The other locations have been doing really well, and the pandemic was actually good for golf.”

Huff said that 60 percent of South Broadway Country Club’s revenue comes from its golf operations— split evenly between bay bookings and private lessons— and 40 percent comes from alcohol sales. There is no food service. 

In addition to the Fort Collins location, Huff said he plans to expand his Tennyson spot: he took over DriveTrain Fitness’ 2,200-square-foot space above South Broadway Country Club after the Lagree studio moved to Westminster this year. 

He plans to call the expansion the “Crow’s Nest” and add a wider, elevated bay with another TrackMan simulator and a cocktail and whiskey bar.

“It’ll be sort of like a VIP bay, and there will be tufted leather and a little more of swankier country club lounge feel upstairs,” Huff said.

Huff will face more competition than when he moved to Denver to open his first South Broadway Country Club. GC Lounge, originally slated to be called Swingers Golf Club, is getting ready to open in City Park West, and Stick & Feather, a 6,000-square-foot bar with five golf simulators, is expected to open in Clayton’s York Street Yards this winter. Tom’s Watch Bar in McGregor Square, meanwhile, has Topgolf simulators.

But Huff said these new establishments have a different business model.

“The difference is that we’re golf first, and that’s how I set out for it to be instead of just a bar where you can play golf,” he said. “I’ve been a golf professional for 15 years in and out of country clubs all around the country as director of instruction, and I just wanted to build my own indoor country club that focuses on golf, but you also have the opportunity to hang out and bring friends as well.”

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