Every golf simulator venue starts as an empty unit and a long list of decisions: how many bays, how members will book, how they’ll get in on a dark winter morning. Then the build runs long, and the founders find a way through.
Founders to Watch is a series about those founders, newly open or still months from their first booking. We ask what drew them in, why they chose their spot and what they’ve learned.
Vol. 1 meets four of them, from a converted warehouse in Culver City to a putting-led club taking shape in Pitt Meadows. Two share a name: The Turn in Camp Hill and The Turn in Miamisburg are separate, independent clubs. If you’re planning your own venue, their advice is the part to bookmark.
Founder: DJ Kim, CEO & Co-Founder
Opening: Now open (soft launch October 2026)
Where: 3375B Robertson Place, Los Angeles, CA 90034
Website: framegolf.com
Follow: Instagram
Four private simulator bays, a lounge and a coworking space on the Culver City border, open 6am to 10pm. DJ Kim’s version: “a membership focused golf simulator in Culver City with coworking space.”
First Tee – how the founder got started
DJ and his co-founder, Ben, run an offshore staffing agency, and they’d started golfing with friends they met in LA. Their landlord had a big warehouse sitting empty next to their office, and the logic was simple: “We’re already paying for this office space across the street. We might as well have a cool office. And we like golf.” They built the agency’s office into one side and turned the rest into a golf club.
Home Course – why this location
Culver City is home to big tech and film offices, from Apple and Amazon to HBO and Sony. DJ is building for the working professionals who golf, plus the creatives across West LA, and he says Framegolf is the only golf simulator club in Culver City.
Signature Hole – what makes the business unique
Most LA simulator venues DJ has seen lead with food and drink, or with technical golf. Framegolf is built as a casual place to work and hang out, and it hosted its first corporate event, for 30 to 40 people, before the soft launch. The founders are software developers and built their own membership system, down to face ID at the front door. Founding members pay three months up front for a lifetime rate, and their names will go on a Founders Wall.
“Assume it’s going to take three to four times longer than you think.”
DJ Kim, CEO & Co-Founder at Framegolf
Out of the Rough – the biggest challenge in getting open
The plan was six weeks. It took three months, most of it spent making the space look good and work properly. Now it’s open, the focus is getting members in.
An empty warehouse turned into four private bays, a lounge and a place to work between rounds. Framegolf is already open in Culver City, and its first founding members will see their names go up on the Founders Wall.
Founders: Mike Way, President & Co-Founder; Erik Shingle, CFO & Co-Founder; Jake Friedman, Co-Founder
Opening: November 2026
Where: 3730 Market Street, Camp Hill, PA 17011
Website: theturnindoor.com
Follow: Instagram, Facebook
Private TrackMan bays on one of Camp Hill’s busiest streets, built by three friends who couldn’t find a free simulator one winter. In Jake Friedman’s words, it’s “an open space for golfers of any community, any age, any background.”
First Tee – how the founders got started
Mike, Erik and Jake golf together most weeks. One winter they went looking for simulator time, and “everywhere we looked was booked.” Half joking, they said they should open their own, until it started to sound like “maybe that’s not such a bad idea.” The three met through hockey: Jake and Mike played on the same men’s league team for years, and Erik joined the group through a family friend.
Home Course – why this location
The Turn sits on Market Street, with steady traffic, plenty of parking and restaurants all around. The founders live 30 to 40 minutes away, but locals know the spot straight away: “Any time I talk to someone, I’m like, oh, it’s right here.” The club is built for everyone, from first-timers, kids and women getting into the game to local pros and club champions keeping sharp through the winter.
Signature Hole – what makes the business unique
It’s independent by design. Mike knows construction, Jake knows real estate and marketing, Erik knows the numbers, so paying a franchise for what they could do themselves never made sense. Guests bring their own food and drink, with restaurants “literally next door.” And the bigger idea is keeping friend groups and couples together through long winters, “through a sport that is so seasonal.”
“We just didn’t really see it necessary to pay someone else to do what we could do ourselves.”
Jake Friedman, Co-Founder at The Turn Indoor Golf
Out of the Rough – the biggest challenge in getting open
The build-out took the longest. The hardest part, Jake says, was “having three brains all trying to decide,” from paint colors to which wall moves where.
Course Notes – advice for anyone opening a venue
Their advice comes straight from Mike’s construction work and Jake’s real estate: start by “making sure you have good contractors,” hold to your timelines, and don’t waste time or money you don’t need to.
Three friends who couldn’t find a free bay one winter built the club they were looking for. At The Turn, Camp Hill’s golfers get a place to keep their game sharp and their group together all winter.
Founding memberships are on sale now at The Turn Indoor Golf →
Founders: Phil Wilson, Co-Founder; Rachelle Wilson, Co-Founder
Opening: Aiming for January 2027
Where: #217 19100 Airport Way, Pitt Meadows, BC
Website: goldenpargolf.ca
Follow: Instagram
Simulator bays, a PuttView putting green and a licensed bistro in Pitt Meadows. Rachelle Wilson calls it a “premium indoor experience with a social aspect.”
First Tee – how the founders got started
One day Phil Wilson came to his wife, Rachelle, with an idea and a warning: don’t laugh. Ten years into a career in construction, the work “wasn’t filling my cup,” he says. Golf already ran through their story: their second date was on a course, and they married on one. Rachelle didn’t laugh. “Right away, I just was like, that’s a fabulous idea. Let’s do it.”
Home Course – why this location
Picture an evening at Golden Par: a member working on their game in one bay, a couple on a date night in the next, and a newcomer finding their feet. Phil and Rachelle chose the space with care: zoned for a licensed lounge, easy to reach, with plenty of parking. This is a place to stay a while, not just hit balls and leave.
“It’s a Disneyland for golfers.”
Phil Wilson, Co-Founder at Golden Par
Signature Hole – what makes the business unique
The putting is the showpiece. In one premium bay, players will drive and chip on the simulator, then putt out into a real cup on contoured ground, playing the full hole in one place. The same PuttView technology will cover a 1,600 square foot putting green, and a games area will turn golf skills into social games like chip pong and putt wars.
Out of the Rough – the biggest challenge in getting open
The hardest part was the waiting. Finding a space that ticked every box took time, and Phil and Rachelle kept pressing on when others told them what couldn’t be done. Now the search is over: in November, they get the keys.
Course Notes – advice for anyone opening a venue
Their advice: believe in it, be prepared, do your research and put in the work. “No one’s coming to save you.”
A putting green to lose an evening on, a bistro and lounge, and bays for golfers at every level. When Golden Par opens, Pitt Meadows gets a home for golf and good company, built by two people golf brought together.
Founder: Josh Alexander, Majority Owner & Manager
Opening: 1 January 2027
Where: 10725 Innovation Drive, Miamisburg, OH 45342
Website: theturnindoorgolf.com
Follow: Instagram, Facebook
Four TrackMan bays at Austin Landing, open to members around the clock, with lessons from PGA pro Jim Rue. Josh built it on three ideas: “better golf, better location, and better value.”
First Tee – how the founder got started
A lifelong soccer player, Josh needed a sport that was easier on his legs after college and, like millions of others, fell for golf during COVID with his brothers and his dad. The Turn is his sixth or seventh business. His lesson from the others: take a model that has already proven itself and make it better.
Home Course – why this location
Austin Landing is home to about 60 businesses and 3,000 people who live, work and play there, and Josh built The Turn to thrive on that alone, whatever opens down the road. A before-work league, early rounds for the retirees next door and round-the-clock door codes for night-shift workers all follow from it.
“If I had 10 competitors around me a mile away, I can still survive just on Austin Landing.”
Josh Alexander, Majority Owner & Manager at The Turn Indoor Golf Club
Signature Hole – what makes the business unique
Testing the idea, Josh compared three simulators nearby. Two were franchises, and the independent one “was three times cheaper for an hour.” Going independent is harder, but the profit goes back into keeping prices down. The same instinct produced a perks package with four Austin Landing neighbors, from Dewey’s Pizza to Orangetheory Fitness.
Out of the Rough – the biggest challenge in getting open
The hardest part was selling the idea to partners, funders and a landlord, each from a different angle. To Josh it was “the most challenging, but also the most fun in a way, just to be able to tell your story again and again, but differently.”
Course Notes – advice for anyone opening a venue
“Focus on the things that scale,” Josh says. A new venue pulls in a million directions, so give real time to the revenue generators “and make quick decisions on the things that aren’t. You can always evolve later.”
Four bays, lessons with a PGA pro and a club that never closes for its members, at the heart of Austin Landing. For Miamisburg’s golfers, The Turn is built on a promise: better golf, a better location and better value.
Founders Memberships are on sale now at The Turn Indoor Golf Club →
Every founder in this volume was a golfer first. Josh found the game during COVID with his brothers and his dad. DJ and Ben started golfing with friends they met in LA. Mike, Erik and Jake play together most weeks, and Phil and Rachelle had their second date on a course.
Each picked a location for the people around it, from the 3,000 people who live, work and play at Austin Landing to the tech and film offices of Culver City. Each made deliberate technology choices early: TrackMan bays at both clubs called The Turn, PuttView putting at Golden Par, and at Framegolf a membership system the founders built themselves, down to face ID at the front door.
Every one of them hit a hard stretch on the way to opening day and found a way through it. As DJ Kim puts it: “Assume it’s going to take three to four times longer than you think.”
About Founders to Watch. Founders to Watch is written by the Optix team. Optix is the automation platform for flexible space, from coworking floors to golf simulator venues. We run this series because the decisions made before opening day shape a venue for years, from where it sits to how members book, play and keep coming back, and the founders making them hold some of the freshest lessons in golf. Every conversation teaches us more about how these venues are built and run. Each feature is free, and every founder approves their own profile before it runs.
