Kelly Huff has some long journeys ahead of her in his future.
The founder of South Broadway Country Club, an indoor golf training facility with two locations in Denver, is preparing to open a third in Fort Collins early next year.
“There is a really great golf scene in Fort Collins and I think there is a need for what we do,” Huff said. “I love the city and every time I visit it gets cooler and cooler. My wife went to the CSU, so she’s pretty passionate about it too, so it was an easy option. “
Huff opened its first location at 2265 S. Broadway in the Overland neighborhood in 2018 and added a 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 are coming from Fort Collins, and I went there to play with them too, so it felt like the right move .” he added.
Huff rented 3,100 square feet at 17 Old Town Square in downtown Fort Collins. He hopes to be able to open the new location by February.
The third iteration will keep the name South Broadway Country Club and include three TrackMan golf simulators and a full bar. Huff hired Denver-based Chord Design Studio to design the space and Symmetry Builders of Dacono to handle construction, which will include custom bays and garage doors overlooking the Old Town amphitheater.
Customers can reserve the TrackMan simulators for $ 50 an hour, which equates to about 18 holes, or book a lesson with Huff or other golf instructors on the machines. One-to-one tuition is $ 125 for 30 minutes or $ 200 for an hour. Huff hopes to hire two faculty for the new Fort Collins location.
“I use the best of technology and I want a real golfer to appreciate the experience, but it’s also a cool hangout for non-golfers,” said Huff. “The other locations have done really well, and the pandemic was actually good for the Gulf.”
Huff said 60 percent of the South Broadway Country Club’s revenue comes from its golf operations – evenly divided between bay bookings and private lessons – and 40 percent from alcohol sales. There is no food service.
In addition to the Fort Collins location, Huff plans to expand its Tennyson location: he took over the 2,200-square-foot DriveTrain Fitness space above the South Broadway Country Club after the Lagree studio moved to Westminster this year.
He plans to name the expansion “Crow’s Nest” and add a wider, elevated bay with another TrackMan simulator and a cocktail and whiskey bar.
“It’s going to be sort of a VIP bay, and there will be tufted leather upstairs and a little more chic country club lounge feel,” said Huff.
Huff will face more competition than when he moved to Denver to open his first South Broadway Country Club. GC Lounge, originally to be called Swingers Golf Club, is preparing to open in City Park West, and Stick & Feather, a 6,000-square-foot bar with five golf simulators, is slated to open in Clayton’s York Street Yards this winter. Tom’s Watch Bar in McGregor Square, meanwhile, has top golf simulators.
But Huff said these new facilities have a different business model.
“The difference is that we play golf first, so I set out to do it instead of just being a golf bar,” he said. “I’ve been a professional golfer in and out of country clubs across the country for 15 years as the Director of Instruction, and I just wanted to build my own indoor country club that focused on golf, but you also have the opportunity to hang out and bring yourself also friends with. “
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