- October 19, 2022
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All the guys on the block want to hang out at Scott Dannehl’s house.
“When we built the house, my wife got her dream kitchen, and I got my golf room,” he said.
Dannehl’s golf room isn’t simply a place to store memorabilia, it’s a place to play golf on courses far from his Parrish home. The room is equipped with a golf simulator.
It’s so much fun that Dannehl and three of his neighbors at the Reserve at Twin Rivers are now business partners in a concept born from Dannehl’s golf room that takes up the space of a two-car garage.
Other places offer golf simulators, but The Golf Society is a private, members-only club that accommodates golfers 24 hours a day, seven days a week, rain or shine.
Dannehl said The Golf Society has a country club feel without the initiation fee. Memberships range from $200 to $300 a month and come with 90 minutes of play a day.
There’s a communal lounge at the entrance and three suites with simulators in the back. Each suite accommodates a foursome and includes comfortable seating, a refrigerator and a 70-inch television.
The golf lounge is located on Solutions Lane, across the pond from the Inner Compass Brewing Company. Members have to bring their own food and drinks. For now, golfers can get growlers from the brewery, but within a few months, liquor lockers will be available to store bottles.
Music from the brewery can be heard clearly walking up the path to The Golf Society, but not a note is played inside.
“We overbuilt, so it’s very quiet,” Dannehl said. “You’re not going to hear stuff going on once the doors close.”
Once the doors close, everything runs off an app, so the facility doesn’t have to be staffed. Instead, the facility is loaded with cameras.
Facial recognition software snaps a photo as members access the building and cameras track members thereafter. Sensors send alerts when there’s a loud sound or anything out of the ordinary.
“If anything goes wrong, if you use the wrong golf ball and the screen gets all scuffed up, we’ll know who did that,” Dannehl said.
Members use the app to make reservations and get in and out of the building. The entire business revolves around technology, and it all started with the simulators. Dannehl had this idea in 2015, but he didn't think the technology was there yet.
When the technology finally improved, COVID-19 hit. But the technology has only gotten better since.
“Everything from the response times to the data that gets spit out is unbelievable,” Dannehl said. “It’s club data and ball data. When you hit the ball, it automatically shows on the screen.”
The simulators serve two purposes — just to have fun or to improve your handicap. For fun, Dannehl said you can play a round of golf at St. Andrews without paying the $20,000 it takes to get to Scotland.
“It’s pretty crazy when you play it on a simulator versus actually playing the course,” he said. “It’s amazing how similar it is. They get all the details — the humps and bumps and the greens. It’s impressive.”
A membership to The Golf Society can also get you one step closer to the real thing.
“We’ve got a partnership with a travel agent that when we get a certain number of guys, we can do trips to different golf courses nationally and internationally,” Dannehl said.
The lounge has also partnered with a few high-end specialty retailers for some custom products, such as clubs and gloves. When first entering The Golf Society, there will be a communal lounge and a small retail shop.
The first 50 members will be entered into a drawing for a $1,200 custom putter from Kraken Golf.
The Golf Society will also be as inclusive as it is exclusive. The halls and doorways are a little wider, so they can accommodate wheelchairs and offer adaptive golf. Dannehl said they’ve started conversations with Wounded Warriors and the Adaptive Golf Alliance to form nonprofit partnerships, as well.
“We want to be very welcoming to everybody,” he said. “I think there’s another opportunity for junior golf. One of the business partners coaches at Parrish High School.”
That partner is Doug Patterson. He's a sales rep for Panasonic. Jeremy Finney is another partner. He works for Aflac in compliance. Dannehl runs his own consulting firm, and the fourth partner prefers to stay anonymous.
All four men became fast friends living within three blocks of one another. Dannehl said he could throw a football to two of their houses.
“My son and Doug’s son are going to college together and are going to be roommates,” he said. “They’re doing the golf program at Florida Gulf Coast University.”
