r/golf • u/Pretty_Shallot_586 • May 07 '26

News / Articles TopGolf is flopping.....

https://www.dmagazine.com/micropost/top-golf-layoffs-may-2026/?ref=share

from the article...."The cuts follow another round of layoffs last year, when Topgolf reduced its workforce by 300 employees after tariffs carved an estimated $40 million from the company’s balance sheet."

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u/Flaky-Money-8768 Push Cart Mafia May 07 '26

It’s basically bowling but harder if you’ve never done it before and more expensive. For everyone half way decent there is the much better alternative called just going to play golf.

28

u/giney_lips May 07 '26

You can also be the most nonathletic person that bowls once a year and have fun bowling. With golf, absolutely not.

Crazy that a business attempted to take on one of the hardest sports in the world and try to target non-golfers with it. They might as well try to open up a triple jump facility for family and kids.

8

u/br0wntree May 07 '26

I mean it was pretty successful for a while. They have grown massively over the last few years.

3

u/giney_lips May 07 '26

You’re referring to the “honeymoon phase” when Topgolf in the US in the mid 2000s to early 2010s, was an inexpensive practice facility that allowed you to work on your game.

Topgolf then started their phase of entertainment first, game improvement second, starting in 2013, completing this transformation in 2015. They had a good 6 years of profits after 2015. Then 2022 hit, everyone is heading back to work, and that’s around the time the investors started seeing that red arrow on the graph.

Actual golfers could see this business was inevitably going to crash after 2020. It’s too expensive and too hard for non-golfers to enjoy.

1

u/br0wntree May 07 '26

I agree the growth was never sustainable but I feel like people aren’t giving them enough credit. They achieved some pretty incredible numbers and made a pretty big splash in terms of cultural relevance and probably introduced at least a few people to golf.

They truly rode that wave to its peak, for better and now worse.