Five Iron Golf Franchise Cost, Revenue & Review 2026
- Investment
- $2.0M – $4.7M
- Disclosed sales
- $3.0M
- gross sales, not profit
- SBA charge-off
- Not SBA-matched
Data from FDD filing
Analysis by FranchiseVerdict Research · Methodology
Five Iron Golf is an indoor golf franchise offering simulator bays, lessons, leagues, and events with full food and bar service. Franchisees run the venues, managing simulators, instruction, and hospitality.
FranchiseVerdict summary · 2026
A Five Iron Golf franchise requires a total initial investment of $2.0M – $4.7M, including a $50K franchise fee and an ongoing 7.0% royalty[2]. Per the 2026 FDD, average unit revenue was $3.0M[2]. FranchiseVerdict grade: B (Above average), an editorial assessment, not investment advice. Run a live ROI scan →
Sources, dates and evidence
FDD issued: 2026 filing · Data extracted: · Last cited check: · Staleness risk: low - the current year's filing
Evidence: partial✓ Investment (Item 7)✓ Item 19 status✓ Units and owners (Item 20)✗ SBA loan coverage✓ Litigation (Item 3)✓ Financial statements (Item 21)✓ Franchisor identityhow this is scored7 of 8 headline figures on this page cite a page of the filing; the rest are marked “Not cited” beside the figure.
Overview
- Investment
- $2.0M – $4.7M
- 49th pct Recreation & …
- Avg gross sales
- $3.0M
- Company-owned only
- Royalty
- 7.0%
- 26th pct Recreation & …
- Units
- 37
- 37th pct Recreation & …
- SBA charge-off
- N/A
Quick verdict · Recreation & Entertainment · color = vs category peers
Green = favorable by >10% vs Recreation & Entertainment median · No shading = within ±10% · Red = unfavorable by >10% · Source: FDD filings + SBA 7(a)
Data from public FDD filings and SBA records. Not financial advice. Methodology
Bottom line
- COSTTotal investment $2.0M – $4.7M including a $50K franchise fee, 7.0% ongoing royalty.
- RETURNSAverage unit revenue of $3.0M/year (median $2.5M) (company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance), with an estimated 8% cash-on-cash return (based on Adjusted EBITDA).
- RISKVerdict B (Above average), verdict score 56/100 (higher is better).
- GROWTHPositive: net +4 franchised outlets in the latest year (4 opened, 0 closed) (Item 20).
- FLAGItem 4 discloses a bankruptcy of an officer or of a company an officer ran, not of the franchisor. Review Item 4 for details.
Item 1 · who you're contracting with
The Franchisor
Corporate structure & franchisor financials
- Legal entity
- Five Iron Golf Franchising LLC
- Parent company
- The Range NYC LLC
- FDD Item 1, page 6 of the 2026 FDD
- CEO title
- Chief Executive Officer
- Jared Solomon
- Incorporated in
- NY
- HQ
- 883 Avenue of the Americas, Fl. 3, New York, New York 10001
- Auditor
- Bland & Associates
- Audited financials
Affiliated brands
- Five Iron Golf IP
- Five Iron Chicago
- Five Iron Golf International
Other brands the franchisor or its parent operates (Item 1).
Overview
About
- CEO
- Jared Solomon
- Headquarters
- New York
- Founded
- 2022
- FDD year
- 2026
- States available
- 11
Can you afford it, and what does the money buy?
Entry cost runs 491% above the typical recreation & entertainment franchise.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 5–7
FDD Item 7 · 2026 filing
Initial investment breakdown
| Cost component | Low | High |
|---|---|---|
| Initial franchise fee | $50K | $50K |
| Working capital (3–6 mo) | $80K | $150K |
| Equipment, build-out, other | $1.8M | $4.5M |
| Total initial investment | $2.0M | $4.7M |
Source: Five Iron Golf 2026 FDD, Items 5 and 7[2]. “Equipment, build-out, other” is computed as total minus disclosed line items above.
Item 7 · what it costs to open + operate
The Vitals
- Total investment
- $2.0M – $4.7M
- Middle of category vs category
- Liquid capital req'd
- $80K – $150K
- Middle of category vs category
- Franchise fee
- $50K – $50K
- Top 40% of category vs category
- Royalty
- 7.0%
- typical 6–8%
- Ad fund
- 2.0%
- typical 3–5%
- Total fee load
- 9.0%
- vs 9–13% typical
- Payback period
- 12.2 yrs
- From FDD / Item 19
Ongoing fees · Item 6
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Royalty | 7.0% of gross sales |
| Marketing / ad fund | 2.0% of gross sales |
| Technology fee | $4K |
| Training fee | $5K |
| Transfer fee | $13K |
| Renewal fee | $25K |
| Inventory (initial) | $10K – $25K |
| Total fee load | 9.0% of rev |
What do units actually make?
Average unit sales run 281% above the recreation & entertainment norm.
Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance
Source: FDD 2026 · Item 19
Single-unit · not modelled
Returns at a glance
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit, and the operating costs that turn one into the other are in no filing. We publish no modelled return for Five Iron Golf until someone supplies them — yours, in the models below.
—
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
Total invested capital · disclosed
$3.4M
Item 7 initial investment plus working capital, as filed — the one figure here that needs no assumption.
ROI & LBO modelsSingle-unit · 25-unit portfolio · editable
FDD-reported earnings
The FDD reports $495K as Adjusted EBITDA. This is a disclosed figure, not our estimate — we publish no modelled profit for Five Iron Golf.
What one unit earns on your invested capital
Model A · Single-Unit Return
Computes unlevered return on invested capital (ROIC) for a single franchise unit, read against the 30–60% reference band · Yale SOM, Post-MBA Path Exhibit 2 (2023). Below that band a passive index fund likely outperforms; above it the franchisor has pricing power you're subsidizing.
Note: Item 19 revenue is what the franchisor discloses, and it is the top line only — gross sales are not profit. No FDD discloses the operating costs that turn one into the other, so those fields start empty and nothing is modelled until you supply them from your own lease quote, labor market and build-out budget.
Returns model · single-unit ROIC
What would one Five Iron Golf unit return on the cash you put in?
Illustrative category typicals — not sourced to any filing, survey or sample. Replace them with figures from franchisee validation calls before you rely on the output.
Unlevered ROIC · per unit
Your modelled return on total invested capital, before any debt financing.
—
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
What 25 units return when you use SBA financing
Model B · Return on Equity: Debt-Financed Acquisition
Models a 25-unit portfolio acquisition financed with an SBA 7(a) loan. Shows equity IRR (your return on cash invested), DSCR (how safely the cash flow covers debt service), and the capital stack (SBA + seller + equity breakdown).
This is the “search fund” or “entrepreneurship through acquisition” scenario: you buy an existing multi-unit operator, use leverage to amplify returns, and either operate or hire management. The 25-unit size is the typical minimum for an SBA-backed franchise portfolio acquisition to pencil as a full-time income.
What “return on equity” means here: if you put in $500K of your own cash and the business generates enough EBITDA to pay down debt and grow, your equity IRR is the annual return on that $500K, including the value created when you eventually sell. Target IRR for a search fund is typically 25–35%.
Not modelled yet
An FDD discloses gross sales, not profit. We hold no sourced figure for COGS, labour, rent / occupancy and other operating costs, and will not substitute an assumed one. Enter your own and the model runs on your assumptions.
A 25-unit return is built on a per-unit EBITDA. Fill in the operating costs in Model A above and this model runs on that figure, or take the whole scenario to the full ROI workbench, where the portfolio and LBO models accept your own per-unit economics directly.
These models are for research and scenario planning only. Not investment advice. Actual results depend on your specific location, management, and market conditions. Consult a franchise attorney and accountant before signing any franchise agreement.
Item 19 · Source: 2026 FDD
Financial Performance
Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance
- Avg gross sales
- $3.0M
- Per unit, per year
- Median gross sales
- $2.5M
- Avg adjusted ebitda
- $495K
- Reported as Adjusted EBITDA in FDD Item 19
- Cash-on-cash
- 8.2%
- Based on Adjusted EBITDA / investment midpoint
Gross sales are revenue before expenses — not profit. Actual owner earnings depend on rent, labor, royalties, marketing fees, and debt service.
- Item 19 type
- historical operating results (gross sales, COGS, labor, EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA) for company-owned and franchised centers
- Sample size
- 18 outlets
- vs category median 5 · large
- Range (low → high)
- $1.7M→$7.5MCited, not corroborated — printed on page 54 of the 2026 FDD. Nothing else in our record independently restates or re-derives it.
- Cohort dispersion (min → max)
- Reporting year
- 2024
- Fiscal year the figures cover
- Source filing
- FDD 2026
- Disclosed in the 2026 filing, covering 2024
- Transparency
- 9 / 10
- vs category median 4 / 10 · above
Compared against 165 Recreation & Entertainment brands
Revenue is only 0.9x the investment. This means each unit may take 5+ years to recoup the initial outlay at typical margins.
Operator outlook
What the numbers say
Data-driven interpretation of this brand's financial disclosures, fee structure, and system trajectory.
Unit economics
Average unit generates $3.0M/year in gross sales. Median is $2.5M — top performers pull the average up, so a typical unit earns less. Revenue-to-investment ratio: 0.9x. Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance.
Fee burden
Total ongoing fee load of 9.0% (near the Recreation & Entertainment median).
Disclosure
Transparency score 9/10 — this franchisor discloses detailed breakdowns (quartiles, segments, or cohort data). Buyers can model unit economics with higher confidence.
Source: FDD Item 19 financial performance representations and publicly filed FDD data. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Verify all figures with the franchisor and current franchisees before making any investment decision.
vs Recreation & Entertainment medians
How Five Iron Golf Compares
Category median of published Recreation & Entertainment brands that report the figure; the middle half spans the 25th to 75th percentile and n counts the brands behind it. Medians are used because a few very large systems pull an average far from the typical brand. Revenue is disclosed gross sales, not profit.
Is the system healthy?
Source: FDD 2026 · Item 20
Unit growth
Item 20 · unit dynamics
The Growth Chart
- Total units
- 37
- Opened
- 4
- Last reporting year
- Closed
- 0
- Terminated
- 0
- Franchisor ended the franchise (per Item 20)
- Non-renewed
- 0
- Term expired, not renewed (per Item 20)
- Turnover rate
- N/A
- Company-owned
- 30
- Corporate units in the system
- % franchised
- 19%
- vs corporate-owned
Last fiscal year · Item 20 exits and transfers
- Terminated
- 0
- Not renewed
- 0
- Transferred
- 0
- Reacquired
- 0
- Franchisor bought back
Year-over-year franchised unit counts and net change. Source: FDD Item 20.
Item 12 · 11 states reported
The Territory Map
FDD Item 12 reports the state count, but the specific list isn't in our current data. The map will appear once we re-extract from the FDD or enough franchisee contacts are available.
11
states with franchisees (per FDD Item 12)
SBA loan performance
Government records
SBA Loan Data
Aggregated from SBA 7(a) and 504 loan disclosures, public data unique to FranchiseVerdict.
No SBA loan data available for this brand.
What could kill this investment?
Source: SBA 7(a) FOIA · FDD Items 3, 21
Risk analysis
FranchiseVerdict rating + FDD Items 3, 4, 8, 16, 21
Risk & Legal
Litigation (Item 3)
Subject: officers or affiliates. The franchisor is not a named party in these cases.
None disclosed.
Bankruptcy (Item 4)
Subject: an officer. An officer’s own bankruptcy or a company an officer ran, not the franchisor’s
Thrasio Holdings, Inc. (principal place of business Walpole, MA), with which officer Daniel Boockvar was previously President, filed Chapter 11 voluntary petition Feb 28, 2024 in D. New Jersey, Case No. 24-11840-CMG; First Amended Joint Chapter 11 Plan of Reorganization confirmed June 13, 2024.
Audited financials (Item 21)
Yes · Bland & Associates
Franchisor revenue (Item 21)
Franchisor entity revenue (not unit-level)
Supplier relationship · Items 8 & 16
- Franchisor sells you products: Yes
- Kickbacks from required suppliers: Yes
- Must buy proprietary products: Yes
- Restricted to system-approved products: Yes
- Can negotiate own supplier terms: No
Score breakdown · what drove the 56 / 100 verdict
- 01MINOROnly 22 units with unknown growth trajectory — insufficient scale and unclear unit expansion trend raises viability concerns
- 02MINOR7% royalty on gross sales (not net) creates cash flow pressure during low-revenue periods and compounds with operating expenses
- 03MEDNo disclosed litigation but small unit base limits visibility — harder to detect systemic franchisee disputes or issues
Severity inferred from the FDD text · not a regulatory classification
What are you signing up for?
Ongoing fees run about 9.0% of sales (royalty + ad fund), before rent and labor.
Source: FDD 2026 · Items 11, 12, 17
FDD Items 12, 15, 17 · continued from Risk & Legal
Contract & Territory Detail
| Initial term | 10 years |
|---|---|
| Renewal term | 5 years |
| Allowed renewalsℹ | 2 |
| Territory type | Protected territory |
| Protected territory | Yes |
| Exclusive territoryℹ | No |
| Territory radius | 2 mi |
| Online sales rightsℹ | Restricted |
| Franchisor can compete | Yes |
| Hire a manager? | Allowed |
| Owner-operator | Optional |
| Non-compete (years)ℹ | 2 years |
| Non-compete (miles)ℹ | 10 mi |
| Right of first refusalℹ | Yes |
| RoFR response window | 30 days |
| Transfer requires consent | Yes |
| Termination notice | 30 days |
| Curable defaultsℹ | 5 |
| Mandatory arbitration | Yes |
| Arbitration location | New York, New York (city of franchisor's then-current principal business address) |
| Jury trial waiver | No |
| Governing law | New York |
| Litigation count | 0 |
View Item 3 litigation summary
None disclosed.
Items 10, 11
Training & Operations
- Classroom training
- 40 hrs
- On-the-job training
- 160 hrs
- Training location
- New York, New York or Chicago, Illinois (or another designated location, may be online for some modules)
- Ongoing training
- Required
- Time to open
- 6 mo
- From signing to launch
- Site selection
- franchisor approval; franchisee identifies, franchisor approves site
- Franchisor financing
- Not offered
- Item 10
- POS system
- Mindbody and Square
- Operating tech stack
Items 5 & 11
Franchisor Support
Technology: Mindbody and Square
Frequently asked questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to open a Five Iron Golf franchise?
The total investment to open a Five Iron Golf franchise ranges from $2.0M – $4.7M, with an initial franchise fee of $50K. This includes real estate, equipment, inventory, and working capital as disclosed in their Franchise Disclosure Document (FDD).
What do Five Iron Golf franchise owners earn?
According to Item 19 of the Five Iron Golf FDD, the average gross sales per unit is $3.0M. The median is $2.5M. Important context: Company-owned outlets only - not franchisee performance. Note: this is gross revenue, not profit. Actual owner earnings vary based on location, operating costs, and management.
Who owns Five Iron Golf?
Five Iron Golf is franchised by Five Iron Golf Franchising LLC. Its parent company is The Range NYC LLC. Source: FDD Item 1, 2026 filing.
What is Item 19 in the Five Iron Golf FDD?
The FDD section where a franchisor may disclose financial performance of its outlets. Disclosure is optional and formats vary; figures are typically gross sales, which is revenue before expenses, not profit. FranchiseVerdict extracts these figures directly from the Five Iron Golf FDD and qualifies whose outlets they describe.
What is Five Iron Golf's franchise failure rate?
SBA 7(a) loan charge-off data is not available for Five Iron Golf (fewer than 10 loans on file). Charge-off rates are one way to gauge franchise risk, but not all franchise loans go through the SBA program. We recommend reviewing turnover and closure data in the FDD and speaking with current franchisees.
How many Five Iron Golf franchise locations are there?
As of their most recent FDD filing, Five Iron Golf has 37 total units in the United States, including 7 franchised units and 30 company-owned units. 4 new units were opened in the latest reporting year.
Is Five Iron Golf a good franchise to buy?
FranchiseVerdict rates Five Iron Golf as a B-grade franchise with a verdict score of 56 out of 100 (higher is better). The grade is a deterministic score built from six weighted dimensions — financial health, unit economics, unit growth, scale, legal, and transparency — then calibrated against SBA loan charge-off rates and FDD age. Transparency is one of the six, so a filing that discloses less scores lower on that dimension than one that discloses more. Our rating is based solely on publicly available FDD and government data; we recommend speaking with current franchisees before making any investment decision. This is not investment advice.
Data sourced from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) FOIA records. Not financial advice.
For franchisors
Are you the franchisor?
If you represent Five Iron Golf, you can request corrections or provide updated information.
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Data extracted from public FDD filings and SBA 7(a) loan disclosures (FOIA). This information is provided for research purposes only and does not constitute financial, legal, or investment advice. Verify all figures with the franchisor's current Franchise Disclosure Document before making any investment decision.