NextLinks Earns Raves from Golf Industry at PGA Merchandise Show

(Santa Ana, Calif.) – One of the golf industry’s hottest trends is the effort to grow participation through fun-based accessibility at non-traditional venues. NextLinks announced its presence as a key player in the “alternate golf experience” arena by showcasing its groundbreaking indoor golf technology and business concepts at the recent PGA Merchandise Show in Orlando, Fla.

The NextLinks golf experience is driven by proprietary software that seamlessly blends golf simulator play with realistic short game shots and putting on expertly-designed putting greens. Using patent-pending Pinpoint Spotlight Technology, each player’s position in the simulator game is tracked. The golfer then plays and putts out from a spot designated by a colored laser mark displayed on or near the green. The dynamic “Spotlight” system not only allows seasoned golfers a more realistic, immersive golfing experience, it also guides beginners and non-golfers through a variety of more fun-based games and lessons.

The first NextLinks venue in Santa Ana, Calif. - complete with a simulator, synthetic putting green and space to entertain - is the “living” prototype founder and CEO Dave Shultz is using to inspire developers, hotel and casino owners and even golf course operators (NextLinks installation is underway at Indian Wells Golf Resort) to bring this unique golfing experience into a variety of high-traffic entertainment venues. Click on the above link to see a video of how the concept works.

Golfers know a winning concept when they see it and Shultz and his team spent their three days at the PGA Show explaining their vision to attract new players to the game while giving avid golfers an engaging and authentic golf experience. “It excited people in the golf industry to see a scalable concept that’s completely unintimidating and fun for beginners and yet super-engaging for serious golfer,” Shultz says.

Golf Digest tabbed NextLinks on its list of “Cool Stuff We Saw at the PGA Show” while Forbes.com writer Erik Matuszewski concluded, “NextLinks has solved the (golf simulator putting) problem with a true-to-golf gaming experience.”

In an industry hungry for paths to sustainable growth, the NextLinks model of adding “realistic indoor golf” into a variety of entertainment venues hit home with industry insiders. “When people saw the Spotlights making fun shapes on the green, like dartboards and cornhole boards, it was easy to see how we’re getting non-golfers hooked,” Shultz says. “A beginning golfer can go to a NextLinks-powered venue and learn the game from the hole out. Nobody’s scared of a making a three-foot putt then graduating to a six-foot putt just like nobody’s scared to go bowling. Before you know it, indoor games are producing real golfers. It’s exciting to witness.”

After the PGA Show, Midwest Golfing named NextLinks “A Golf Company Ready to Make a Large Impact.” Senior Editor Glen Turk says “Dave Shultz and NextLinks may have just created the next TopGolf phenomenon. Millennials, take note. This was made with you in mind.”

NextLinks recently entered a joint venture with the Dynamic Entertainment Group, parent company to UltraStar Multi-tainment Centers whereby the NextLinks platform will be made available to UltraStar Multi-tainment Centers entertainment network as well as managed NextLinks sites.

“Working with a team that knows how to build, develop and integrate what NextLinks does into the types of spaces that attract fun-seekers puts our company in a position to grow and partner with developers who agree that the key to increasing golf participation is bringing access to the game indoors and engaging new golfers with fun, relaxing experience,” said Shultz.

For more information about NextLinks, visit www.Nextlinks.com. Follow Nextlinks at www.facebook.com/NextLinksGolf as well as on Twitter and Instagram: @nextlinksgolf