Rain, Wind and Short Days: Golf Simulators Are Having Their Season

Every October the same message appears in the club group chats: the course is soaking, the days are short and the wind has turned from annoying to personal. Some golfers put the clubs in the garage until March. A growing number do something else. They book a bay.

Indoor golf in the Netherlands is no longer a single hall at the edge of an industrial estate. Amsterdam alone now has Club Birdies with its twelve simulators, Flight Golf with twelve bays on two floors, KingsGolf in Amsterdam and Soest, and NEXT Golf, a newcomer in Amsterdam-West with eight bays. Elsewhere in the country, RUFF Golf and Teebox have opened locations as well. When operators keep adding bays, they are betting that this is more than a rainy-day habit.

Why it works

A simulator solves the three things that make winter golf hard. It is dry. It is available after work, when the sun has already gone. And it gives you numbers: ball speed, carry, spin and dispersion, measured by launch monitors such as Trackman, which most of these venues use. A bay is also a social space. Up to four or six players share one, and that is a different proposition from standing alone on a frozen range.

It is not the same as the course, and nobody serious claims it is. But for keeping your swing, trying a new driver or playing eighteen holes with friends while it pours outside, it works better than most golfers expect.

Four venues, four characters

The price is only half of the choice. These four places feel very different, and that matters more than a few euros per hour.

Club Birdies: golf as a night out

Club Birdies, in the A-Factorij on the Pilotenstraat in Amsterdam, is the most social of the four. Twelve simulators sit next to an open-fire restaurant, a wine room and a cafe. People book a bay for dinner with friends, a birthday or a team outing, and the golf is part of the evening rather than the whole evening. Lessons are available as well: a 50-minute session costs €75, a package of five €350. Come here if you want good food, a decent glass and a round you do not take too seriously.

Flight Golf: the clubhouse for a new crowd

Flight Golf is cut from similar cloth, with twelve Trackman iO bays over two floors and a kitchen that takes its food seriously. It is built around packages: The Quick Round (60 minutes plus a drink, from €22.50 per person), The Night Out (90 minutes, dinner and a cocktail, from €35) and The Office Escape, a short training session with lunch from €12.50. That makes it a natural choice for groups and companies, and for golfers who bring friends who have never held a club.

NEXT Golf: sociable, but with the golf first

NEXT Golf, in Amsterdam-West, is the more serious sibling of the hospitality-led venues. It has eight Trackman bays for up to six players each, and a sister brand in Padel NEXT, which shows in the relaxed, sporty feel. The pricing is built for people who come regularly: from €15 an hour including balls and clubs, from €5 per extra player, and memberships that make a weekly session cheap. It suits golfers who want to practise properly but still want to play together.

KingsGolf: pure training

KingsGolf is the most serious of the four. Studios in Amsterdam (Nieuwe Hemweg) and Soest are about the golf and nothing else: no bar, no restaurant, only a vending machine for drinks and one for balls (a sleeve of Titleist Pro V1 RCT costs €19.75). The memberships reflect that. They are personal, built around weekly hours, and come with tournaments for members rather than a menu. Studios start at €25 per hour. If you are working on your handicap, this is where the hours are cheapest and the distractions fewest.

What does a subscription cost?

Most venues let you simply book a bay by the hour, from about €15 to €29 depending on the venue and the time of day. If you go more than a few times a month, a subscription is cheaper. We looked at the official price pages of four venues on 11 October 2026.

A few notes on how to read this:

• Cheapest per month: KingsGolf Eagle 2, at €37.50. The catch is the commitment: you pay for a year, and you get two hours a week.
• Cheapest per hour: KingsGolf, by a distance, if you really use your weekly hours. Eagle 8 works out at about €1.56 per hour, but only when you play eight hours a week. An unused hour is still paid for.
• Cheapest without a long contract: NEXT Golf Off-Peak at €50 per month for 12 hours, as long as you can play on weekdays before 17:00. Flight Golf Basic is €69 for four off-peak hours.
• Club Birdies does not sell a monthly subscription. Instead it has prepaid Birdies Cards: pay €250 and get 300 credits, pay €500 and get 625, pay €1,000 and get 1,300. With a bay at €29 per hour, that brings an hour down to roughly €22 to €24. We found no validity period on the page, so ask before you buy a large card.
• Players per bay: these are bay hours, not hours per person. At NEXT Golf, extra players pay from €5 each. At KingsGolf, a membership is personal and guests pay €10 per person per hour after their first free visit. At Club Birdies, the second player and beyond add €7.50 each per hour.

The monthly figures for KingsGolf are our own division of the total price by the number of months, because the venue lists totals for six or twelve months. The hourly figures assume you use all the hours you pay for, which most members do not. Prices change, so check the venue's page before you commit. For every other indoor golf venue in the country, see our simulator guide.

Which one should you pick?

If you will play at least twice a week and can commit for a year, KingsGolf is hard to beat on price. If you want flexibility and can play at quiet times, NEXT Golf Off-Peak is the best deal we found. If you play once a month with friends and a drink, a Birdies Card or a plain hourly booking will cost you less than any subscription.

Whichever you choose, October is a good moment to start, before the evening slots get busy.