Five Iron Golf planning first suburban location in downtown Naperville
A new indoor sports experience is slated for downtown Naperville.
Five Iron Golf’s first indoor golf simulator bar in the Chicago suburbs will open in April 2027 in an 11,000-square-foot space on the second floor of the building at 47 E. Chicago Ave. Founded in 2017 in New York, the company has 42 locations across the U.S., including four in Chicago.
“Our whole goal is to be the best place for the serious golfer as well as the entertainment-type person,” Five Iron Golf CEO and founder Jared Solomon said. “We like to be the place that has the best technology in the world for practicing, the best golf clubs, and then we have our own culinary and bar program as well.”
The name Five Iron Golf is an homage to America’s city that never sleeps: Five references Fifth Avenue and iron refers to the Flatiron District in New York. A five iron is also a type of golf club.
Solomon said he started the business because when he moved to New York, he had trouble finding accessible indoor sporting activities.
“It was so expensive to find anything that was indoors to play, and it was so intimidating, both the outdoor golf scene and the indoor golf scene,” he said, adding that he did not play golf growing up. “I wanted to create something that was accessible, but not like budget-y and boring.”
The first Five Iron location opened in the Flatiron District with four golf simulators. Initially people questioned if there was even a demand for an indoor golf experience, Solomon said, but now the chain has not just a U.S. presence but an international one as well. A location opened in Saudi Arabia in April and plans for venues in Spain and the United Kingdom.
The golf simulators, which are built by Five Iron, are ideal for either the experienced golfer aiming for the PGA Tour or for the inexperienced golfer looking for a good time, he said.
“If you took a golf lesson, you might work on the path of your club or the angle that the club was hitting the golf ball at, and the simulator sort of shows that,” Solomon said, explaining how the technology works. “Not only can you see the metrics on the simulator, but you can also literally see the video of what your body is doing and what the club is doing as well and you can use that to improve.”
The venue also offers food and drinks, including a customer-facing bar for patrons. Food offerings include burgers, pizza and chicken wings while drinks include beer, cocktails and wine. In Naperville, Five Iron has been approved for a late night permit by the city’s liquor commission, allowing the business to serve alcohol until 1 a.m. if approved by the city council.
Art is also a major part of Five Iron, with the company frequently hiring artists to complete mural installations. Solomon said he noticed that many spaces in the golf world had similar color patterns of maroons and beiges so he wanted to do something different for his own venue.
“I just personally, as the founder, always loved street art and graffiti,” Solomon said. “When I got to New York, I would walk around the streets and … didn’t have that much money so I would kind of spend time looking at artwork in the city.”
Five Iron Golf’s hours are expected to be 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. Friday, 7 a.m. to 1 a.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday.