Stix Golf hopes to build on success in Grafton

A thriving golf simulator facility in Germantown has its owners hoping a second location in the Town of Grafton — with more simulators and a driving range — will be equally successful.

Stix Golf owners and brothers Dan and Ryan Hughes said on Monday that their planned location on Ulao Road between Hhighway C and I-43 will allow for year-round golfing with simulators for cold months and a driving range for warm months.

Plans for the Grafton Stix location, which were approved by the town Plan Commission last month, include as many as 12 golf simulators, a bar, pro shop and restaurant. The brothers plan to build a mini golf course and a short game area in a few years and a par-3, 18-hole course later on.

The brothers said they have been trying to add a second location since before the pandemic.

Early on they were joined by Brian Larson, a police officer in Milwaukee and a long-time Stix customer, and together they almost closed on a property.

“Then, we realized we were in survival mode, not growth mode,” Ryan said.

The pandemic did offer a couple silver linings, however, Dan said, which let Stix survive and later succeed.

The brothers only had a couple of employees at that point, he said, which helped keep overhead costs low during the roughest time, when the facility had to close for several months.

“I’ll never forget,” Dan said. “We loaded up on beer for St. Paddy’s Day and then were told we had to shut down.”

Stix was aided by a boom in golf’s popularity driven by the fact it’s a low-contact activity and many courses stayed open.

Dan said Stix Germantown has bounced back strong from the pandemic and now, thanks to a great staff, “sort of runs itself.”

The brothers said they chose the Grafton location because of a lack of recreational facilities nearby.

“I hate to see people in Ozaukee County leave the county to find fun things to do,” Ryan said.

Ryan said central Ozaukee County will soon become a “sports mecca” — with Stix off Grafton’s I-43 exit and the under-construction basketball and volleyball center Gateway Sports Academy off the Saukville exit.

They also liked the Grafton location because it has enough space for a driving range, which their Germantown location lacks.

The range should help create a year-round business, Ryan said. During the summer, the Germantown location makes little money since golfers prefer the courses.

“It’s going to help to have the driving range in the summer,” Dan said.

Ryan said the center won’t be primarily a simulator facility or primarily a driving range, but have a symbiotic mix.

“If it’s slow for indoor golf, most likely it’s going to be busy for outdoor golf,” he said, adding that many golfers will likely want to hit a few balls and then play a simulator game or vice versa.

Stix has the largest indoor golf league in the country, with nearly 500 golfers last year, Ryan said. The league fills most of Stix’s Monday to Thursday time slots.

“It’s a good break to come and play with a buddy for an hour every week,” he said.

An 18-hole course usually takes one person an hour, Dan said. The simulators are rented by the hour.

Stix uses top-of-line simulators by Full Swing, Ryan said, which allow for driving, chipping and putting so golfers can complete entire 18-hole courses.

The simulators are the same ones used by pros like Jason Day and Tiger Woods, Dan said. In Grafton, the simulators will have garage-bay doors to open in warmer months.

Stix opened in 2018, Ryan said, following a business model developed by him and his brother in their capstone class at Eastern Illinois University.

The brothers, who both attended college on golfing scholarships, thought back to when they started to practice the sport seriously as sophomores at Cedarburg High School.

“It was tough to golf in the winters — obviously,” Ryan said.

Back then, golf simulator technology was just starting to get good, Ryan said.

Although a bit disappointed by the grade they got for the project, a B-, Ryan said, when he graduated, he set up a table in his parent’s basement and told himself he’d find a way to make Stix happen.

“Dan walked downstairs and saw my desk, he thought I was playing video games,” Ryan said. “I asked him, ‘Are you in or are you out?’ And he said, ‘Well, I don’t have a job’ and we shook hands.”

Eleven banks refused them before they got funding for their Germantown location, Ryan said.

They started with three simulators and added more one at a time to their current eight machines, he said. The golf league, now at 464 golfers, started with 36.

The brothers quickly learned that college didn’t teach them all the skills they’d need to start a business.

“College teaches you the meat and potatoes, but there’s a lot of other stuff to learn,” Dan said.

They put in 15 to 16 hour days, Dan said, and served as their own general contractors while building the location. They reached a record of working 300 consecutive days during their early years.

The Germantown location has become so successful, the simulators are often booked a week or two in advance during winter, Ryan said.

He attributes the success to finding the right employees.

“Our staff is beyond amazing,” he said. “It’s about hiring the right people and training them.”

A lot of their employees started as customers, Ryan said. They currently have a stack of about 40 applicants.

Establishing Stix was a “full circle thing” for the brothers, Ryan said.

They grew up in Cedarburg near the former Baehmann’s driving range and went there nearly every day to practice, Ryan said. He hopes the Grafton location will be a similar place for local kids.

They hired Baehmann’s head pro, Dan Gogin, to fill the same role in Grafton.

The Town of Grafton Plan Commission approved the facility last month despite nearby residents’ concerns over added traffic from the facility and noise and light pollution.

Dan said that he and his brother stayed for an hour after the meeting talking with residents to calm their fears.

“I think they understood who we are and what we are,” he said. “We don’t want to step on toes.”

Town Chairman Lester Bartel offered a compelling argument to residents when he said Stix was at least “the best worst thing to go in on the property,” Ryan said.

If Stix wasn’t approved by the town, Bartel said at the meeting, the village could annex the land by running utilities to it, opening the floodgates to building such things as a business park or large-scale residential development.

Stix will have a family friendly atmosphere, Dan said, adding that while they will have a full bar, they won’t keep bar hours.

“Until we close at night, we want kids to be able to be here,” he said. “You could almost think of it like Buffalo Wild Wings with simulators.”

They won’t offer full-course meals but have primarily air-fried options like hot dogs and pizza — “all the healthy stuff,” Ryan said.

The driving range will be illuminated by hooded, directional lights instead of the large round ones most people associate with driving ranges, the brothers said, and they will be shut-off by 9 p.m.

The lights primarily light the first 20 feet of the range, illuminating the backs of the golf balls as they travel, Dan said.

Ryan said Stix won’t be eyesore.

“It’ll look like a barn, and we’ll have berming and landscaping” he said.

They added that the facility won’t generate major traffic since the simulators can accommodate only a few golfers at a time.

The brothers plan to break ground before 2025 and have the range and building completed by spring.