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New York City restaurateur Danny Meyer is taking a big swing on indoor golf. Meyer's investment firm Enlightened Hospitality Investments is investing $20 million for a minority stake in Five Iron Golf, a New York City startup that has 24 indoor golf simulator facilities, including a just-announced 16,390-square-foot space near Manhattan's Grand Central Station.

Founded in 2017, Five Iron previously raised $30 million in 2021 from investors including TopGolf Calloway Brands, according to CrunchBase. Mike Doyle, one of the company's co-founders, had been teaching golf simulator lessons in the back of a department store in Manhattan, when he and his student Mike Doyle, now Five Iron's CEO, began dreaming up the concept of a urban golf club with simulators, leagues, lessons--and a sports bar attached.

The Five Iron co-founders believe they can make the sport more accessible by offering an option that's less expensive and doesn't require the time commitment of 18 rounds at a local course. Five Iron is already in 13 states and four countries, and the new cash infusion comes amid a mini-boom in indoor gaming, including neon minigolf like Boston's Puttshack and lawn game spots like New York City's the Lawn Club.

Meyer, who founded Shake Shack and several New York City restaurants, apparently sees a hole-in-one. He told CNBC the concept appealed to him because he found taking lessons with an indoor simulator the most convenient way to learn to play golf. "What they're doing with golf is what we've always tried to do with restaurants," he told the outlet, "which is to make something more accessible to more people with quality."

As part of the investment, Enlightened Hospitality Investments co-founder Peter Mavrovitis will join Five Iron's board. Five Iron should be teed up nicely to succeed: Enlightened's other investments include Goldbelly, Tacombi, and Joe Coffee.

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