Everything you'd want to know before your first conversation: what a franchise is, what the FDD is, who does what, and why so many owners choose a system over going it alone.
The basics
A franchise is a licence. Shotgun Golf, the franchisor, owns the brand, the operating system and the technology, and grants you, the franchisee, the right to run a location under that brand, using that system, in your own territory, for a set term. In return you pay an initial franchise fee and ongoing royalties.
You own the business: the company, the lease, the equipment and the profits. We own the brand and the playbook and are responsible for keeping both improving. It's a partnership with clearly divided jobs, written into a franchise agreement that both sides sign.
Disclosure
The Franchise Disclosure Document, or FDD, is the document we're required to give you before you sign anything or pay anything. In Ontario it's governed by the Arthur Wishart Act (Franchise Disclosure), 2000; Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island have their own equivalent legislation.
You'll receive it at least 14 days before signing a franchise agreement or paying any money. That time is yours: read it, take it to a franchise lawyer and an accountant, and call the existing franchisees listed inside.
It isn't a sales brochure. It's the reference for every number and obligation on this website, and where anything here differs from the FDD, the FDD applies.
Read all of it, have a lawyer who practises franchise law review it, and call the franchisees on the list. We'd rather you ask every question now.
Why a system
You open with a format that already works in multiple locations: pricing, layout, hours, marketing and operations refined by real customers, not guesses.
Golfers already search for the brand, members already travel between locations, and the national marketing fund is working before your doors open.
Booking, payments, keyless access, bay automation, loyalty and support run on a platform the franchisor maintains and improves. An independent has to assemble and support all of it.
Operator training, an operations playbook, and a support team that has opened and run locations before. Problems you hit have usually been solved already.
Equipment, simulators, turf and build packages are specified and priced at system scale rather than as a one-off order.
Lenders underwrite a documented system with comparables. That means more credit on better terms than most first-time independents can access.
Other franchisees are a resource for ideas, benchmarks and honest advice. Independents compete alone.
Standardized build scopes and a known ramp shorten time to open and reduce the expensive early mistakes that sink new venues.
Who does what
The honest comparison
| Franchise with Shotgun Golf | Independent simulator venue | |
|---|---|---|
| Brand and demand at opening | Established, searched for, members already in the network | Unknown; built from zero with local advertising |
| Technology platform | Booking, access, automation and loyalty provided and maintained | Assembled from separate vendors, integrated and supported by you |
| Build cost certainty | Standardized scopes and equipment list | Custom design; costs discovered as you go |
| Lender confidence | System comparables; franchise-lending teams; CSBFL-eligible | Single-venue business plan; harder underwriting |
| Time to open | About four months in the ideal case | Often 9–18 months including design and vendor selection |
| Marketing | National fund plus local playbook | All local, all self-funded |
| Support when something breaks | Franchisor support team and peer network | Your vendors, your problem |
| Ongoing cost | Royalty and brand fund on revenue | No royalties |
| Freedom | Operate within brand standards | Complete, including the freedom to make every mistake yourself |
For most owners the royalty buys back far more than it costs: a faster opening, a fuller calendar in month one and fewer expensive lessons. For an experienced operator set on building their own brand, independence can still be the right call. Either way, we'd rather you choose with the full picture.
Glossary
Request the FDD. You'll have at least 14 days with it, and we hope you use every one of them.
