Our area is not built for golf.
You finally start to figure it out in season. Your swing feels consistent, you’re striking the ball clean, your confidence builds, and then winter hits and everything stops. And by the time spring rolls around again, you’re not building on progress. You’re trying to get back to where you were.
Ty Zaczkowski felt that halt in progress and decided it didn’t make sense. So he built a solution. A hybrid golf simulator and gym business designed around the idea that if you remove the friction like cost, access, and intimidation people will actually get better.
The Problem With Golf
Golf isn’t just hard, it’s inefficient. Most people don’t practice with intention. They buy a bucket of balls, hit them until they’re gone, and leave without learning much of anything. There’s feedback, but it’s mostly visual.
Ty didn’t fully understand how much that mattered until recently
“It’s crazy… when you really start paying attention to the data instead of just cranking balls,” he said. “Face angle, club speed, ball speed… you make significantly quicker progress.”
“It’s crazy… when you really start paying attention to the data instead of just cranking balls,” he said. “Face angle, club speed, ball speed… you make significantly quicker progress.”
That shift from casual repetition to intentional training is the foundation of everything he’s building.
A Better Value Than a New Driver
Golf has always been expensive. That’s not new. What is new is how people are starting to think about value.
“Do you spend $500 on a new driver,” Ty said, “or do you spend $100 a month and train as much as you want?”
Instead of charging per hour— where every session feels like a ticking clock—he flipped it into a membership. Unlimited access. No pressure. No rush. No decision fatigue halfway through a round about whether it’s worth another $30 to keep going.
The Gym
The golf side solves the improvement. The gym solves everything else.
Ty didn’t want a side room with a few weights. He built a full facility because he knows fitness is what keeps people showing up year-round.
“The gym is very important,” he said. “It’s not a couple pieces of equipment—it’s a full build-out.”
That decision ties directly back to his background.
Before this, before simulators, before Birdies, Ty spent over a decade in the fitness industry—building gyms, sourcing equipment, and understanding how people actually use spaces, not just how they look on paper.
That experience shows up everywhere.
In the layout. The pricing. The pacing of how the business is growing.
And especially in one key decision: he capped it.
A Business Designed Not to Feel Busy
Most gyms sell volume. Ty did the opposite.
He limited memberships on purpose—so when people walk in, it doesn’t feel crowded. Even at capacity.
“I think people will be shocked,” he said, “when we hit capacity and they come in and there’s still very few people here.”
That’s not an accident
It’s the result of understanding how usage actually works in a 24-hour facility—and designing around behavior, not assumptions.
Built By Hand
Walk through the space and there’s another detail you start to notice. Almost everything—he built himself including the simulator bays, the framing, the flooring and the finishes. Even parts of the bathrooms.
“This is what I really enjoy,” he said. “The building process.”
That’s not just a personality trait—it’s a business advantage
By doing the work himself, Ty kept costs low. And by keeping costs low.
The business grew from there.
The Real Strategy
What makes Ty different is why he builds businesses. From early on, he was thinking beyond the business itself
“My ultimate passion was real estate,” he said.
The gym was the vehicle. A way to acquire commercial property, control the space, and build equity while operating a business inside it.
He started with house hacking, buying a duplex, living in one unit, renovating the other. Then moving. Then doing it again.
Now, he’s applying that same model here by leasing the current space with an option to purchase.
“I’m attempting to acquire the buildings as time goes on,” he said. Ty doesn’t actually want to run a gym. At least not in the traditional sense.
“It’s not really my goal to manage a gym,” he said.
What he enjoys is the process with the build, the concept, and the early stage growth.
Once it’s running?
He’s already thinking about what’s next.
That mindset shows up in everything he does.
He’s flipped houses. Built out commercial spaces. Sourced gym equipment for over a decade. Started side businesses just to test ideas.
He even has a gutter cleaning company.
“It’s just fun,” he said. “It’s fun to try to acquire new customers.”
This Might Be Bigger Than Fargo
For a long time, Ty thought this would stay local.
He thought he would maybe build one location, get it right, and maybe expand to Grand Forks and West Fargo.
Then he started posting online and started getting serious attention from outside of the metro with one video reaching 150,000 views.
“I have people reaching out from all over,” he said. “They’re asking about the concept and how to open one. So, down the line, franchising might be an option.”
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