{"id":549448,"date":"2026-06-23T04:55:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T04:55:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/549448\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T04:55:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T04:55:24","slug":"meet-the-two-caddies-who-created-corks-first-ever-indoor-golf-simulator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/549448\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the two caddies who created Cork\u2019s first-ever indoor golf simulator"},"content":{"rendered":"

With McIlroy\u2019s back-to-back Augusta wins<\/a> still fresh amid growing excitement for the Ryder Cup\u2019s return to Ireland<\/a>, the opening of Cork\u2019s first-ever indoor golf simulator can not come at a better time for childhood friends and business partners Ben Quigley and Rob O\u2019Callaghan.<\/p>\n

The duo, both seasoned players and caddies, took inspiration from their travels and work in Florida, where indoor golf<\/a> has evolved from a little-known novelty into a staple across golfing hotspots.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought, if this sort of thing thrives in a place with incredible weather, imagine how well it will do over here,\u201d Mr Quigley tells the Irish Examiner.<\/p>\n

\u201cIreland has some of the best golf courses in the world, but at the end of the day, we\u2019re very limited when it comes to our climate and how much can actually be played in the winter months. Cork<\/a> needs a place like this to fill that gap.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the simple concept and ambition to bring more to Cork golfers still required months of demanding and expensive work for the enterprising duo.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven finding the right location was a massive challenge,\u201d says Mr Quigley.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe considered several units across the city before landing on this one, but we always dreamt of doing this at the Marina.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe eventually decided to hold out for a place here instead of settling somewhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the capital intensity of such an ambitious project, which included the construction of five golf bays, a coffee dock, projectors, painting and tracking technology, cannot be understated, says Mr Quigley.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been quite expensive, but thankfully, it\u2019s quite front-loaded. All our expenditure is coming out hot and heavy at the start,\u201d says Quigley.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut still, we\u2019re doing this without any external funding or investment. Right now, it\u2019s a 50-50 co-ownership between myself and Rob, and we\u2019ve put everything that we saved over the years into it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pair, both just 26 years old, are the sole employees of the city centre facility, which is open 14 hours a day, seven days a week. They balance this while also holding onto their caddying duties.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is one of us here at all times. And when one is here, the other is out working on the golf course because we need the money for this place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Impact of global conflict on its supply chain<\/p>\n

In an era of growing economic uncertainty and rising business costs, Mr Quigley recognises Flyte\u2019s opening comes at an interesting time. Even in its infancy, the business has already felt the impact of global conflict on its supply chain.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to delay our opening because some of our equipment was held up for weeks in UK customs,\u201d says Mr Quigley.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hitting mats, which are essential for the golf simulator, got stuck in the Strait of Hormuz, so we had to pivot to another strategy at the last minute.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve definitely had a few additional obstacles added to our journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, delays and rising costs did little to dissuade the young entrepreneurs and economics graduates, who always envisioned owning a business someday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe always just wanted to work for ourselves. I love sports and meeting new people, and we have people from all walks of life coming in our door.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had people in here who played golf all their life and others who haven\u2019t held a club in years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The facility uses TrackMan technology, which measures the golf balls as they\u2019re hit, recording speed, direction, height, angles, spin rates and roll distance, allowing players in-depth insights into their performance.<\/p>\n

State-of-the-art technology<\/p>\n

\u201cThe technology is second to none,\u201d Mr Quigley explains. \u201cIt shows you everything.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can use it over time as well to track your improvement, which for me, has been a bit humbling at times. But it\u2019s all good fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany people also just come here for some craic with their mates and prefer to play around. There\u2019s no right or wrong way to enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The projectors also offer players the choice of more than 400 real-life courses, along with various interactive games for people of all ages, abilities, and team sizes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want this to be a social outlet as much as a training one. These types of places are needed now more than ever, given there aren\u2019t as many recreational options anymore outside of the pub,\u201d Mr Quigley adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see this as a place for friends to come play and hang out, as well as for team-building, which is another thing we continue to explore.\u201d .<\/p>\n

Since the facility\u2019s opening last month, the Glanmire native says the duo have been blown away by its reception.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were so nervous before we opened those doors. We were working to get the place in order up until the very last minute, waiting patiently for paint to dry and praying it wouldn\u2019t get on people\u2019s shoes. Thankfully it\u2019s been a great success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking forward, the pair seek to replicate the success of local sports clubs in the area, pointing to the growing popularity of padel tennis as an example.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re extremely inspired by the padel scene and want to see that same hype for golf,\u201d says Mr Quigley.<\/p>\n

While the business partners have become accustomed to long hours in Flyte and caddying shifts on the golf course, Mr Quigley concedes that more staff may also be needed to cover the 14 hours it\u2019s open every day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll probably see the team grow over the next few months, and for myself personally, I would have ambitions to scale this to more locations across the country. If we can replicate this across other sites, I would be very happy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With McIlroy\u2019s back-to-back Augusta wins still fresh amid growing excitement for the Ryder Cup\u2019s return to Ireland, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[2736,781,1263,79,18,19,17,5948],"class_list":["post-549448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-cork-business","tag-cork-news","tag-cork-sport","tag-business","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ryder-cup"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116797645297224090","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}