Dryveing in Denver
Simulator golf in the Mile-High City now can come to you
Dryvebox, a San Francisco-based company that franchises a mobile golf-simulator, is opening a new operation in Denver, the company announced today.
The company attended its first PGA Merchandise in Orlando earlier this year to identify new partners and on Wednesday announced Denver as one of 10 new franchises across the country. The Denver-area franchisee is Ty Schoener, a Columbus, Ohio native who moved to Denver in 2018.
“It’s a super exciting time at Dryvebox and I’m very happy to play a small part in launching the Denver location,” Schoener said.
Schoener will take receipt of his Dryvebox in early June and begin operating shortly after. “We’ll be offering private parties, corporate events, brand activations, and more. Follow @DryveboxDenver on Instagram to learn about what we have in store,” he said.
The move comes as simulator-based golf has exploded across the state and country. A review by Colorado AvidGolfer found 26 bars and lounges in Colorado had golf simulators. A 2023 survey by the National Golf Foundation estimated that nearly 33 million Americans played ‘off-course’ golf – including driving ranges and all simulator-based outfits like TopGolf and golf bars. That is more than the estimated 26.6 million who played golf on actual grass, the Foundation results found.
Dryvebox founder Adeel Yang is a 38-year-old Taiwan native who moved to the U.S. after middle school and went to high school, college, and medical school in Arizona (earning a medical degree at the University of Arizona Medical School – Tucson). He has been a self-proclaimed golf nut for five years. His younger brother, with whom he shares an intense sibling rivalry, was better than him at the game, so Yang, willing to do anything to find an edge, purchased an in-home TrackMan.
“Yeah, it was pretty pricey,” he says. “But beating my brother was worth every penny.” Considering he and his family live in San Francisco, sacrificing a whole room just for golf made very little sense to Yang’s wife. “She was probably right,” he admits.
He stared his first company in 2011, Picmonic, an e-learning tool that addressed the needs of healthcare professionals. Its online community had grown to well over 1 million learners in over more than 100 countries before it was acquired by TrueLearn in 2021. After Picmonic came Medumo, a digital health company providing healthcare providers with patient engagement and management software services. It was acquired by Philips in 2019.
Yang began Dryvebox in 2020 as “a driving range on wheels.”
The company was born of Yang’s at-home range sessions which had proved so unpopular with his wife. “One night, I half-jokingly asked what if I could fit the simulator inside a trailer?” he says. “I would then be out of the house and I could drive it around to other folks who wanted to use it. It could even be a neat business. That’s how it all began.”
Yang hired a company to design a weather-resistant, climate-controlled, and solar-powered trailer with a Trackman-enabled simulator inside which he could hitch to the back of his truck. Dryvebox is 8 feet wide, 22 feet long and 13 feet 4 inches high while in transit, and a few feet longer when parked, extended and in use. Yang said it has proven a huge hit at corporate events and private parties and, earlier this year, was seen at two PGA Tour events. At the WM Phoenix Open the company used it in collaboration with Bad Birdie, lululemon, and the Los Angeles Golf Club. At the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club it put on a free-to-enter closest-to-the-pin challenge at the 14th Lounge.
Dryvebox, whose website says it was founded “on the idea that the holistic value golf offers shouldn’t be limited by what you have or where you are” has also worked with Pepsi, Callaway, Cobra Puma, Topgolf, Malbon Golf, Lexus, the Palm Tree Music Festival, Art Basel, and the LA Auto Show. It will have a presence at both the Masters and US Open, Yang said.
Colorado AvidGolfer Magazine is the state’s leading resource for golf and the lifestyle that surrounds it, publishing eight issues annually and proudly delivering daily content via coloradoavidgolfer.com.
GET COLORADO GOLF NEWS DIRECTLY TO YOUR INBOX
Leaving Negative Thoughts Behind when You Head to the Tee Box
How does worrying impact our golf performance? What strategies can we use to manage it?
All in the Family Meal
The secret ingredient of Colorado golf course success is well-fed caddies, cooks and groundskeepers
CSU Grad Davis Bryant Discusses His Rise as a Pro Golfer
Colorado State grad Davis Bryant opens up on his path to the pros and what keeps him busy when he’s off the course
