A pair of Maryland brothers is betting that Severna Park golfers would rather play a round in under an hour than spend half a day on the course. Evan Lipinski and Patrick Lipinski plan to open a Back Nine Golf franchise at Robinson Crossing by the end of 2026, bringing a 24/7 indoor simulator complex to the Ritchie Highway shopping center.
The brothers signed a lease with landlord Continental Realty Corp. for 2,900 square feet at the 115,000-square-foot neighborhood shopping center at 550 Ritchie Highway, according to the Maryland Daily Record. Continental Realty Corp. announced the deal, which will make Severna Park the tenth Back Nine Golf franchise operating in Maryland. Patrick Lipinski already owns the brand's Towson location, which opened earlier in 2026.
Why Severna Park Made the Cut
Patrick Lipinski said the brothers chose Robinson Crossing because of its concentration of young families and golfers, paired with their own familiarity with the Severna Park area. The center offers prime roadside visibility, nearby golf courses and above-average demographics, and it already houses roughly 20 national and locally owned retailers, restaurants and service providers, including Aldi, Celebree School, Dollar Tree, Harbor Freight and Mattress Firm.
Harbor Freight's 21,202-square-foot store opened at Robinson Crossing in April, serving as a primary retail anchor alongside the incoming Back Nine Golf, per Continental Realty Corporation. The landlord's push along the corridor extends beyond this single shopping center: Commercial Property Executive reported in September that Continental Realty Corp. secured $43 million in refinancing for Park Plaza, an 183,380-square-foot retail center located directly adjacent to Robinson Crossing on Ritchie Highway.
Trading Five-Hour Rounds for Sixty Minutes
Patrick Lipinski said he first pursued golf simulators because work and family commitments made traditional four- to five-hour golf rounds difficult to fit into his schedule. With Back Nine Golf, he said, he can play a full 18 holes in under an hour. The Severna Park facility will run 24/7, letting members swing by on their own schedule rather than booking a tee time.
The franchise uses Full Swing simulators, which provide real-time feedback on swing speed, ball speed, launch angle and other data points, and participants can play simulated courses from around the world. Back Nine Golf, founded in 2021, also offers leagues and tournaments and gives players the option to receive guidance from Professional Golf Association professionals. The brand's technology replicates setups used in the golf league founded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, according to SouthBMore.com, which also reported that Full Swing Golf technology serves as the official simulator hardware partner of both the PGA Tour and that league.
A Low-Overhead Model Fueling Rapid Growth
Part of the appeal, Patrick Lipinski said, is that Back Nine Golf requires only a few employees to operate thanks to its largely automated, unstaffed format. Franchise disclosure data analyzed by Tabski in 2026 found that an unstaffed Back Nine Golf location demands a total investment between $276,050 and $688,500, generating average annual unit revenue of $192,856 across three to six simulator bays — a low-overhead structure that helps explain how the Lipinski brothers have been able to expand across multiple counties at once.
Other franchisees are moving just as quickly elsewhere in the region. Eye On Annapolis reported in January that owners Nate and Nirali DePasquale signed a lease for a 3,866-square-foot 24/7 Back Nine Golf location in Gambrills, the brand's first announced project in Anne Arundel County. And in September, franchisees Justin Martinelli and Blair Boleyn signed a lease for a 4,095-square-foot complex at the Spring Garden building in South Baltimore, featuring Full Swing simulators and a projection-based PuttView green, per the same SouthBMore.com report — marking the brand's first footprint inside Baltimore city limits. Regional business listings also show Back Nine Golf already established in Baltimore County, with facilities in Towson/Cockeysville and at 140 Merritt Way in White Marsh, according to Golf Sim Spot.
Riding a National Surge in Off-Course Play
The Maryland expansion mirrors a broader shift in how Americans are golfing. The National Golf Foundation reported that U.S. golf participation hit a record 48.1 million people in 2025, with 19 million playing exclusively at off-course venues like simulators and driving ranges. Overall participation across on-course and off-course formats grew 41% from 2019 to 2025.
That national appetite has already shown up in other Hoodline coverage of the simulator boom, including a new Back Nine Golf debut in San Antonio and a similar simulator opening that surfaced amid Roseville Plaza's oddball history. Back Nine Golf, which originated in St. George, Utah, has since scaled to more than 200 open or committed locations nationwide. For Severna Park, the Lipinski brothers' bet is that a shopping center already stocked with tool stores, discount retailers and a preschool has room for one more tenant selling convenience — just this time, on the back nine.
