Why We Tell Golf Simulator Owners to Stop Chasing Lower Processing Fees

Every golf simulator owner eventually gets the pitch.

A payment processor calls and tells you they can beat your current processing rate.

Maybe you're paying 2.4% or 2.9%, and they're promising 1.8%. On the surface, the decision seems obvious:

Why would I pay more to process the exact same credit card?

Because you're not just paying to process a credit card.

Your POS can be one of the most important pieces of technology running your business, and switching platforms to save a fraction of a percentage point can end up costing you far more than you save.

For golf simulator businesses using Birrdi, this is especially important because Square isn't simply the place where the credit card gets charged. Square and Birrdi work together to run a huge portion of your business.

It's easy to look at Square and see a payment processor.

But that's only one part of the platform.

Square provides an entire ecosystem of business tools around your payments, including:

And when you use Birrdi, that ecosystem becomes even more valuable. Birrdi is deeply integrated with Square so your reservations, customers, payments, memberships, credits, and other activity can work together.

You're not paying a processing fee for someone to simply move money from a Visa card into your bank account.

You're paying for infrastructure that helps run your business.

We're not saying every independent payment processor is bad.

But we do recommend being very careful when someone sells you on a payment processor based primarily on a headline rate.

If someone tells you:

“We can get your processing down to 1.8%.”

Your next question shouldn't simply be:

“Where do I sign?”

It should be:

“What am I giving up?”

Does that processor give you a full point-of-sale system?

Does it give you a CRM to manage your customers?

Does it provide an integrated loyalty program?

Does it give you built-in marketing tools?

Does it give you a website and eCommerce platform?

Does it handle payroll?

Let's say your facility processes $500,000 per year in credit card payments.

For a simplified example, assume you're comparing a 2.4% processing rate against an advertised 1.8% rate.

At 2.4%, that's approximately:

$12,000 per year

At 1.8%, that's approximately:

$9,000 per year

Your theoretical savings would be:

$3,000 per year

That's $250 per month.

Now ask yourself what happens if switching your technology stack causes you to lose even a small amount of revenue.

What if your membership program becomes harder to operate?

What if you stop offering loyalty?

What if the additional friction costs you a handful of repeat customers?

Suddenly that $250 per month doesn't look nearly as exciting.

We believe golf simulator operators spend too much time worrying about payment processing fees.

Payment processing is an operating expense.

So is rent.

So is electricity.

So is insurance.

So is your launch monitor.

So is your reservation software.

You should know what these things cost, but your business shouldn't be designed around eliminating every expense.

It should be designed around generating enough margin to comfortably pay for the infrastructure required to operate it.

If your payment processing costs are materially hurting your margins, look at your pricing.

A small adjustment to your simulator rates can often have a much larger impact than rebuilding your technology stack to save a fraction of a percentage point on processing.

Build your operating costs into your pricing and move on.

This is the bigger lesson.

Golf simulator owners should be asking:

How do I get customers to visit more often?

How do I increase customer lifetime value?

How do I sell more memberships?

How do I fill empty simulator hours?

How do I automate more of my facility?

How do I make it easier for customers to spend money with me?

Those questions can move your revenue by thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.

Saving a few tenths of a percentage point on processing is unlikely to transform your business.

Increasing utilization, retention, membership revenue, and customer lifetime value can.

This is one of the reasons Birrdi has invested so heavily in its Square integration.

Square handles the financial infrastructure.

Birrdi handles the golf simulator experience around it.

Together, they can power:

Reservation → Payment → Customer → Membership → Credits → Loyalty → Repeat Visit

Instead of stitching together separate providers for reservations, recurring payments, loyalty, customer management, and your POS, the systems can work together.

That simplicity has value.

If another payment processor genuinely offers a better solution for your business, you should absolutely evaluate it.

But don't make that decision based solely on someone showing you a lower processing percentage.

Compare the entire ecosystem.

And most importantly, compare what actually helps you make more money, not simply what helps you pay a slightly smaller processing bill.

For most golf simulator businesses using Birrdi, Square isn't just processing the payments.

It's helping power the business.

Build the cost of accepting payments into your pricing, protect your margins, and then get back to the things that actually grow your business.

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