Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, WordPress, and newer AI website builders like Lovable make it easier than ever to build a good-looking website.
And there is nothing wrong with using them.
But for a golf simulator business running on Birrdi and Square, there is an important question to ask before choosing your website platform:
What is your website actually supposed to do?
For most golf simulator facilities, the answer is simple.
You want customers to:
Reserve a simulator
Sign up for a membership
Purchase a pack
Buy a gift card
Register for a league or event
Spend money at your facility
That matters a lot more than having the most beautiful website on the internet.
Most Golfers Are Coming From Their Phone
Your customers are probably not sitting at a desktop computer studying every page of your website.
They are finding you on Google, Instagram, Facebook, or through a recommendation and opening your website on their phone.
They want to know a few things quickly:
Where are you?
How much does it cost?
How do I reserve?
How do I become a member?
Your website should make those answers incredibly obvious.
A giant Book Now button is more valuable than an elaborate animation.
A clear View Memberships button is more valuable than a beautifully designed page customers cannot figure out how to use.
Your website is ultimately a sales tool.
If customers cannot quickly reserve, sign up, or spend money, the website is missing the point.
The Difference Is the Square Connection
This is where Square Online has a major advantage for Birrdi operators.
You can build a website using Shopify or an AI website builder like Lovable.
The problem is that those platforms are still separate from the Square ecosystem running the rest of your business.
With Square Online, your website is already built around the same Square account powering your:
Payments
Point of sale
Customers
Gift cards
Loyalty
Online products
Food and beverage
Other commerce
Birrdi then connects to Square for the golf simulator-specific side of the business.
The structure becomes very simple:
Square Online → Square → Birrdi
Your website, commerce, POS, payments, and reservation system all work around the same foundation.
That connection is much more important than whether another website builder has a prettier template.
Other Website Builders Create Another System
The problem with Shopify, Lovable, Wix, Squarespace, or another website platform is not that they are bad products.
Many of them are excellent.
The issue is that you are introducing another system into your business.
Your website may live in one platform.
Your POS lives in Square.
Your gift cards live in Square.
Your customer activity lives in Square.
Your Birrdi reservations are connected to Square.
Now you have to decide how all of those systems are supposed to work together.
That can mean additional integrations, separate customer records, multiple dashboards, duplicated products, disconnected reporting, and more things to maintain.
The question eventually becomes:
How do we connect our website back to Square?
With Square Online, that connection is already there.
You Don't Need to Overbuild Your Website
Golf simulator owners sometimes spend far too much time worrying about their website.
Your customers probably do not care whether your website was custom coded, generated by AI, built in Shopify, or designed by an expensive agency.
They care whether they can figure out what you offer and make a reservation.
For most facilities, the priorities should be:
Clear Book Online buttons
Clear Membership and Gift Card buttons
Simple pricing information
Mobile-friendly pages
Easy access to gift cards, leagues, lessons, and events
Clear directions and facility information
Everything else is secondary.
A simple website that sends customers directly into the right purchasing experience will usually be more valuable than a visually impressive website that makes customers search for what to do next.
Keep the Stack Simple
For most Birrdi operators, we recommend a straightforward technology stack:
Square Online for your website
Square for your POS, payments, customers, gift cards, loyalty, and commerce
Birrdi for your golf simulator reservations, memberships, packs, leagues, lessons, and operations
It keeps the most important parts of your business connected.
And just as importantly, it keeps your website focused on what it is supposed to do:
Turn visitors into paying customers.
The Bottom Line
You can build a beautiful website with Shopify.
You can build one with Wix or Squarespace.
You can even use an AI website builder like Lovable and create something impressive very quickly.
But beautiful is not the goal.
Conversion is the goal.
Most golfers are visiting your website from their phone. They need obvious ways to reserve, join a membership, purchase a pack, buy a gift card, or otherwise spend money with your facility.
Square Online gives you those capabilities while keeping the website connected to the Square ecosystem already powering your business.
For most Birrdi operators, that simplicity is hard to beat:
Build the website in Square Online.
Run your commerce through Square.
Run your golf simulator operation through Birrdi.
Keep the stack simple, keep the calls to action obvious, and make it as easy as possible for customers to spend money at your facility.