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An artist’s rendering depicts the vision for Swingers, a miniature golf attraction with an English country club theme, with plans to launch in fall 2024 at Mandalay Bay.
Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Las Vegas Strip attractions
Another immersive experience is on its way to Las Vegas.
Swingers, “the crazy golf club,” will open its flagship Las Vegas location in fall 2024 at Mandalay Bay. The attraction, which debuted in London nearly a decade ago, aims to emulate an English country golf club.
The courses are covered in trees and plants, there’s a clubhouse with bartenders and the caddies give you drinks as well as advice on your swing, said CEO and co-founder Matt Grech-Smith.
“We had this idea: What if we took what we call ‘crazy golf’ and did it in a really immersive theatrical venue with incredible food and drinks?” Grech-Smith said. “And so, Swingers was born.”
According to a news release, the 40,000-square-foot Las Vegas location — the biggest Swingers venue to date — will comprise five mini-golf courses and expand Swingers’ English countryside concept to an immersive and theatrical “English country house” concept.
As the “global home” of entertainment, Grech-Smith said, Las Vegas had always been a big ambition for Swingers. That dream was realized when the company had the opportunity to pitch its vision for the Mandalay Bay space to owner MGM Resorts International.
“It was a really nice process of getting to work with somebody who understands the market — understands what consumers are looking for,” Grech-Smith said. “And we’ve got to really work together on this project, rather than one party having to persuade the other.”
Central to the Swingers concept is having quality food and beverage options in addition to creative mini-golf courses, he said, unlike similar places where the drinks and snacks are often subpar.
Swingers, described by a spokesman as a ‘theatrical venue’ emphasizing food and drinks, has a location in New York.
Good cocktails and a great menu, wrapped up in an immersive, theatrical setting, have proved to be a popular combination at Swingers’ other locations, Grech-Smith said.
“We say that everyone gets a little bit better at mini-golf when they’ve had a drink,” he joked.
As “competitive socializing” continues to gain traction, Grech-Smith said the company had to think of what it could do to be bigger, better and fit into the Las Vegas market.
The new space will feature a huge projection on the main wall of a beautiful manor in the English countryside, four or five bars and more, as well as DJs performing a signature soundtrack that Grech-Smith described as “disco soul funk” oriented.
“It’s very immersive and it has a real kind of nightlife element to it,” he said. “We’re obviously really popular through the daytime and we do lots and lots of corporate trade. But as it gets into the evening … the music gets a little bit louder. The cocktails are really flowing. So, it’s a quite sophisticated, cool nightlife experience.”
Las Vegas’ unique talent for hospitality, especially its popularity for conventions and corporate groups, will hopefully make for a “symbiotic relationship,” with Swingers, Grech-Smith said.
Though people may think the Swingers concept is cheesy at first, once they start playing a round of mini-golf with a martini in hand, they quickly change their mind, Grech-Smith said.
“This is just the combination of a lot of ambition and a 10-year journey,” he said of the upcoming Las Vegas location. “So, we’re just really excited to do the biggest and best Swingers yet, and introduce the concept to a whole load of people that haven’t experienced it yet.”
