Swedish indoor golf brand RUFF has signed a ten-year master franchise agreement for Scotland, its second UK deal in four months. The Scottish partner, Targe Environmental Consulting Ltd, plans ten venues over the term, starting with Aberdeen, where talks on premises are under way.
On 21 October 2026, RUFF Golf announced that it had granted the rights to develop its concept in Scotland to Targe Environmental Consulting Ltd, a company owned by golfer Liam Manderson. The agreement was signed this autumn and runs for ten years, with a development plan of ten venues over the same period. RUFF, founded in Sweden, combines golf simulators with a social clubhouse format, placing it among the sports and leisure franchises in the UK. The company says it operates 28 venues across Europe and grows through franchise openings and master franchise agreements in several markets.
Aberdeen first, with no opening date yet
The first Scottish venue is planned for Aberdeen. RUFF says negotiations for suitable premises are continuing and that an opening date will follow once the site and timetable are confirmed. The plan therefore works out at roughly one venue a year over the term. Under a master franchise, the Scottish partner holds the development rights for the territory and is responsible for opening and running the concept there. The release does not say whether Targe will operate every venue itself or sign further franchisees in Scotland, and that point is not published.
The second UK master franchise since June
Scotland follows a first UK agreement announced on 11 June 2026. That deal made Ultima Enterprise Ltd the master franchise partner for the Midlands, also for ten years. Ultima already ran two Bunker Indoor Golf venues, in Nottingham and Heanor, and RUFF said both would be converted to its brand over time. The UK route so far has therefore combined conversions of independent operators with new territory deals, rather than company-owned openings.
Why the brand is targeting Scotland
RUFF presents Scotland as a symbolic market as well as a commercial one. Alex Bengtsson, chief executive and co-founder of RUFF Golf, said: “Scotland is the home of golf, making it both a symbolically and strategically important market for RUFF.” He added that the company sees “a need for more modern and accessible ways to play, practise and socialise around the sport”. Manderson described simulator golf as a way to play “all year round, come rain or shine”, and said cost and access had made the game harder to take up in many places.
Good to know
Franchising in the UK is governed by general contract law. There is no franchise statute and no register of franchise agreements, so the size of a network is always the franchisor’s own figure. Scotland also has its own contract and property law, separate from England and Wales, a divergence set out in UK franchise law: how England, Scotland and Northern Ireland differ.
What to watch next
The next public milestones are the signing of the Aberdeen premises and a confirmed opening date. In the Midlands, the progress of the Nottingham and Heanor conversions will show how quickly RUFF can move independent venues onto its brand and systems. Neither release publishes an investment figure per venue, a franchise fee or a timetable beyond the first site. Those figures are not published, and any UK estate total will remain RUFF’s own count.
