How Infonaligy Rebuilt Topgolf's Technology in Dallas

In 2009, Infonaligy was hired to manage the network and IT operations for Topgolf’s Dallas venue on Park Lane. Within a few years, that engagement grew from routine infrastructure support into a complete technology rebuild. When Topgolf’s original technology vendor went bankrupt, the company lost the ability to build new locations. Our engineering team stepped in and rebuilt the core systems that power every Topgolf venue: the RFID ball-tracking system, the gaming platform, the player-facing interface, and the point-of-sale system for gaming. All of it, from ideation through implementation and ongoing operations.

Managing IT Operations at Park Lane

The relationship started with a clear scope. Topgolf needed a managed IT partner for their Park Lane location in Dallas, one of the company’s earlier U.S. venues. Infonaligy handled the network infrastructure, IT operations, and day-to-day technology support that kept the venue running.

For a company whose entire business model depends on technology, reliable IT operations were foundational. Every ball contains an RFID chip. Every bay runs interactive games on live tracking data. Every guest transaction flows through a POS terminal. The technical environment at a Topgolf venue is closer to a small data center than a typical retail or hospitality operation, with hundreds of RFID readers, real-time data processing, large-scale guest WiFi, AV systems, and POS terminals spread across dozens of bays.

Working inside this environment daily gave our engineering team deep exposure to how Topgolf’s technology stack worked, where it was fragile, and what it would need to scale across multiple locations.

The Vendor Bankruptcy That Froze Growth

Topgolf’s original core technology, the system responsible for tracking balls, running the games, and powering the scoring displays, was built by an outside vendor. When that vendor went bankrupt, Topgolf lost more than a supplier. The company lost the ability to replicate its own technology at new sites.

This is a vendor concentration risk that any growing business can face. When a single outside company owns and maintains the technology that your business depends on, their failure becomes your failure. For Topgolf, which was planning to expand from a handful of locations into a national brand, this was not just an inconvenience. Growth was frozen entirely. No new venues could be built without the technology to power them.

I met with Topgolf’s then-CEO Joe and CFO Neil Allen and proposed something that went well beyond IT support. Rather than searching for a replacement vendor to maintain the old system, we would rebuild the technology for the company from the ground up. New architecture, new systems, full ownership by Topgolf.

Rebuilding Four Core Systems from Scratch

Infonaligy’s engineering team took on a ground-up development effort covering the four systems at the heart of the Topgolf experience.

RFID ball-tracking. Every Topgolf ball contains an RFID chip, and the reading system is the infrastructure that detects each ball as it lands, calculates distance and accuracy, and feeds tracking data to the gaming platform in real time. Our team rebuilt the reader hardware integration layer, the data pipeline from field sensors to the central server, and the processing logic that turns raw RFID signals into accurate ball position data. The system had to handle hundreds of balls per hour across dozens of bays without lag or data loss.

The gaming engine. The gaming system takes raw ball-tracking data and turns it into scored, interactive games with rules, targets, player tracking, and competitive features. Our team redesigned the game logic, the scoring algorithms, and the backend services that tie it all together. Each game mode needed to work consistently across different venue layouts and player counts, from a solo practice session to a full corporate event.

The player interface. Every bay at a Topgolf venue has screens displaying live game data, scores, leaderboards, and interactive game elements. Our team designed and built the UI that players see and interact with, turning real-time scoring data into a visual experience that works for casual groups and competitive players alike.

Point-of-sale for gaming. Standard hospitality POS software handles food and beverage. But Topgolf’s gaming POS was a different problem. It needed to integrate with the bay management system, handle game session billing, associate player activity with transactions, and fit within the broader venue operations workflow. Our team built a gaming-specific POS that connected sessions, billing, and venue operations into a single system.

The entire effort spanned multiple years, from initial design through development, deployment, and ongoing operations. This was not a project with a delivery date and a handoff. Infonaligy operated and maintained the systems we built, which meant we owned the reliability and performance of Topgolf’s technology in production, not just the code.

From a Handful of Venues to a $2 Billion Acquisition

The technology rebuild removed the bottleneck that had frozen Topgolf’s expansion. With core systems that the company controlled and that could be deployed at new sites, Topgolf resumed building venues across the United States and eventually internationally.

That growth trajectory culminated in Topgolf’s merger with Callaway Golf, which closed in March 2021. The deal valued Topgolf at approximately $2 billion. Callaway later rebranded as Topgolf Callaway Brands. Many factors contributed to Topgolf’s growth, but the technology platform that powered every venue, the same platform our team rebuilt from the ground up in Dallas, was central to the business model that made that acquisition possible.

The multi-year engagement also demonstrated something important about how Infonaligy operates. We did not treat this as a consulting project with defined deliverables and a clean exit. We built the technology, then operated it. That continuity between development and operations meant our team understood the systems intimately and could resolve issues faster, optimize performance based on real usage data, and evolve the platform as Topgolf’s business grew.

What This Means for Growing Businesses in Dallas

Most companies will never face a scenario as dramatic as losing a critical technology vendor to bankruptcy. But every growing business eventually reaches a point where its IT needs outpace what its current provider can deliver. When that happens, the question is whether your IT partner has the engineering depth to step up or whether you need to start a new vendor search at the worst possible time.

The Topgolf engagement is a clear example of what separates a strategic IT partner from a break-fix vendor. Infonaligy started as a network management and operations provider. When a crisis created a critical technology gap, our team had the capability to design, build, and operate complex custom systems. That range, from help desk support to multi-year engineering engagements, is what we bring to every client relationship.

If you are evaluating IT partners for your business, the IT outsourcing guide we published earlier this year walks through how to compare engagement models and assess a provider’s depth of capability. And if you are a Dallas-Fort Worth business looking for a technology partner that can handle your infrastructure today and build what you need tomorrow, that is exactly the kind of engagement we were built for.