Our Story

Who we are

We’re Ethan and Jenna Smith, owners of The Back Nine. As parents and teachers, we had a desire to create a place of togetherness, where you can just be and enjoy the people around you and form genuine connections. Combining these connections with true hospitality, craft and classic cocktails and house-made food PLUS the option to play on state-of-the art golf simulators that provide entertainment like no other, is what grew into what is now The Back Nine.

History

After playing baseball his whole life, Ethan picked up golf and fell in love (of course, golf comes after Jenna…most days haha). A couple years later, in 2016, Ethan first played on a golf simulator. We loved the idea and thought it would be great to have in Lakeland! Anticipating only one simulator, beer and wine and some simple bar food, we quickly realized that we wanted to be more. Going back and forth for a few years, we decided to jump into our North Lakeland location in July of 2020 - what an incredible time amongst the world-wide COVID-19 pandemic. While timing and other hurdles weren’t quite in our favor, we opened on November 20, 2020.

Spring forward to June 2022, Ethan stumbled upon what is now our downtown Lakeland location. When we inquired about the space, our future landlord tells us he loves our north Lakeland location, our wings are delicious and he has a simulator reserved for that weekend . . . feels like fate, right? After multiple delays, we finally opened on December 15, 2022.

While The Back Nine may feel like a large corporation or a franchise, we are not. It’s just us, doing what we can. We are proud to be a small business, while always looking forward to the future and growing within our community. We’ve put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into creating this space for all of you to enjoy. We hope to see you soon!

PRESS

LALtoday
Feature

Charley Belcher, Fox13 News
Live Television Broadcast

American Dream TV, Lakeland
Feature with John + Christine Hubbert