Andy DevaneyTrackMan iO, more than 200 virtual courses, recovery facilities, pools, padel and somewhere to answer emails afterwards. Virgin Active Chiswick Riverside is making a convincing case for the golf club that isn’t actually a golf club.
There is a particular sort of optimism involved in joining a health club.
You imagine yourself swimming before breakfast, doing Pilates with the serene control of a concert pianist and recovering afterwards like a Tour player with three physios and a sponsorship deal.
Reality usually involves 40 minutes on a treadmill and a muffin.
Virgin Active Chiswick Riverside, though, has come up with a rather more persuasive reason for golfers to linger: two Trackman iO golf simulators offering access to more than 200 virtual courses, including St Andrews and PGA National.
And that is where this refurbishment becomes genuinely interesting.
Judged purely as an indoor golf destination, two simulator bays do not make Chiswick Riverside some vast temple to the launch monitor. That is not really the point. What Virgin Active has done is slot golf into a much larger sporting, training and recovery environment.
For golfers who already divide their time between the course, gym, physio, swimming pool and various attempts to keep their back behaving itself, there is plenty here that makes sense.
The Golf Offering: Small but Well Chosen
The headline attraction for us is obviously TrackMan iO.
At Chiswick Riverside, the practical attraction is straightforward: members can play or practise across more than 200 virtual courses without leaving the club.
St Andrews will inevitably attract attention. It is difficult to resist the idea of fitting in a few holes on the Old Course before heading for a swim, even if the Swilcan Burn is considerably less menacing when it exists entirely inside a computer.
There are two simulators, which is worth keeping in perspective. This is not a dedicated indoor golf centre with rows of bays and a revolving door of fourballs.
But as an addition to an existing premium leisure club, two makes rather more sense. Golf becomes another training option rather than the entire reason for visiting.
That distinction is important.
A golfer might arrive for a Trackman session, move into Pilates or recovery work and finish with a swim. Equally, somebody who joined principally for fitness suddenly has golf sitting within easy reach.
It is a much more natural crossover than attaching a putting mat to the corner of a gym and declaring victory.
Where Chiswick Riverside Gets More Interesting
The biggest strength of the proposition is everything surrounding the simulator bays.
Chiswick Riverside already has 25-metre indoor and outdoor pools, tennis and padel courts and a substantial programme of classes and training. It is also an official HYROX Training Club Partner.
The redevelopment adds a dedicated studio for one-to-one and small-group Pilates, along with an enhanced recovery area featuring Hyperice-powered technology and heated hydromassage beds.
There are also Medical and Longevity Wellness Suites operated with Marylebone Health Group, offering physiotherapy, osteopathy, sports therapy and performance expertise.
For golfers, that collection of facilities feels unusually coherent.
Anyone who plays regularly knows golf’s dirty little secret: the swing may look like the important bit, but maintaining the machinery responsible for producing it tends to become increasingly significant.
Mobility, recovery and general conditioning belong in the same conversation as clubhead speed and strike quality. Chiswick Riverside has at least recognised that the person swinging the club requires some attention too.
The Country-Club Idea Without the Golf Course
Virgin Active describes its wider direction as “Social Wellness”, which sounds exactly like the sort of phrase destined for a strategy presentation.
Look beyond the terminology, though, and the underlying idea is quite sensible.
Chiswick Riverside is being positioned as somewhere members can spend a sizeable portion of their day rather than somewhere they visit for an hour, shower and escape.
There are expanded co-working areas, a new main lounge, an adults’ lounge with private meeting rooms and an upgraded Kauai café with table service.
Family facilities have received similar attention. Club V has been expanded and redesigned, while established junior swimming and racquets programmes are joined by Junior Padel.
That gives Chiswick Riverside something closer to the rhythm of a country club, albeit without an actual golf course disappearing towards the horizon.
For once, the corporate ambition and the golfer’s interest are travelling in roughly the same direction.
What We Like
The clever part is not simply installing TrackMan.
It is recognising that golfers increasingly train away from the course.
A simulator can handle the golf-specific element. Pilates can address movement and control. Physiotherapy and sports therapy are available within the same club. Recovery facilities sit nearby. Swimming offers another training option.
Then there are racquet sports, which will either provide useful cross-training or reveal that your coordination was rather more golf-specific than you imagined.
The setting helps too. Chiswick Riverside sits beside the Thames and has the scale to support the broader club concept without every new idea appearing to have been wedged between two exercise bikes.
Most importantly, golf has not been treated as a novelty.
It has been included as one serious sporting component within a wider performance and lifestyle offer.
Where the Proposition Has Limits
Golfers should still judge the offering for what it is.
Two simulator bays will not replace a dedicated indoor golf facility for somebody who wants extensive bay availability, nor will virtual St Andrews replace the experience of standing on the first tee in Fife.
And Chiswick Riverside is not suddenly a golf club simply because Trackman has arrived.
That may actually be its strength.
The proposition works best for somebody who wants golf to live alongside the rest of their fitness and family routine rather than dominate it.
The club also remains a work in progress, with further spaces and experiences due to be transformed in 2027.
So this is less a finished statement than a fairly clear indication of where Virgin Active wants Chiswick Riverside to go.
Love Live Golf Review Score
Important review note: This assessment is based solely on the confirmed facilities and proposition supplied to Love Live Golf. It is not a hands-on review of the Trackman installation, club service, simulator availability or member experience.
Golf Technology Offering — 8/10
Two Trackman iO simulators and more than 200 virtual courses give the golf element genuine substance. The limitation is equally obvious: two bays make this a useful facility within a larger club, not a specialist indoor golf centre.
Training & Performance Ecosystem — 9/10
This is where Chiswick Riverside makes its strongest case to golfers. Pilates, physiotherapy, osteopathy, sports therapy, swimming, recovery technology and broader training facilities create an unusually rounded proposition around the game.
Golf Integration — 9/10
Golf has been woven into the club rather than bolted on as entertainment. The simulators sit naturally alongside performance, recovery and other sport.
Lifestyle & Family Appeal — 9/10
Co-working, lounges, café facilities, family provision, pools and racquet sports give the club a broader usefulness than a conventional simulator venue.
Dedicated Golf Depth — 6/10
This is the compromise. Golfers wanting a large number of bays or a golf-first facility will find specialist venues more focused.
Overall Proposition Score — 8.2/10
That score reflects the strength of the concept rather than a claim about the day-to-day experience. Chiswick Riverside looks most compelling for golfers who want the game integrated with training, recovery, work and family life.
Love Live Golf Verdict
On the information available, Virgin Active Chiswick Riverside looks like a very smart fit for golfers who already treat fitness, mobility and recovery as part of playing the game.
The Trackman iO simulators provide the obvious attraction, but they are not what makes the overall proposition compelling.
It is the ability to combine indoor golf with swimming, Pilates, recovery, physiotherapy, racquets and the mundane business of getting some work done that separates Chiswick Riverside from a simple simulator venue.
Dedicated golfers looking only for maximum indoor practice time may prefer a specialist golf facility. Those wanting an actual golf course will, rather obviously, require somewhere with grass.
But for the golfer trying to make golf fit more easily into the rest of life, Virgin Active may have stumbled upon something rather sensible.
The best golf facility in a gym, it turns out, might be everything around the golf simulator.
