Mini Golf Turns Into a Nightclub Every Friday at Mandalay Bay

Swingers Crazy Golf Club swaps putters for a DJ booth once the sun goes down, and a Hakkasan resident is running the decks.

Same Room, Completely Different Crowd at 9 p.m.

Swingers Crazy Golf Club has been running its four eccentric, multilevel courses at Mandalay Bay since 2024, pitched squarely at the daytime tourist crowd looking for something between an arcade and a bar. Once Friday night hits, that same room flips into something the property has never really offered before: a standing club night built inside a mini-golf course rather than next to one.

The courses stay open through the transition, so early arrivals can still play a round before the format shifts. Once the lights and sound take over, the space clears into a dance floor pulling from the same plush booths and full bars that handle daytime foot traffic, just with a resident DJ instead of a scorecard running the room.

A Hakkasan Resident Behind the Decks

The residency's anchor is DJ Franzen, who already holds resident slots at Hakkasan and Tao Nightclub, two of the Strip's bigger EDM-leaning rooms. Bringing that kind of resident pedigree into a mini-golf venue is the clearest sign that Mandalay Bay is treating this as a real nightlife booking rather than a novelty add-on to an attraction.

Franzen described the pitch simply: guests get "great music, great food, great cocktails" on a Friday that would otherwise be a standard tourist stop. Rotating guest DJs fill out the calendar alongside him, leaning on R&B and throwback sets rather than the harder-edged sound typical of the property's bigger rooms next door.

The Door and the Tables

Entry runs $15 for guests 21 and over, a fraction of the cover at most Strip nightclubs, and the after-hours crowd skews toward millennials looking for an alternative to a traditional bottle-service scene without giving up the option entirely. Plush booths near the DJ booth come with bottle service and table packages for groups who want a home base for the night.

Two full-service bars keep cocktails moving through the shift from golf course to dance floor, and the retro carnival arcade upstairs stays in rotation for guests who want a break from the floor. It is a looser, cheaper night than a marquee Strip room, which is exactly the lane Mandalay Bay is carving out with it.

The Daytime Side Got Bigger Too

Separate from the Friday series, Swingers rolled out an Unlimited Crazy Golf pass this summer, letting guests play endless rounds across all four courses, The Clocktower, Hot Air Balloon, Carousel, and Meteorite, without time limits or added fees. Adult admission runs $35, with a $20 rate for locals and $18 for kids, and tee times now run daily until 6 p.m. to cover the longer summer days.

That daytime expansion and the Friday night series are really two ends of the same strategy: keep the venue full during tourist hours, then hand the same footprint to a nightlife crowd once the family traffic clears out.

Working It Into a Strip Night Out

For anyone building a Friday around Mandalay Bay, the smart play is treating Swingers After Dark as a warm-up rather than the whole night: play a course or two before 9, let the room transition, and grab a booth near the DJ before the crowd fills in. Because the format is new to the property, the door and table minimums are still settling, which means slightly more flexibility than a long-established Strip room.

It won't replace a night at a 3,000-capacity main room for anyone chasing a headline DJ set, but for a lower-pressure Friday that still ends with real bottle service and a real dance floor, it is a genuinely new option on a stretch of the Strip that has not had one.

What to Know Before a Friday at Swingers After Dark

Here is the rundown for anyone routing a Friday night through Mandalay Bay's mini-golf-turned-nightclub.

1. It only runs Fridays: The After Dark format is a weekly series from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., not an every-night offering, so the courses run as standard daytime golf the rest of the week.
2. DJ Franzen anchors the residency: A current Hakkasan and Tao resident, joined by rotating guest DJs spinning R&B and throwback sets rather than straight EDM.
3. Cover is $15, 21-and-over: A fraction of a typical Strip nightclub cover, aimed at guests 21 and older once the family crowd clears out.
4. Bottle service is available: Plush booths near the DJ booth come with table packages for groups who want a reserved spot rather than a walk-up bar seat.
5. Golf keeps running into the switch: Early arrivals can still play a round on one of the four courses before the room transitions into the club format.
6. The daytime side expanded too: An Unlimited Crazy Golf pass now covers all four courses with no time limits, priced at $35 for adults, $20 for locals, and $18 for kids.

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