Young people these days just aren’t so into golf. But they still enjoy smacking golf balls, competing good-naturedly with friends, having a few drinks and meeting others.

This explains the swelling popularity of Topgolf, a fast-expanding chain of golf entertainment centers, at a time when participation in the real game of golf is bumping along near 20-year lows.

View photos Topgolf CEO Ken May thinks there could be enough of a market for 100 locations across the U.S. in the next eight years. More

Topgolf originated in England, where a pair of golf-loving twin brothers sought a way to liven up driving-range sessions with some competition. They devised an array of targets that could read a microchip embedded in golf balls to score each player for accuracy and distance.

Now, there are 13 Topgolf locations -- three in the U.K., 10 in the U.S., concentrated in the Sun Belt -- and 11 more are under construction. The Dallas-based chain’s backers, which include golf-equipment standout Callaway Golf Co. (ELY), plan to roll out 10 to 12 new ones a year for the next several years, says CEO Ken May.

A top executive at FedEx Corp. (FDX) for 25 years, May says he was drawn to take the top job in 2013 by Topgolf's growth prospects and his affinity for golf itself. New locations are on the way in Tampa, Oklahoma City, Virginia Beach and eight other cities. A bit over a year ago, the company said 2013 revenue would approach $100 million, and growth has been blistering since then.

A Topgolf "store" is typically a combination three-level driving range, upscale sports bar, pro shop and nightspot. They can exceed 70,000 square feet and sit on some seven acres. The driving-range tiers have dozens of tee-off bays opening onto a course with nine sunken, circular targets, each of them divided into pie-like sections, appearing a bit like a dart board.

Indeed, the dart game cricket, in which players amass points as they try to complete a circuit by hitting each section, was a model for Topgolf, whose name is based on the phrase "target oriented practice."

The microchip-carrying Callaway balls play just like a regular ball. An electronic system keeps score and tracks distance and allows for a number of game formats. Players can compete with others in their group, try to beat their prior best scores and climb the "leader board" capturing everyone playing at the entire location.

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Meantime, players have control of the TVs in their seating pods, can order drinks and food from a constantly circling wait staff and may take lessons with a golf pro if they choose. Topgolf costs between $25 and $50 an hour, based on time of day.

At the location Yahoo Finance visited this month in the Atlanta suburb of Alpharetta, Ga., there was a decent lunchtime crowd of casual-seeming golfers and plenty of corporate groups on sales of team-building outings.

May calls Topgolf "bowling for cool people," and indeed there are similarities to bowling, which can be enjoyed as a social gathering by novices as well as by avid bowlers who compete hard. He says only a quarter of Topgolf customers are "serious" golfers, defined as those who play at least once a year.

Early in the morning, driven golfers can be found at Topgolf putting themselves through determined solitary practice sessions -- if a golfer prefers, Topgolf can largely serve as a regular driving range for practice. By the evenings, especially on weekends, the place has transitioned into a fully social "place to be and a place to be seen," says May, complete with thumping music and crowded dance floor.

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