Why Don't You Book Tee Times Online

It seems nowadays we are capable of booking and ordering anything we want online or through our phones. Thanks to GrubHub, fulfilling my late night munchies has never been easier. And let’s be real, when was the last time you called a hotel to book a room? So in this day in age, when we try to avoid human contact at all costs, why do golfers still call golf courses to book tee times?

At Golfmiles we are building the best online tee booking engine and we'd love feedback from golfers like you guys!

QUESTION: What don’t you like about booking tee times online?

Happy Golfing,

Sarah

Social Media Guru & Marketing Assistant

When I call the pro shop, they don't charge me a fee for taking my reservation.

We do not charge booking fees.

Next week we are adding gift cards as a reward along side Miles and Points

I don't book anything in advance, online, or by phone. My schedule is no schedule. As long as I wake up in the morning, yesterday was a good day. Just about every time I go to play golf, I am a walk on. My game although not stellar, is not embarrassing either, and I can play with just about anyone.

When we are out traveling cross country, and we see a golf course sign, 9 times out of 10 we will stop, and see if they can get us out. Most of the time they can. As long as you have the money to pay the fees, golf courses will more than gladly take your money with out a reservation.

1. Booking online, then showing up at the course and they have no idea that I've booked a tee time and already paid. (Worked it out since I had the printed confirmation in hand, but still...)

2. Trying to book online, then the website says the tee time has been taken by someone else (evidently in the previous 30 seconds). Pick another open tee time, then the site says that time has been taken too.  Pick another open tee time, ... same story.    Forget it; I'll speed-dial one of the courses I know and pay cash.

Not all of my online booking experiences are bad; some worked out just fine. But I have better results booking directly with the course over the phone--they know if there's a ladies league or company scramble during whatever hours, and that info isn't on online at the big online sites (sometimes it's on the website run by the course itself, though).

About two months ago.  Sometimes the hotels have rooms for conference/convention participants or for parents of university students at a discounted rate that aren't showing up online.  You'd think they should be there--and we know they're supposed to be there--but they sometimes aren't.  So we call and ask, with good results.

So maybe I'm a dinosaur  (yeah, my cell phone is just an old Galaxy S3).

I don't want to have to pay for everyone then get paid back by them but I'll book a solo time or a time for myself and my father.

i book online with the specific courses I play. Most do not enforce their cancellation policies of charging for no shows or a late cancellation.

I monitor the sites Golfnow, TeeOff and especially the LastMinuteGolf app. But I rarely use them.

When I am in town, I generally play with a group and we usually need 2 tee times and we like to play early.  The only way to get those tee times is to call the course when they open tee time booking the week before.

When I travel, I book a lot of my tee times online.

i only book online / via app

I book online if there's a big price difference.

But, if it's about the same cost, I'll call in and book it.  The way golf courses are financially struggling, I'd rather have the course get all the revenue instead of having to share it with GolfNow or some other online reservation site.

Courses I now play don't accept bookings by singles....

I dont book online because most of my play is at my club and I pretty much have set tee times the days I play. If I do play at a reciprocal course, the tee time has to be made through my home pro shop.

Agreed.  I don't want to have to pay for everybody, then collect from them afterward.  Nor do I want to end up eating one or two green fees if guys cancel out at the last minute.  If I can call the pro shop and just put my name in for a foursome without having to pay in advance, there's no way I'd use online booking instead if it meant having to deal with the above.

This^^^. I used to book everything online but as soon as I started getting charged a fee every single time, no matter how much I use the site, that shite ended.

One thing that I alluded to before, but want to stress.  It's important that the times online accurately reflect the real-time tee-sheet.

Some sites have times listed but the times aren't real-time and the time you end up with may or may not be the exact time booked.