bigstack

So I use to be one of the top bookers/users of GolfNow in the Dallas area. This morning I get about 30 golfnow emails....All identical. Then they send me an apology email to get 10% off my next booking if i use it by saturday...(totally worthless, due to rain and their fees) anyone else get this? (i asked 2 other friends that have accts and they didn't get this email bombing, but they were never heavy users) Or is this a ploy to get attention after I have pretty much stopped using them? (I stopped cause they charge fees to everyone now and it makes the tee times more expensive than just calling the pro shop, the only exception is Hot Deals and even then it is dubious as to if it is a good deal) (ya ya i know i am insignificant... but i could see them doing this automatically for people that were heavy users that stopped using...so I am not thinking I am "special" beyond like many heavy users that I no longer use them)

I can attest that many times i have thought "hmm i dont want to play there for $65 cause i can get it cheaper on a hot deal", even though that hot deal is no longer available that week. so yes it turns people myself into value/price comparison driven consumers. good for us bad for the courses. I live in dfw where there are a ton of open to the public courses and munis. so the competition is high and likely keeps prices in check to some degree and i see this when i travel. a course i would only pay $30 in dallas for is often $50+ in other locales.

you have to keep in mind that when the people at the top mention "we must do what is in the best interest of the shareholder"...they are really saying we must do what is in OUR best interest cause we are the largest shareholders. they hold large swaths of stock and want it to go up in price so they can become richer. thus if they can layoff a few thousand and see their stock price jump up $1 per share they will do it. on some level i dont blame them...but they should in my mind be forthcoming about it...but that wont happen as they dont want to look like asses. the truth is that once a company IPOs/sells stock itself the company as an independent entity gets 0 benefit from the stock price going up or down, unless the company owns some of its own stock and even then that doesn't matter unless it plans on selling/releasing more at a later date, but even then it is theoretical money. think about it ..when joe blow sells his shares of xyz does company x get the profit? no, of course not.

I noticed this as well.... I was pretty much a day 1 Golfnow user.(well at least when i think the golf channel bought them/affiliated) They have changed their rewards programs a few times. I remember when you used to get credit for a 2some/3some/4some that was for like a year or so that they let that happen.... i had like 300 "credits". I used to book 150 times a year with them mostly as a single but some as a twosome or 3some to get up to that 300#... I remember when they did some top golfnow user events in the DFW area... pretty interesting meeting the other guys that used the site a lot. I was #3 I believe, but I was told by the golf now rep that I was the most active single tee time booker in DFW.and that most of the other guys got their "status" by booking 4 somes etc They got rid of that and over the last year or two i have only booked 30-40 times each year with them cause they had other problems and I would only pretty much buy hot deals. Plus I started volunteering at a local course for free golf. now this change comes around and to me it is ridiculous... they effectively want to charge $10 so I don't have to call the pro shop and tell them give me a 4 some on x date and time. I have also noticed that their deals in the last year are not all that great on the hotdeal side as compared to other sites... like teeoff.com (small site and not many courses but growing) I get it they want to make more money. But they are gonna lose the money that I and other heavy users would pump into their system every year. AND most importantly like the OP I used to tell people about golfnow and tell them to book through there. I will no longer be doing that and will actively tell people not to use them now and to use xyz... with that in mind I have seen a few sites listed in this thread... what are the others ? teeoff.com (i have used and verified its legit) golf18network.com (i have never used) teetimes.com (i have never used) lastminutegolfer.com(this is really just golfnow thus bleh.) what else?

i work from home. If i dont have meetings scheduled or work that the client needs done , I block my calendar off like i have some meeting and go out to the course. I make sure to take a phablet that i can log remotely into my laptop back home and send an email/do other minor tasks in case i get a call.

i work from home and when i am not busy i often go out in the middle of the week and play a round by myself I dont even think twice about it. will even go out and play by myself on weekends. the course will pair you up with other randoms and you get to meet new people. you are probably one of those people that also never goes out to eat by themselves. I got over that when i was traveling all over the place at one of my jobs, and realized that no one cares, but more importantly i shouldn't care what others think.

and to those that say it wont generate serious golfers in 2012 i played 150 rounds of golf....granted i got addicted and am probably an anomaly. 2013 played around 75 rounds and in in 2014 about 100. I still suck but have made great improvements ,and am serious yet just enjoying the game.

TopGolf is actually what got me into golf in 2011. it is a great concept. The one close to me is in Allen TX. It is really the reason that i got into golf. the challenge and the competing against friends. not just hitting balls on a regular range. after playing there for a while and borrowing my friends clubs etc I bought some clubs on Craigslist (callaway Razrx) for cheap and got more into it . and i got comfortable enough that after a few months i went with them to play on an actual course.... I stopped counting when i was obviously over 120.. :) at any rate i liked top golf so much i ended up getting a executive membership back when it meant something... unlimited balls anytime they were open. and unlimited line jumping(aka no waiting for a stall/bay)..and their 15% on food/drinks +1 free drink a day. it was like $125 a month... it was well worth it... then after like 1.5 years they changed the membership... no longer was it unlimited balls... it was a certain number/amount of games during the week and then like 2 free hours per month on weekends and after 6pm and they jacked the price up to like $250. basically they took away the perks and raised the price. then on top of that they changed it from pay per game to renting the booth/bay per hour, something like $45/hr(that might be high but it was ridiculous ). so on top of the $250 a month you pay $45/hr? lol since i would often go up there by myself $45 an hour was in no way worth it. I feel also that their food and drink sales suffer. as the very few times i have gone up there everyone monitors when their hour is up and they stop ordering drinks and plan to go eat elsewhere at a nearby restaurant that has better food and cheaper. but yes that place is a great concept and i ma surprised that other places have not opened up to compete with it.

(well i didnt see the second page of talk looks like david already smelled the same rat i smelled)

it's a fake post... if he was really a longtime a using customer he would not have booking fees in the first place....the guy has one post to his credit and it is to bitch about something at golfnow... AND I cant emphasis this enough the real reason it is a fake post is low and behold the spammer comes in right behind(within 10 minutes) and post "oh we are sorry to hear about bad customer service... go to this website instead"... and that one has 3 posts to their credit...my guess is that this "golfbyme's" other posts are just as spammy... i have never had a problem with their customer service ... and sure maybe it is cause i am in the top ten bookers in dallas... and maybe it is cause in general i am a nice guy when i call in to get something changed and have the general disposition that hey i F'd up when booking... and i know the rules of booking a tee time .. .thus i am responsible and anything they cant change and if they dont charge me for is them just being polite... i guess personal responsibility is out of style though. as far as the spam i realize that i am not mr huge poster on the sand trap... so my word carries little to know weight here but as someone that owns well over a 100 websites... i know spam when i see it ... and this is it ... i would suggest the moderator delete those two spammy posts from this thread... have a good labor day guys.

so i noticed they are doing some frequent player appreciation tournament... http://www.golfnow.com/dallas/leaderboard they have a leaderboard of most frequent golfers by area... top 18 in area get some prie pack and a free tee time /tournament... I will likely embarrass myself as they will be like huh you play that much golf and are that bad ??? :) just thought others that use golfnow would be interested, also curious if anyone from sandtrap will be playing with me in dallas...

(following up on my above post) I have now had the grips for a few months and i can say that the durability is maybe questionable(or maybe not.... I will describe below). I have played probably 30 rounds and hit hundreds of balls at the driving range... and well I likely have grip issues. At any rate these grips have worn away were my left palm rubs at the end of the club(on the clubs that I use the most my 7iron, driver pw). in my mind this type of wear should either never happen or happen only after a year of use... for me I would guess the 100+ rounds of golf time frame... my gloves used to wear on the heel pad and I would have to get a new glove once every 10 rounds of golf but this has stopped and due to the softness of the grip the wear now occurs on the grip instead of the glove(hope that makes sense). the rest of the grip is in good condition and I still personally like the feel of the grips still. so if you only play 10 times a year I would guess these would last quite a while... dont know if this will actually help anyone or not but i figure any additional info is better than no additional info.

I am travelling to florida for a week or so this next week. Can Anyone recommend which courses to play in the destin/panama city area? I am looking for best bang for the buck... and likely middle of the road prices for weekday play .. . I dont paying more or less just want it to be worth it ... dont want to play a goat ranch for 100$ :) I will be staying in santa rosa beach area. Thanks in advance!

(my list of better courses was limited to what golfnow is offering)