Trouble Getting Tee Times

[FlyingAce]

Is anyone experiencing any problems getting tee times at your club?

My home club is doing 15-min intervals (used to be 7-mins) so the availability has been cut in half. Since reopening at the beginning of May, I have been having difficulties securing a tee time, both during the week and on the weekends. Weekends are especially bad when we get 90+ tee requests but the club only has 50 available.   It is very frustrating to have to stalk the tee sheet for cancellations...but lots of members just don’t show up or they block their slot to play as single/doubles, and my club is doing nothing about it...

 

Edited May 27, 2020 by FlyingAce

[boogielicious]

I’ve had to plan in advance, but stuff is available.

[Papa Steve 55]

No shows have created an issue on my course. Its like some guys are hoarding tee times. The pro has said they are going to "address" the issue if it continues which I assume meant suspending online reservations for a bit for those who don't call to cancell.

[boogielicious]

3 minutes ago, Papa Steve 55 said:

No shows have created an issue on my course. Its like some guys are hoarding tee times. The pro has said they are going to "address" the issue if it continues which I assume meant suspending online reservations for a bit for those who don't call to cancell.

Some of the places I play require pre-payment. That would solve the issue.

[colin007]

Yeah most of the local places, munis and public courses, are requiring prepaid tee times. 

Don't know what the "clubs" are doing since they wouldn't let someone like me on anyways.... 🙂

[David in FL]

 How far out can you make a time?  I can book a time 2 weeks out.  The tee sheet “opens” at 6:30am for the day 2 weeks out.  I simply set an alarm/reminder for then and make my time right away.

@boogielicious is right.  A little planning is all it takes. 

Beyond really popular times/days though, we’re pretty much business as usual.  Still at 8 minute intervals. Hell, 15 minutes can be 2 full holes!

 

[nevets88]

Yes, constantly on the website checking for tee times. Cancelled a tee time a couple of minutes past 3 hour deadline and account was disabled. Pace of play not any faster. Can’t really complain though given the circumstances, grateful to be able to play. 

[mcanadiens]

Setting tee times has unfortunately become necessary around here and nobody takes tee times for a single.

Frustratingly, I actually worked Memorial Day so that I could play with a friend of mine yesterday. Dude sends me a message at 1 a.m. Tuesday that he won't be able to make it.

I really miss the days of being able to just show up at my old home courses any old time and know I was going to get on one of them.

 

[Osnola]

How does moving interval from 7 minutes to 15 minutes affect the COVID 19 issue? Nothing has changed at the course I play except for an inverted cup and do not touch the flag. You can purchase food/beverage but you cannot eat or drink in the clubhouse. They never closed and have had more people playing and using the range than they ever did;  INMHO, changing the intervals between groups is an over reaction and for appearance only.

You want to stop "No Show", make them pay in advance with no refund if canceled within 48 hours of the scheduled tee time.

[Yukari]

Yeah with some places only taking tee times over the phone (due to prepay requirement), it is almost impossible to get through.  Other places take only online tee times but have to call 24 hours before or the day of to pay over the phone.  That also creates phone jam.

They should allow online payment and online booking to avoid these hassles.

[FlyingAce]

5 hours ago, David in FL said:

 How far out can you make a time?  I can book a time 2 weeks out.  The tee sheet “opens” at 6:30am for the day 2 weeks out.  I simply set an alarm/reminder for then and make my time right away.

@boogielicious is right.  A little planning is all it takes. 

Beyond really popular times/days though, we’re pretty much business as usual.  Still at 8 minute intervals. Hell, 15 minutes can be 2 full holes!

 

@David in FL We can put in a request a week out and the lottery will be done 3 days before play day. Once the tee sheet opens, we can take whatever is available. 

No shows are very common at my club, so is people hogging times to play alone. The proshop sent out a letter asking people not to hog tee times but people are still doing it and nothing is being done about it. Since it is a membership club, no payment is involved...

As for the 15-min tee times, no idea how that helps with social distancing. Rumor was that when we first opened up and had 10-min tee times, a few groups of players congregated at the tee boxes. A member saw it and took photos and videos of these guys not social distancing/wearing masks and sent them to the governor. A few days later, the governor called the GM and we have the 15-min rule. But this still did not promote social distancing. The same guys are still congregating at tee boxes. And the head pro response to that was “this is a private club so they can do whatever they want”. And it created another issue that the course seems empty so we got people sneaking on to play, fish, swim, jog, etc.

My course has always been busy on weekends but I never had trouble walking on whenever I wanted during the week. But I cannot even get a tee time now because the tee sheet is completely packed! Even if I wanted to join a threesome I couldn’t because people block off the extra spot so no strangers could join...

@NM Golf are you still around? How is it at Arroyo?

[colin007]

4 hours ago, FlyingAce said:

Even if I wanted to join a threesome I couldn’t because people block off the extra spot so no strangers could join.

Who is doing/allowing this??

[Papa Steve 55]

12 hours ago, colin007 said:

Yeah most of the local places, munis and public courses, are requiring prepaid tee times. 

Don't know what the "clubs" are doing since they wouldn't let someone like me on anyways.... 🙂

My course the public has to prepay, but obviously members don't.  

[FlyingAce]

2 hours ago, colin007 said:

Who is doing/allowing this??

I have been a member for 4 years and there were times that I wanted to add myself to a double/threesome but the golfpro said I cannot add unless I ask for permission first?!?!

The players block the open spots online. They either request a time with 4 names or they just put “member” or “guest” as placeholders so once the tee sheet opens, no one can add to it. 

The headpro is still allowing certain people to request tee times with just one name + 3 “member” as placeholder and these people don’t update the names so you never know who or how many end up playing.

[Buckeyebowman]

12 hours ago, David in FL said:

 How far out can you make a time?  I can book a time 2 weeks out.  The tee sheet “opens” at 6:30am for the day 2 weeks out.  I simply set an alarm/reminder for then and make my time right away.

@boogielicious is right.  A little planning is all it takes. 

Beyond really popular times/days though, we’re pretty much business as usual.  Still at 8 minute intervals. Hell, 15 minutes can be 2 full holes!

 

There's a course in this area that will accept tee times a year in advance! It's one of our favorites, and has been in existence for 89 years, always owned by the same family. The community is fiercely loyal to it. People have retired from this area and moved away to Arizona, Florida, or the Carolinas, but they always come back every year to play there. Before they head back home they will make their tee times for next year. 

There have been some issues here, but not too many. So many are off work, with 600 bucks extra in federal unemployment coming in, so why not go play golf! The courses are packed! Even the ones sticking with standard spacing between groups.  I don't understand the extended spacing either. If we pulled up behind a group that was next to tee off, I didn't walk up there and try to hang out with them! 

[Cantankerish]

It is harder to find a tee time, for sure.  Palm Beach County just a few days ago started requiring a credit card to make a reservation.

[bkuehn1952]

A bit off topic but I believe the extended tee times both separate groups but also limit the number of carts on the course.  15 minute splits  puts a maximum of 16 carts on the course per hour and a total of 64 maximum in 4 hours.  Many of our local courses only have about 60 carts so to keep carts available to the groups later in the day, they limit how many go out.

As to all the games that are being played at @FlyingAce's private club, I might seek out similarly affected members and go as a group to the head pro. Present a series of reasonable changes you would like to see instituted.  Give the pro a chance to make things right.  If he ignores your reasonable requests, it might be time to find a new club.

[CarlSpackler]

Even with recent course closures, there has only been one day that I've trouble getting out on the course. I played with a friend from HS on Sunday morning. I called Thursday and got a 10:10 tee time.