Attention NYC Goflers

[1UnderU]

We all know how much golfing in NYC sucks, long train rides, overcrowded courses, horrible conditions with high green fees. My buddies started a company to try to combat this by setting up golf tournaments at courses near NYC. The company provides coach bus service to and from the course as well as shotgun start and the opportunity to win prizes. This guarantees that you will finish your round, the play won’t be incredibly slow and the course won’t be overcrowded. The first trip is at the end of the month. Check it out at www.citeebus.com . I’d also be interested in your feelings toward it, since I have the opportunity to partner with them if I want to.

[wrx_junki]

Guess this is more for the Manhattan folks. Good luck with it.

[BonoVox]

Sounds like a good idea considering the unique challenges you guys in Manhattan have finding a place to play golf.

[1UnderU]

It's open to all NYC Metro Golfers, but yes it's more tailored to fellow golfers who rely on mass transit, like me. But really I'm interested in the thoughts of NYC Golfers on this forum. It's a big decision to invest in the company and I want to make sure I'm making the right one. Personally I'd could benefit from this service but wanted to get the views of others.

[joepro23]

Just took a look at the website...I'm sure it is not that easy to book courses, but traveling out to Easton, PA (Morgan Hill) seems like a bit of a hike just to play 18. Looks like 3 of the dates have sold out, so this must be attracting some attention from NYC golfers. If you guys could book 4-somes at Bethpage I AM IN (and so would every golfer in NYC i guess). There has got to be a club closer than Easton though that is willing to host/book this company, especially with memberships down at many courses.

The program is not really a good fit for me since I have a club already and am 30 minutes from NYC, but I do know some people who would certainly be interested.

[moadhia]

Sounds like an awesome idea. Me and my buddies wouldn't mind trying it out a couple of times in the season but $100 seems kind of high to make this more of a regular thing. But I am sure you are targeting the hard core golfers in the city who are always looking forward to playing on high end courses and looking for some competition.

Just took a look at the website...I'm sure it is not that easy to book courses, but traveling out to Easton, PA (Morgan Hill) seems like a bit of a hike just to play 18. Looks like 3 of the dates have sold out, so this must be attracting some attention from NYC golfers. If you guys could book 4-somes at Bethpage I AM IN (even though I live 30 min from NYC). There has got to be a club closer than Easton that is willing to host/book this company, especially in this economy with membership down.

Count me in on this one. I am in if we can play at Bethpage.

[nevets88]

Yeah, Easton is, what 2 hours one way from midtown?

The best thing for Manhattan folks is to hook up and share a rental, 1 hour to Bethpage or Westchester, 1 hour back. The problem is matching up schedules and finding people you want to play with.

Rental car: $100, 4 people. $25/person plus green fees.

For example, I split a rental with a couple of guys, play Rockland State Park in the morning, comes out to about $75/person and we get back around 1, 2pm on a weekend and one person gets to have a car for the day.

Long rounds are everywhere in this area - less so in Easton, but no service can guarantee you a short round and a short round in this area is what, 4:30 and that still is long.

[CiTeeBus]

Hey all,

Thanks 1UnderU for starting this thread. Great to hear the feedback on our startup. A few notes:

1. Easton is about 1.5 hours away (1 hr 20 min according to gmaps).
2. Nevets, if you can get a rental car that fits 4 people and 4 golf bags for $100 on a weekend, you've impressed me. What about parking? Gas? Where/when do you pick up the rental (most rental places arent open at 6am)? Who gets to be the DD (JK)?
3. With our service you can get up at a normal time to get to midtown by 9.
4. Our rounds are shotgun starts and we pair you with similarly skilled golfers so you don't have to wait for your own group.
5. We include a golf cart and prizes. Prize value is relative to the amount of people on the trip. Some trips will also include food / beverages.
6. Shotgun starts are very difficult to arrange at local courses on weekends. We have a few in mind, but they will be even more expensive. We are going to offer cheaper options on weekdays if there is enough interest.

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. Maybe we will take a loss on the first trip to show you what we've got going on. What would you be willing to pay?

[nevets88]

With Zipcar, I pickup at 6AM all the time - it's 24/7. You can park in the garage you picked up from. Gas for the first 180 miles is free. Why would you need parking though? You pickup and dropoff your friends, return the car or one guy gets a car to do errands, very handy in NYC.

Door to door, it's not going to be an hour and 20, it's going to be more, especially on the return trip. And you have to travel to the pickup spot. With a rental and friends, it's door to door.

$100 for the service is a good price and convenient. I've seen other services charge much more.

What I'm saying is that if you take the effort to organize and have good golf buddies, you can save money, but more importantly, you save time. I'd rather wake up early and have 1/2 a weekend day to do other things. If you don't want to plan and have the day, this service is perfect. If you need to be back as early as you can on a weekend, you can go the above route.

Bethpage would not work in terms of time though. Rounds are too long and you have to be there an hour beforehand and you rarely start on time. On a related Zipcar note, I see Zipcars parked in the Bethpage lot often. If someone offered a service to figure out who is going when and hook them up...

[DJYoshi]

Just took a look at the website...I'm sure it is not that easy to book courses, but traveling out to Easton, PA (Morgan Hill) seems like a bit of a hike just to play 18. Looks like 3 of the dates have sold out, so this must be attracting some attention from NYC golfers. If you guys could book 4-somes at Bethpage I AM IN (and so would every golfer in NYC i guess). There has got to be a club closer than Easton though that is willing to host/book this company, especially with memberships down at many courses.

Morgan hill is a GREAT Course! It's long enough from the tips that some holes you're hitting driver 4 iron with CRAZY up and sidehill lies.

There's enough trouble that it truly will test you.... shared boxes & fairways too... it's all-around a great track that's NEVER crowded! I live 15 minutes west of the holland and it takes me about 40 minutes to get down to PA. it's a straight shot right down 78. 1st exit in PA

[Scott_K]

I think this is a great service for you guys in manhattan. Figure roughly $50 for a round and the other $50 for travel to and from. That expense covers the gas, directions, sit back and relax, etc. Buses have bathrooms just in case you've been . Good deal just to avoid the overall hassle.

There are some nice courses out east on the island. Some of the country clubs are going from private to semi-private. I think because they're hurting for business. I played willow creek last week and it was a really nice. Granted it's out on exit 63, but we flew out there in about 40 minutes from exit 34. It usually takes me about 30 minutes to drive to the upper east side. There are other courses a little closer like the Hamlet, Great rock or Gray rock or whatever it's called. I'm playing LI National on Saturday if it doesn't rain. I think that's exit 73, so it's even a hike for me......but hey, it's golf.

As far as Bethpage. I don't think they would do it. You can't really do shotgun starts and as already mentioned the start times and overall round times are unpredictable.

[CiTeeBus]

Thanks again for all the positive and negative feedback. We, of course, are always looking to improve the service. The recommendation to look at the newly semi-private courses in LI is certainly going to be taken into account.

For those that haven't heard of Morgan Hill, it is a golf digest award winning course. I've played it multiple times and never had a round where it was anything less than a great time.

Again, thanks for checking out the site and we hope to see you on a trip soon!

[golfaddiction]

I might be willing to play, but would drive myself. If somehow you got a weekend time, I would definitely pay a bit more for the tournament premium.

[CiTeeBus]

As a matter of fact, all the events we have booked so far are on weekends, specifically Sunday.

If you plan on driving yourself, just put that information in the "special requests" section so that we don't think that you missed the bus.

[1UnderU]

I'm suprised some people thought Morgan Hill was a bad course, it's a pretty above average course IMHO. Deff better than any of the city courses, and it's never jammed. Speaking of Jammed NY courses, I've been trying to call Bethpage (all 4 courses) for the past week to get a tee time, first available 1pm Metro NY Golf for ya.

[golf_junkie27]

It depends on the day of the week at Pelham. It is an easier course than Split Rock so it gets more play. The problem is finding starters and marshalls that actually pay attention to the pace of play. These guys much rather chill at the new clubhouse and restaurant than actually make people play golf.

FWIW, I usually play Split Rock on Fridays. The last time I played we were finished in 4 hours.

To the OP, it sounds like a good business plan. Your friend has already sold out 60% of the events. Here's to hoping you host an event in Westchester or Orange County.

[golfaddiction]

Is anyone here in any leagues at one of the NYC courses? I have never been in a league but I'm sure I would enjoy it.