Anyone use discount tee-time sites like GolfNow.com?

[RonTheSavage]

  Peak2Creek said:

just to see if it is the same rate. If so, avoid the processing fee and just set up a tee time direct.

This.

[Strandly]

I hadn't heard of this site until I saw this thread; I browsed it a little bit yesterday and today.  Some of the prices are pretty nice but they're for courses that are 50+ miles away in the middle of nowhere or for twilight hours, which are usually cheap anyway.  I've been checking tee times up to 4 days away and the prices and times get a little bit better but it's still kinda rough.  Do you have to buy tee times weeks in advance with this thing to get the best deal or what?

Also, to improve sites like this I would suggest better filtering abilities, especially the ability to save a list of favorite courses and search times for just those courses.  The ability to filter by price + all AM or PM times would be great as well.  The way it's setup now if I do a search for Denver and there are probably 40 courses and a million tee times spammed all over the place, making it somewhat tedious to find a cheap, convenient place to play.

[Dave2512]

  Strandly said:

Originally Posted by Strandly

I hadn't heard of this site until I saw this thread; I browsed it a little bit yesterday and today.  Some of the prices are pretty nice but they're for courses that are 50+ miles away in the middle of nowhere or for twilight hours, which are usually cheap anyway.  I've been checking tee times up to 4 days away and the prices and times get a little bit better but it's still kinda rough.  Do you have to buy tee times weeks in advance with this thing to get the best deal or what?

Also, to improve sites like this I would suggest better filtering abilities, especially the ability to save a list of favorite courses and search times for just those courses.  The ability to filter by price + all AM or PM times would be great as well.  The way it's setup now if I do a search for Denver and there are probably 40 courses and a million tee times spammed all over the place, making it somewhat tedious to find a cheap, convenient place to play.

GolfNow does all of that.

[Strandly]

I'm not seeing any options to do the things I mentioned.  Yeah there's a drop down for 2 hour blocks of time but that's not very helpful since the other filters (price/discount) basically re-scramble it.

[Dave40]

I use Golfnow. They have a good variety of courses in the Houston area. I don't save a ton of money but 5 bucks is 5 bucks.

[Dave2512]

  Strandly said:

Originally Posted by Strandly

I'm not seeing any options to do the things I mentioned.  Yeah there's a drop down for 2 hour blocks of time but that's not very helpful since the other filters (price/discount) basically re-scramble it.

You can sort by course, area, time, date etc. Trust me it's there. I use it almost every day to book courses in the Denver area. Maybe it's your browser.

[Strandly]

Nah, I use explorer, I'm sure it's working fine.  I'm just used to more customizable search engines I guess.  I should be able to tag 3 or 4 courses as favorites and do a search for all AM times and have the spreadsheet show up with the cheapest times for each 1 hour block for each course, for example.  I'll continue to browse it though, I've already cherry picked a few courses I'll do individual searches for.

[jetsknicks1]

  David in FL said:

The year's not over yet! :-D

Take the top spot buddy!

[jamo]

Quick question for you guys that use GolfNow: What does this "How About a Mulligan?" screen mean? Have they not opened for the season? Are they not listed on the site anymore? Should I expect to be able to find tee times at that course later in the summer?

[dennyjones]

When you see that, the course may be open but they haven't shared their tee times with Golfnow.   There are several in Michigan like that.   Several courses here that I play are open but their tee times aren't available on Golfnow.   Some of the ones that are listed are actually the same price that you can get at the pro shop.

Alway know the original price before buying your tee time online.   I've seen instances where some courses were cheaper for seniors at the club house than what was posted on Golfnow.

[Hammer 4]

  dennyjones said:

When you see that, the course may be open but they haven't shared their tee times with Golfnow.   There are several in Michigan like that.   Several courses here that I play are open but their tee times aren't available on Golfnow.   Some of the ones that are listed are actually the same price that you can get at the pro shop.

Alway know the original price before buying your tee time online.   I've seen instances where some courses were cheaper for seniors at the club house than what was posted on Golfnow.

I've noticed that some courses here in L.A. are less money than golfnow. Us Seniors need to save all the $$$$ we can...lol

[Shindig]

  jamo said:

Quick question for you guys that use GolfNow: What does this "How About a Mulligan?" screen mean? Have they not opened for the season? Are they not listed on the site anymore? Should I expect to be able to find tee times at that course later in the summer?

I just got it for a course in L.A., so I don't think it's "closed for the season." Not sure otherwise.

[David in FL]

Could mean that the course is closed for maintenance, or even that for some day.....maybe a tournament or something else unusual, they didn't provide any times to GolfNow. Doesn't happen often, but I've seen it on rare occasion down here too.

[dennyjones]

I played a course near my home today that last year was listed on Golfnow all of the time.  It was not listed on Golfnow yet but will be later in the year.

[stevejason]

  David in FL said:

Could mean that the course is closed for maintenance, or even that for some day.....maybe a tournament or something else unusual, they didn't provide any times to GolfNow. Doesn't happen often, but I've seen it on rare occasion down here too.

The two muni's in my city both are listed on GolfNow, but show the "mulligan" when you click on them. The dropped GolfNow because it wanted too many of their tee times. I suspect many of the courses showing the "mulligan" designation have done the same thing. Last year I saw occasions where you could get 18 holes & cart for less than $9. Prices that low might have caused them to switch services.

[David in FL]

  stevejason said:

The two muni's in my city both are listed on GolfNow, but show the "mulligan" when you click on them. The dropped GolfNow because it wanted too many of their tee times. I suspect many of the courses showing the "mulligan" designation have done the same thing. Last year I saw occasions where you could get 18 holes & cart for less than $9. Prices that low might have caused them to switch services.

FWIW, the course sets the GolfNow tee time pricing, not GolfNow.  The only compensation GolfNow receives from the course of one tee time to sell on their own as one of their "Hot Deals".

Many (most?) courses now provide the same times to multiple on-line booking sites.  If you look, you'll see the same times and the same pricing for those times on various sites.

[jamo]

Just booked my first tee time using Golf Now for later today. Got a great deal, hopefully it goes well.

[David in FL]

  jamo said:

Just booked my first tee time using Golf Now for later today. Got a great deal, hopefully it goes well.

Unfortunately, GolfNow's rewards program SUCKS this year!  I played a ton of very high-end free golf last year.  No such thing this year.  Ah well, I still love the convenience.