Online bookings not allowing singles

[PapaJohick]

A lot of courses around here don’t except singles for online either. But I hate the most though is booking online and being forced to pay for the whole thing upfront. I’d much rather just book it online because I do it late and pay when I get to the course.

 

[Boone]

I don't really understand why a course would be willing to book a single by phone but not by online service. That seems weird.

This. I am probably more sympathetic to course management on this one as it likely does create issues because they want to pair you up, but most courses don't have software to make that easy electronically. This is one of the reasons I so mourn the closure of a little community course near me a few years ago where I could just walk on and get right out on the course as a single every time. I played a lot more golf then as I am a loner by nature, and being a hacker and not a low cap guy, I always prefer playing alone or with close friends vs. getting paired up.

The obvious answer is - we need more golf courses

My larger pet peeve is courses that don't even HAVE online tee time reservations.

 

[captaincaution]

The biggest issue I’ve ran into there is the “best rates found online”. I remember being in WI one time and driving to the course after work and just showing up because I looked online and the tee times were all open. I showed up and it was $40 but the online rate was $30. I literally had to stand at the register and book online to get the $30 rate.

The Metroparks Courses in Cleveland used to not let you book ahead of time as a single, so you were always stuck paying the walk up rate. Highway robbery. But now you can book as a single, so all is good.

 

[OGputtnfool]

Everywhere I travel, I never have a problem booking online as a single. However, there is one course close to me that I would play all the time, but never play because the online system only allows 2-4 players to book. I honestly cannot think of another course I’ve encountered in the last decade that had this policy.

I understand not being able to book a completely open time slot as a single.

If I ran/owned a course I would take the extra revenue from singles, especially if the tee sheet is fairly empty.

Are you talking about not being able to book the completely open time or not being able to fill out a threesome or join a couple?

I think the completely open times should be open to singles to book either the evening prior or day of.

 

[leftshot]

Unless you live North of 60. I have never booked a tee time online. Each round, it’s a call to the clubhouse and talking to the manager. We’re on a first name basis...



...okay, we might be 10 years behind the rest of you, but I’m okay with that!

BTW: 7 digit dialing is still a thing here.

I'm north of 60 and am a bit miffed that I can't order online from my favorite pizza place. Their site is broke and has been for some time. So, I have to call and repeat my order several times--even though they have my favorites listed in their onsite order system. I guess that doesn't work either.

 

[redneckwop]

Wow after reading all this I'm glad to live where I do.

 

[YukonLiving]

I'm north of 60 and am a bit miffed that I can't order online from my favorite pizza place. Their site is broke and has been for some time. So, I have to call and repeat my order several times--even though they have my favorites listed in their onsite order system. I guess that doesn't work either.

A fellow Northerner! Alaska?

 

[leftshot]

A fellow Northerner! Alaska?

North of 60 age-wize.

 

[LSMO]

We have a nice county course that I love that’s like that. Usually only play it a couple times a year because of it.

 

[GolfinWithDad]

There is a course in my area that will only book 4somes. Here is the crazy part, if you are a single you book the entire 4 some. When you arrive at the course, they refund you for the other 3 spots. So they lose out on the other 3 bookings.

 

[lazychicken]

Everywhere I travel, I never have a problem booking online as a single. However, there is one course close to me that I would play all the time, but never play because the online system only allows 2-4 players to book. I honestly cannot think of another course I’ve encountered in the last decade that had this policy.

I understand not being able to book a completely open time slot as a single.

If I ran/owned a course I would take the extra revenue from singles, especially if the tee sheet is fairly empty.

So it sounds like this is not a recent ("Covid") phenomenon with that course? Around here all the courses are going through a variety of rules to try to comply with Covid requirements and also to take into account their particular player demographic. Many of the courses are doing the "1 player per cart unless you live in the same household" rule. But the busier courses don't have the number of carts they would need for every foursome to take up four carts, so they have enacted rules like "Only 2 carts per foursome". Meaning if you don't all live together, 2 of you have to walk. I know that has created some interesting problems with online bookings for singles since the booking tools don't have the extra fields to comprehend the 2 cart step function. I get that it should create the same problem for bookings of any size, but I think singles would be a slightly more complicated issue. A single books a time and they assume that will occupy one of the two carts, then a threesome books but they only have one cart between them. There's no way to create a notification flag before the threesome clicks GO on the reservation. I dunno, just a thought.