By: Lee Ross, Contributor
There is a Reason Old Hickory has a Busy Tee Sheet
It’s a prized possession that every golfer holds dear and wouldn’t dare give up—unless a better one comes along: the tee time.
Few things make other golfers more jealous than hearing someone else brag about a Saturday morning tee time. Especially if that time is at the new golf course everyone is talking about or on that first perfectly warm day of the year. For decades making the tee time was a simple but somewhat onerous process—especially at the exact moment when the weekend tee sheet opened up.
Anyone who’s played long enough knows the early morning scene. Golfers who’ve been pacing outside the locked golf shop door for the previous 30 minutes rush inside the second it opens.
With foam still clinging to their mouths, the beastly golfers bark out their claims to the following week’s best times. At the same time, the telephone’s incessant ring forces the poor golf pro (who is still in desperate need of that first cup of coffee) to mind the requests of those who are too lazy to show up in person. All the while, processing the players who are supposed to be teeing off that morning and who are of course the same people making the tee times in the first place.
Every golf course has a different policy when it comes to tee times and while in person and over-the-phone requests are still accepted, more tee times than ever before are booked on-line. The reasoning is quite simple for golfer and golf shop operator alike: convenience.
“It allows me the same access 24/7 as my customer,” says Steve Clark, director of operations for Old Hickory Golf Club in Woodbridge, Virginia. “I can see what’s going on….and it gives you flexibility [to manage the tee sheet] if you know how to use it.”
Old Hickory has utilized an on-line system since it opened in 2003. Clark says the Internet was a key component of spreading the word about the golf course and that over time the use of on-line bookings for tee times has increased. He estimates that 25% of the times are booked this way and he expects that figure to increase over time as more people become used to making on-line reservations.
Ten years ago, the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority’s courses (Pohick Bay, Algonkian and Brambleton) went to an on-line system and its managers are very happy with the results. Instead of having people line up outside the pro shop or jam up the telephone lines, the rush for the prime tee-times is now done in front of a computer. “If somebody has a standing time then they will go on-line and do that,” says Chris Pauley, Director of Operations for the NVRPA courses. “That is a big majority of our business.”
Interestingly, the NVRPA’s move to on-line bookings coincided with a marketing venture to join forces with the municipal courses from Fairfax and Prince William Counties. Pauley says the joint effort was designed to increase awareness of the other courses and create friendly matches between the different systems. But that arrangement hasn’t fulfilled NVRPA’s expectations and it will not be part of the joint-system next year.
The most significant change for NVRPA golfers in 2010 will be the elimination of an upfront reservation membership fee golfers have had to pay each year in order to make tee times two weeks in advance. Pauley says the number of people paying the annual charge has dropped and believes that cost is driving business away.
The trend towards on-line golf reservations is also working its way to some private clubs. Argyle Country Club in Silver Spring, Maryland is in the process of instituting an on-line system for its members. Assistant Pro Fran Hogan says Internet reservations are “just a heck of a lot more convenient” for members and pro shop staff. Hogan says the current practice of determining prized weekend times by lottery will remain in place but members will be encouraged to make weekday times through the club’s website. Argyle like many other clubs sends out an electronic newsletter and the move towards on-line Monday-Friday tee times is another step towards using modern technology for its members.
But not all clubs have the same need. “We still do things the old fashioned way,” says Bethesda Country Club Pro Jim Folks. Clubs with more courses or more members may have a more pressing need for an on-line system. But at Bethesda, a starter takes weekend times two days in advance and access at all other times is generally handled on a first-come first-served basis, which rarely leads to problems.
So how do on-line reservations work?
If you book a tee time at one of the 175 or so courses that use services like teetimes.com, it isn’t too difficult at all. Computer technology allows golfers to book their spot on the tee sheet automatically.
“We are trying to help the golf course operate and sell their tee times,” says Greg Dorsett, owner of teetimes.com and its parent company Software Performance Systems, Inc.
The LaPlata, Maryland technology firm has turned the majority of its business towards the golf industry with its tee time reservations system and several websites like lastsecondgolfer.com and playgolftomorrow.com that offer discounts on unclaimed times.
While a lot of its customers are concentrated in destination markets of Williamsburg and Ocean City, teetimes.com customers can be found throughout the Mid-Atlantic. It recently signed a five-year deal to process tee times at the Fairfax County golf courses.
But the computer technology does a lot more than simply process tee times. It also allows operators to better track customer trends and can market their services accordingly.
Dorsett describes how the tracking systems can identify all of the customers who have purchased a particular golf ball or also bought equipment at the pro shop. In turn, golf course operators can use that information to target specific golfers with specials or other deals that based on their buying history may of interest.
“We pride ourselves in being a leader in technology and leverage the power of the Internet for their customers,” Dorsett explains. But he is also quick to point out that while he can make the tools available; the golf courses have to do the work to take the information they’ve gathered and market it accordingly. “We drive the technology,” Dorsett says. “But they do the marketing.”
Dorsett predicts that the future of on-line tee times will extend to social networking sites like Facebook. He also predicts that text messaging will become a more common way for golf courses to reach out to its customers and in turn for golfers to reserve their coveted tee times.
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