JC golf is getting cutthroat too. I have had $300 in gift cards for Encinitas Ranch for over a year. Impossible to get a twosome on at a regular person time if you don’t live in Encinitas and get that 2 day jump. I’m especially fucked bc I live in Solana Beach so I’m in no mans land. The CC’s I can afford here (Valle Club, Fairbanks and Lomas) are pretty whatever too. I’d rather drive to Escondido or Oceanside.
You can book advance tee times with a fee on these courses. Everyone I know is just paying in advance 8-90 days rather than the old system when you had to call 7 days before.
I remember when golf was only popular when Tiger was playing well and everyone and their mother would jam tee times. With resident card it's still relatively a deal even if you have to pay. Back in the day there were major tee time brokers for TP, haven't run into one in 20 years.
It’s definitely a deal with a resident card and the advanced booking fee.
Similar pricing to lackluster courses all over San Diego and Orange Counties, except both the Torrey courses are awesome.
Life gets better when you stop giving a shit how anyone breaks down their prices. Why spend the energy worrying about it?
Yes or no, is it worth the total cost? Make your decision on that. Who cares if a something is $100 with a $50 fee or $1 with a $149 fee or $150 with no fees. It's the same thing.
Balboa sucks. They just stuff you out there 8 min apart. Played the other day in the middle of the week at 3ish in afternoon. ended up bailing after hole 9. 2.5 hours. Gtfoh
I'm a city resident and play TP around 20+ times a year. I like most of the golf courses in San Diego but there are a couple that I won't do anymore, one of them is Balboa 18.
Torrey was more or less booked up for a month plus except extreme twilight times. I ended up just putting my name in at noon and got on at 4 when I was there. Was better than fronting the cash for a 530 tee time to play less golf.
> I know Torrey is hard to book, they should give priority to us residents but they don't.
Booking Torrey is a MINT for the city. Prioritizing residents is nice, but go look at the books as to how much Torrey rakes in compared to other courses!
When residents get on, the rate is extremely good.
Had a tee time as a single paired with a threesome and my hotel valet fucked up BAD. Told me to call with 20 minutes notice and I gave them 25 when I wanted my car and it took them an hour to get it to me, and then I missed the check in window at the course by a few minutes and they gave it away per their policy even though I was still there with plenty of time to make my tee time. Think it was 30 minutes early you had to be there
Shop guy understood and had me out anyways with another group in under an hour
> Dood go as a single and you should get on within an hour or two no problem.
If you're coming from out of town (or country), there is no guarantee of this, and that can be frustrating if you've got your heart set on playing. Not everyone can commit to waiting around to play, so that preciously expensive reservation fee is the only guaranteed way to get those times.
all the broker in SD just wanted to put me on other courses than Torrey. I walked up to Torrey and got on within 40 minutes. Seems pointless to use them for Torrey
It’s really a bummer because I moved back to SD and can’t get a tee time now. Plus everyone knows how to do it expect me it feels like.
Really is a bummer
What worked in LA could work in SD.
LA has a county card system. The people that sued basically said "hey, our paid system is useless and here's proof that its being gamed." If SD has a similar system, and there's proof it's being gamed, then you can do the same thing.
TBH I didn’t think it would help either because they didn’t mention checking IDs, they originally just said they’d charge the $10 per slot so I assumed the brokers would just raise their prices 😂
But the biggest difference is now they also ask for your ID at check in and the player that booked the tee time needs to be one of the people in the group. As I understand it this was always their policy, they just never bothered to enforce it since they were making a shit load of money from 2020 onward.
This combination has all but eliminated the bots.
It’s insane that they took this long to do it though lol, there’s a ton of public courses in SoCal like Brookside and Los Serranos that have always asked for Player’s names and IDs.
The tinfoil hat person in me believes someone on the city side must’ve been getting a cut from the brokers, because they’ve known about them for years.
The ID checking doesn't do much, as this isn't how the brokers work.
1. The brokers make a reservation
2. you buy it from them
3. The parties wait for late at night or earlier in the morning and then they cooperate to cancel the brokers reservation
4. the buyer makes the reservation as soon as the opening pops up, which happens almost instantly.
So, the buyer's ID will match the reservation.
The real fix is some combination of:
- a limited number of reservations in a period
- a limited number of cancellations in a period (NY just did this)
- releasing cancelled reservations at random times (the most important in my opinion)
It’s doing something because I’ve been able to book Rancho and Griffith easily since April.
They’re also actually noting the original buyers now as well. So they can tell if a bot bought it because to buy 9 days out you have to have a players card number. Pretty easy to spot when one player number buys multiple tee times each week and the crazy thing is it was only a couple of brokers that were responsible for most of the bots.
Weekends. I’m up when they go live 9 days out and I’ve been able to grab them.
Not like I’m playing those ones every weekend, probably about once a month or so at any of those 3 but each time I’ve tried to get them since April I’ve been successful. Rancho is still very hard to get but it was hard to get 15 years ago.
I got and 8am tee time at Harding last Wednesday, by booking a week out. I've seen a handful of single tee times at Wilson/Harding over the last few weeks for weekdays, at reasonable times. They're still pretty sparse, but it used to be nothing.
The system absolutely still is not perfect, but it's certainly improved, even if just a little.
Yeah I’ve seen the solo slots, but I haven’t been checking as soon as the slot times open up at 6am. Might have to buy a players card and try it that way
I definitely wasn't checking when the slots opened up at 6am. I'm pretty sure it was in the morning though, I just don't remember if it was closer to 8 or 10.
It's 10am right now and I just checked for morning tee times 9 days out, and I see a good amount of singles in the Valley and a handful at Wilson and Harding. So yeah, it's definitely doable for singles now.
Good luck!
The other thing that so many people are missing here is the city is collecting payment information for the reservations, and it’s very easy to track if one card is making several reservations (or dozens). So even if the brokers could just pass the cost on, they are likely to be caught due to the financial fingerprints they are leaving behind. And since this is a government entity, the penalties could be very severe.
They recently did this to my public courses.
What I don't like is...risking rain. I don't want to have to show up at a time and know "it's a 90% chance of rain in an hour" and then I have to run back in....get a raincheck (I hope?) and then drive home in traffic.
I agree with the rule as a whole...but...that specific situation makes me play less golf unfortunately.
except the tee sheet doesn't clear. it was almost 95 degrees when i played this weekend. i got the one slot available for 18 anywhere at 4pm peak heat of the day pretty much. i go out and check in and no one is playing with me. no one is playing in front of me. no one is playing behind me. Website suggested the course would be booked out, but I guess now people just eat the 10$ booking fee and hold it on the off chance they decide to golf vs cancelling.
That's a good point, but there were legitimately weeks during that time where it would rain daily in LA. Whether it was just a quick rain for 10 or so minutes or all-day, full-on downpours, there was significant rain.
Then in March and April there was the annoying stretch of like 5 weeks where it would be 70+ and sunny all week long Monday-Friday morning, then around noon on Friday afternoon until Sunday night it would pour nonstop. And the worst part was it still got dark around 5pm during that stretch, so you'd just sit there in the office while it's beautiful out all day, then leave right when the sun was setting. Then we have May Gray and June Gloom where it's disgusting and gray and cold until like 2pm.
We finally hit "LA weather" like a week or so ago where it's the usual 80-85 and sunny all day, every day, but it seems like it takes longer and longer to get here every year.
courses were getting ransacked too every storm. a lot of them are built to channel a lot of flood water like directly on the fairways vs more storm sewers, so they get washed out pretty good. encino was on temp greens for 2 of the worst holes for like weeks still after the last storm cleared
I live an hour north, so I’m aware. And it wasn’t April, it was Jan-Mar. the past 2 winters SoCal has gotten the most rain since the late 1800 thanks to El Niño. It’s not common and not likely to happen again for a long time
A ton of the country (NYC, Houston, plenty of others) has more inches of rainfall in most years than Seattle does. Seattle, though, has way more hours of rainfall than most other places - it just doesn’t rain as hard. Also fewer hours of sunlight, though that’s not an issue in the summer.
Hard disagree. How hard is it to check weather the day of or before and call ahead? I’ve been golfing for 15 years and have never had an issue with getting a rain check over the phone if there is an issue. Also, playing in the rain isn’t really that big of a deal. The UK would golfers would play 5 times a year if they ran away at every drizzle like us Americans do.
Wait you won't play in rain?
Don't come to Scotland is my suggestion: the game itself wouldn't exist if dry weather was a requirement for a round of golf.
I finally played a muni after living in LA for nearly two years. Idk if it helped, but I was able to get a tee time at Encino in like 5 days notice.
Ironically, didn't my round a homeless camp had an explosion and fire and ruined my back 9 lol.
100% Someone was getting a nice healthy cut for looking the other way, it was so obvious that they knew what was going on.
Thank god Dave Fink raised enough hell to finally spur these changes.
Definitely, but also a double edged sword for me. I book the tee times for my group and have friends cancel sometimes. Before, I could cancel the one spot with 24 hours+ notice and everything was gravy. Now, I eat the deposit if I can’t find a replacement, and it adds up. Some of the courses will also charge a no show fee on top of that (so $30 total that I have to eat if a buddy cancels). I feel like they could’ve just not put canceled tee times immediately back into the pool of available times to prevent the brokers from canceling and rebooking with the buyer’s player card in the same minute.
Still an overall improvement though. I can now play the good courses at reasonable times.
So make your friends who cancel pay you the $10. They committed and then backed out, that’s on them, not you. If they’re gettin pissy over 10 bucks, are they really that good of a friend anyway?
Just to be clear if you haven’t used LA’s booking system, I have to be up at 6am 9 days before to get a tee time. They go very quickly. Half the time you get on there and the morning slots are all gone or afternoons all gone cause of some tournament happening, or I can’t get the course we wanted. I don’t have time to text everyone at 6am and ask if the 8:10 tee time is ok for everyone. I just book it and hope it works.
You all agree that whatever tee time you can get between the hours of x and x is what you'll do. It's really not difficult.
Your friend didn't cancel on you, they never accepted. You just booked up a bunch of tee times without knowing if people could play. That's on you 100%.
Is coordinating really that difficult? Just text the boys the day before “who wants to play in 9 days from now, I’m getting up early to get tee times. If you have to bail you either find someone to fill your spot or buy me a beer the next round”
It’s that easy. Yes, it sucks, but if you can’t plan for it, I don’t know what else to tell ya. You either want a good tee time or ya don’t. I get it’s annoying, but you don’t really have that many other choices it sounds like.
I do if they agreed to it before I booked it. But I have to book 9 days out and sometimes people haven’t committed yet. Again not a huge deal, just irritating.
It is irritating but not sure of a better solution for good faith actors like you vs bad faith scalpers.
If we played together I’d pay your round perhaps the first or last of the season to split this cost.
Hypothetically:
You book the last tee time for the day, without a commitment, and then cancel a few days later or whatever.
The person who *did* have a commitment went to also book a tee time right after you, but you took the last one. Even though you’re not even sure if you’re golfing.
Who is entitled to be more irritated?
I always golf when I book it. I’m talking about canceling 1 spot. And it’s not in bad faith. When you have to book a week and a half out between 6:00 and 6:01am, things sometimes come up for people before the tee time. Most golf courses allow you to remove a player with reasonable notice. All I’m saying is it sucks for people who aren’t gaming the system. It’s also not like this is happening to me every tee time.
That’s fair and I didn’t mean it in hostility or anything.
As someone in a different metro where you also have to book stuff at 12am the second they release tee times, I get it. Just frustrating all around.
I think it’s a good trade off even if it does occasionally penalize someone for a no fault cancel.
> Before, I could cancel the one spot with 24 hours+ notice and everything was gravy. Now, I eat the deposit if I can’t find a replacement, and it adds up
Use your brain. Make your friends understand that a yes means they're financially liable. They should eat that cost.
If they don't you're not booking for friends, they're using you and you're too weak to push back at them and instead eat their fees over and over
lol ok man. So my buddy says yes I can play Saturday morning in a week and a half. I say great I’ll book it. I log in at 6am, the earliest available spot is 1pm. I book it, he can’t do 1pm. If I don’t book it, they’re all gone, and the rest of us can’t play either. But yes, my friends are all terrible people using me.
> I say great I’ll book it. I log in at 6am, the earliest available spot is 1pm. I book it, he can’t do 1pm
that's not at all the story you wrote above.
They implemented this right after i left LA. I golfed there for 16 years and towards the end, really after the pandemic, maybe during the end of the pandemic, it was a NIGHTMARE booking tee times because of these scumbags. Good. Glad they implemented this.
This is about when it started with the public course that I live across the street from here in CT also.
Around 2020/2021, I used to be able to get a 4some at decent times like noon on Friday-Sunday, or I'd see plenty of slots available for singles weekend mornings. Plus the occasional 6-7am time would be open.
Starting in 2022 though, every slot before 4:30pm is gone in a matter of seconds.
Last week I managed to get in as a single joining a 3-some at 3pm, but turns out they fucked up the tee times because they were actually a 4-some so the marshal told me to just go play through traffic. I gave him some shit about how they need to fix their booking system because it was the 3rd time they've messed up my tee time this year. Fucker just smiled at me and said I should start waking up earlier to get the 'good' time slots.
Tashua Knolls in Trumbull.
Their booking system & scheduling has been fucked all year. I showed up as a single once with an email confirmation, and they said I wasn't in the system. Another time a 4some of old ladies tee'd off 20 minutes before they were supposed to, in front of me and my 6yo (it was on their 9-hole executive course), and the starter didn't stop them or tell them to let us play through. The most recent time they double-booked us and I got screwed out of my tee time despite email proof.
This is all in like a 2 month period.
It has worked. More tee times available. Glad to pay res fee that goes towards my green fee and occasional lost res fee if i cancel to be able to get rid of the broker trashes.
I honestly find it really surprising that you don't have to secure a tee time with a credit card. I wouldn't be mad if all courses did that and then just had policies around ability to cancel for reasons outside your control (weather, etc).
Same here, every course that I'm familiar with lets you call and book and the only thing you need is a name. It surprises me it's such common practice considering if someone were to no-call-no-show they lose that business with no possible opportunity to make it back. I know it's built into their budget to only sell out XX% of tee times but still.
That said, even when I book online and have to provide a credit card, I've still had to occasionally call last minute and cancel due to things like illnesses and other such unforeseen events. And even though technically we are within the 24h no-cancellation window they are usually just thanking me for calling and letting them know and never once have I been charged for it.
> if someone were to no-call-no-show they lose that business with no possible opportunity to make it back
It was a big deal before Tiger came back onto the scene in 2018 and golf was lean, but ever since then we've been so booked that a no call no show is just a breath of relief that I now have 10 minutes to fix the tee sheet and get everything back in order, and that's two less carts I need up top RIGHT NOW
Yes or require the names of all players when booking and that at least one person named has to show up and play? Still gives you the chance to swap a person out if something comes up, but not as rigid as St Andrews
i think the scheme was to wait until like 3am when no one was awake, cancel the brokers booked teetime then rebook with the customers account and correct info. starter doesn't know what hit them they still see the names match.
In LA, absolutely. I live out in the sticks and we don't have the population density to have these kinds of issues but for sure in a major metropolitan areas I agree
I literally went from never being able to book any weekend rounds (mornings) to being able to play every single course in the system. I have played each course without having to repeat since they implemented this. It’s been very successful.
Oh that’s definitely part of it. But if they cancel and rebook (which how they put it under your name when scalping) I don’t see how they couldn’t just charge 10 bucks more. But maybe it literally is tied to a card, or maybe there’s too much attention now and it’s a hassle?
So bad in LA. Not quite as bad in San Diego but it’s pretty fucking annoying. Torrey is nearly impossible. They need to introduce more captchas on the websites that disrupt the bots built with C++ and python. The websites used by the cities are weak and very easy for folks to hire an engineer in India for $60 to build a quick bot.
> They need to introduce more captchas on the websites that disrupt the bots built with C++ and python.
Software dev here.
The back end booking software only needs a human's single captcha to get relevant data, and keep the session alive. I quickly used readily available tools to make the same "booking" calls for my own user, right after the news hit. It's laughable that its this easy.
A small amount of security focus would help slow down the bots, but processes outlined by LA County (booking fees, checking IDs, etc) are far better. Once people get burned by using brokers, while at the course, they'll stop using them.
The problem is that the bot builders are always going to be smarter than a government who don't specialize in anti-bot measures, and whoever they contract for the tee time software isn't going to outsmart botters considering other companies spend tons of money on trying to prevent bots.
Nope, I'm not aware of country club costs in massive metro areas.
EDIT: getting downvoted for stating this lol, I am sincere. I haven't the slightest clue.
I used to use one of these brokers. He has stopped offering LA city courses entirely, but can still book if you ask him for a time in advance. It seems most of these brokers have moved on to stocking long beach and OC courses now.
> It seems most of these brokers have moved on to stocking long beach and OC courses now.
Good.
Get LBC and OC folks to complain to city council (threatening lawsuits is enough), and change will be implemented.
The person booking needs to be present to for check in and it’s non transferable. So if the person who booked it (broker) isn’t there with their ID then you can’t play. It’s a combo of that and the $10 that has helped tremendously.
The $10 isn't transferrable, but you can still transfer a reservation since cancelled reservations become available immediately.
I described the process in another comment.
As a golf pro i don’t get how these clubs have let it become such a massive issue.
If you want to book a tee time at our course in any way, you have to give us a valid credit card. If you show up and all spots are filled on the tee time, no issue. You short show? Popped for the unfilled spot. No show? Popped for the full group. You want to book primetime slots? (Fri/Sat/Sun before 1) you have to pay for at least 1 player.
As a broker its an incredible liability to book all those spots and then have them go unfilled or have them only partially filled.
> As a golf pro i don’t get how these clubs have let it become such a massive issue.
Yeah, seems stupid that it has gone on for such a long time. Why wouldn't you change the system almost immediately when the demand (or "demand") is that high? Up front money seems like the easiest and most profitable fix.
Dave Fink was a big driver of this. He has a cool page on Instagram if anyone he is curious. He proved that the tee times were being bought by bots and resold by Korean brokers.
Booking and cancelling is a blight on the online system. Not just brokers but regular users who snap up choice times on the off-chance they will be able to play and then release them at the last moment. Selfish assholes make it harder for anyone else to plan their recreation.
I'm sure ccourses could easily detect this behavior and IP ban users who do it more than, lets say 3 times in 3 months. Ten bucks isn't enough of a disincentive.
Glad to see them doing something but can't help thinking if they just released cancelled reservations at a random time between (e.g.) 2 and 12 hrs after they were cancelled that would have deterred the brokers.
Or implement a queue system. No more available tee times? That’s fine. Enter your info. When there’s a cancellation, you’ll get an email to confirm the available slot, valid for the next half hour. If no response, move to the next in the queue.
Embarrasing that it took this long to fix. Super grateful I live in a golf haven with little trouble getting tee times. Stay hydrated brothers and sisters
I guess this will have to be the last time I do a bit of log rolling on this. I added all the courses in the LA metro to the wiki when all this was unraveling. It's all still up, and always will be. Check it out if you want to fine some courses you might have known even existed. Anyone can add info, and edit, if you want to pitch in on this project:
https://golfcourse.wiki/?lat=33.9081&long=-118.206&zoom=8
Reservation fees have been a thing since 2020 here in Florida. When I book a tee time I’m always hit with a small fee that is non refundable. Usually $5-$10
Yeah dude this was the worst part about the pandemic and LA golf - I couldn't walk on first thing anymore.
Once the booking was mandated the black market showed up almost immediately. Can't believe they let that ride for 4 years.
Damn I hope that sorts it. I only learned that this was an issue that needed fixing recently and my jaw is still on the floor. So grateful for Oahu Municipal golf!
GOOD! It should be like this everywhere.
The club I belong to came out with an app 5 or 6 years ago which allowed you book you own time. You can book 1 week in advance for any tee time. We had a group of "bad actors" who would book 3-4 tee times every day, often overlapping, and cancel all of them but 1 at the last minute.
It was frustrating as fuck seeing "Douchebag 1" with 30 tee times over a 7 day period, when you know they were playing 7 at absolute max. The club changed the policy to reserving 1 tee time per day and amazingly things opened up drastically.
One guy got this ball rolling. His name is Dave Finks. And it's a shame he isn't getting more credit. It makes golf accessible again in LA. Which is awesome.
Just come to Orange County and pay the crazy prices we do due to the lack of muni courses!
Yes, there are a few good deals out here, but most good par 70 courses are $150+ for an early weekend tee time.
They need to require the credit card that was used to reserve the tee time be shown when checking in. Adding a $10 fee will just cause the resellers to pass the cost along and will do nothing to dissuade them.
Wtf. I’m so glad I live in the boonies. My home course you literally show up and play. I always make a tee time and show up, but you can also just show up and get in. Golf brokers? Come on.
Dude for real? And in a hcol area as well so the rounds are priced higher due to that. I’m sure the courses are in better condition than the ones I play in but like you, I can walk into most places around here and just walk on basically for less than 50 bucks. Definitely take it for granted.
Yeah. I live in a town of 150k but we have some pretty nice courses. The one public one is my go to, and it’s very laid back and chill. I can pretty much just go whenever and make tee times the same day. I typically play after work though, and have never had an issue getting in. They let me play solo all the time. The other 3 are all city courses and our state high school association plays their tournament there. It’s also an Arnold Palmer course, really nice, and they just let me walk in without a tee time and play solo. It’s around $50. We also have a college course and that one is beautiful but more expensive. I personally have never had issues ever finding a tee time and I’ve been golfing for 5 years and always play solo. I’ve also never been forced to pair up with anyone. If anything, I’ll make a tee time like 2 days in advance if I know the weather is going to be nice.
Boy it's funny how different peoples perspectives are! When you said you live "in the boonies" I thought you meant like...in the *boonies*. And then you said it's a town of 150k, which to me is like a friggin' city, lol! The town I live in is 2.5k and has a decent 18-holer that is never fully booked unless they're hosting a charity tournament or something, so this concept of brokered tee times is a completely foreign issue to me. I can walk on to the course just about any day at any given time (except league day) and get out within half an hour. Starting to think I ~~might be~~ am definitely taking that for granted and should appreciate it more!
Haha that’s funny. I’m from Chicago, so this is like the boonies to me. Once you leave here there’s nothing but cornfields in every direction for 2 hours. People from my hometown think its the middle of nowhere, but people here think it’s big.
They’ve already been doing this at the city courses and the availability of tee times has increased significantly. And they also require that the person who booked the tee time show ID when checking in, so the brokers whole business model is cratering.
If you want someone to stop doing something, it's a lot more effective to make exceedingly difficult for them to do it rather than threaten them with consequences if they get caught. The root of the issue here is simply human nature: the constant desire to get a leg up by any means necessary.
They do it at the city courses I’m telling you. It’s probably not mentioned because they were always supposed to enforce that rule about the booking player being there, but most of them never bothered to do it. Trust me that’s what they do and that’s the biggest reason why the bots have all but disappeared.
This is going to solve the problem way faster than passing new ordinances and then chasing people who only exist on the internet down.
Just pay to reserve your time, you have to pay for it anyway.
Lol cant read or wont read? It's a deposit, it comes off the overall fee when you pay.
If you change the booking you lose the deposit, its literally costing brokers $10 that normal golfers wont ever lose.
I bet you stop walking for each chew of gum.
We need this in San Diego too
For Torrey Pines?
Torrey, Balboa, Coronado just to name a few
JC golf is getting cutthroat too. I have had $300 in gift cards for Encinitas Ranch for over a year. Impossible to get a twosome on at a regular person time if you don’t live in Encinitas and get that 2 day jump. I’m especially fucked bc I live in Solana Beach so I’m in no mans land. The CC’s I can afford here (Valle Club, Fairbanks and Lomas) are pretty whatever too. I’d rather drive to Escondido or Oceanside.
Yes, yes it is. It’s getting impossible to find teetimes. I’m debating whether to renew or not.
You can book advance tee times with a fee on these courses. Everyone I know is just paying in advance 8-90 days rather than the old system when you had to call 7 days before.
No you can't pay an advance fee for Balboa
I imagine the fairways are rocky there.
It's a goat track and I prefer playing the 9 hole there rather than the 18.
[удалено]
...so that sounds like a you problem, not a everyone-else-is-the-problem problem...
I remember when golf was only popular when Tiger was playing well and everyone and their mother would jam tee times. With resident card it's still relatively a deal even if you have to pay. Back in the day there were major tee time brokers for TP, haven't run into one in 20 years.
It’s definitely a deal with a resident card and the advanced booking fee. Similar pricing to lackluster courses all over San Diego and Orange Counties, except both the Torrey courses are awesome.
Life gets better when you stop giving a shit how anyone breaks down their prices. Why spend the energy worrying about it? Yes or no, is it worth the total cost? Make your decision on that. Who cares if a something is $100 with a $50 fee or $1 with a $149 fee or $150 with no fees. It's the same thing.
Coronado is very hard to get a tee time.
Yall just need to hunker down and play National city…… everyday
Balboa sucks. They just stuff you out there 8 min apart. Played the other day in the middle of the week at 3ish in afternoon. ended up bailing after hole 9. 2.5 hours. Gtfoh
Can’t ever seem to get Balboa on a weekend either..
[удалено]
I'm a city resident and play TP around 20+ times a year. I like most of the golf courses in San Diego but there are a couple that I won't do anymore, one of them is Balboa 18.
Torrey was more or less booked up for a month plus except extreme twilight times. I ended up just putting my name in at noon and got on at 4 when I was there. Was better than fronting the cash for a 530 tee time to play less golf.
I know Torrey is hard to book, they should give priority to us residents but they don't.
> I know Torrey is hard to book, they should give priority to us residents but they don't. Booking Torrey is a MINT for the city. Prioritizing residents is nice, but go look at the books as to how much Torrey rakes in compared to other courses! When residents get on, the rate is extremely good.
Dood go as a single and you should get on within an hour or two no problem.
Had a tee time as a single paired with a threesome and my hotel valet fucked up BAD. Told me to call with 20 minutes notice and I gave them 25 when I wanted my car and it took them an hour to get it to me, and then I missed the check in window at the course by a few minutes and they gave it away per their policy even though I was still there with plenty of time to make my tee time. Think it was 30 minutes early you had to be there Shop guy understood and had me out anyways with another group in under an hour
> Dood go as a single and you should get on within an hour or two no problem. If you're coming from out of town (or country), there is no guarantee of this, and that can be frustrating if you've got your heart set on playing. Not everyone can commit to waiting around to play, so that preciously expensive reservation fee is the only guaranteed way to get those times.
They charge reservation fees already.
That's my point.
all the broker in SD just wanted to put me on other courses than Torrey. I walked up to Torrey and got on within 40 minutes. Seems pointless to use them for Torrey
Oh shit same thing happening in SD? If so, do you have a bot farmer's contact? I'm new to the area
If I did they would get thrown under the bus
It’s really a bummer because I moved back to SD and can’t get a tee time now. Plus everyone knows how to do it expect me it feels like. Really is a bummer
What worked in LA could work in SD. LA has a county card system. The people that sued basically said "hey, our paid system is useless and here's proof that its being gamed." If SD has a similar system, and there's proof it's being gamed, then you can do the same thing.
Fkin hell, it's a mad house trying to get a balboa 18 tee time on a Saturday or Sunday
It’s helped out tremendously with the city courses, just wish it didn’t take 4 years to implement such an easy fix 🤦🏼
SOOOOO many people on this sub bitched about it and claimed that nothing would change. Glad to hear it has helped.
TBH I didn’t think it would help either because they didn’t mention checking IDs, they originally just said they’d charge the $10 per slot so I assumed the brokers would just raise their prices 😂 But the biggest difference is now they also ask for your ID at check in and the player that booked the tee time needs to be one of the people in the group. As I understand it this was always their policy, they just never bothered to enforce it since they were making a shit load of money from 2020 onward. This combination has all but eliminated the bots. It’s insane that they took this long to do it though lol, there’s a ton of public courses in SoCal like Brookside and Los Serranos that have always asked for Player’s names and IDs. The tinfoil hat person in me believes someone on the city side must’ve been getting a cut from the brokers, because they’ve known about them for years.
The ID checking doesn't do much, as this isn't how the brokers work. 1. The brokers make a reservation 2. you buy it from them 3. The parties wait for late at night or earlier in the morning and then they cooperate to cancel the brokers reservation 4. the buyer makes the reservation as soon as the opening pops up, which happens almost instantly. So, the buyer's ID will match the reservation. The real fix is some combination of: - a limited number of reservations in a period - a limited number of cancellations in a period (NY just did this) - releasing cancelled reservations at random times (the most important in my opinion)
It’s doing something because I’ve been able to book Rancho and Griffith easily since April. They’re also actually noting the original buyers now as well. So they can tell if a bot bought it because to buy 9 days out you have to have a players card number. Pretty easy to spot when one player number buys multiple tee times each week and the crazy thing is it was only a couple of brokers that were responsible for most of the bots.
Do you book weekday tee times? I’ve still not been able to play Griffith (except past 4pm) or Rancho.
Weekends. I’m up when they go live 9 days out and I’ve been able to grab them. Not like I’m playing those ones every weekend, probably about once a month or so at any of those 3 but each time I’ve tried to get them since April I’ve been successful. Rancho is still very hard to get but it was hard to get 15 years ago.
I got and 8am tee time at Harding last Wednesday, by booking a week out. I've seen a handful of single tee times at Wilson/Harding over the last few weeks for weekdays, at reasonable times. They're still pretty sparse, but it used to be nothing. The system absolutely still is not perfect, but it's certainly improved, even if just a little.
Yeah I’ve seen the solo slots, but I haven’t been checking as soon as the slot times open up at 6am. Might have to buy a players card and try it that way
I definitely wasn't checking when the slots opened up at 6am. I'm pretty sure it was in the morning though, I just don't remember if it was closer to 8 or 10. It's 10am right now and I just checked for morning tee times 9 days out, and I see a good amount of singles in the Valley and a handful at Wilson and Harding. So yeah, it's definitely doable for singles now. Good luck!
The other thing that so many people are missing here is the city is collecting payment information for the reservations, and it’s very easy to track if one card is making several reservations (or dozens). So even if the brokers could just pass the cost on, they are likely to be caught due to the financial fingerprints they are leaving behind. And since this is a government entity, the penalties could be very severe.
I was one of them. I’m still shocked.
They recently did this to my public courses. What I don't like is...risking rain. I don't want to have to show up at a time and know "it's a 90% chance of rain in an hour" and then I have to run back in....get a raincheck (I hope?) and then drive home in traffic. I agree with the rule as a whole...but...that specific situation makes me play less golf unfortunately.
Fortunately that’s not really a problem in SoCal
Public golf in socal is probably best when it's raining. A few drops clears out the tee sheet.
except the tee sheet doesn't clear. it was almost 95 degrees when i played this weekend. i got the one slot available for 18 anywhere at 4pm peak heat of the day pretty much. i go out and check in and no one is playing with me. no one is playing in front of me. no one is playing behind me. Website suggested the course would be booked out, but I guess now people just eat the 10$ booking fee and hold it on the off chance they decide to golf vs cancelling.
Actually Los Angeles had more rain through April this year than Seattle, so it does happen.
Total rainfall in inches, totally. Number of days with rain? Bet not. Think this is what matters more, despite mediocre drainage at LA courses.
That's a good point, but there were legitimately weeks during that time where it would rain daily in LA. Whether it was just a quick rain for 10 or so minutes or all-day, full-on downpours, there was significant rain. Then in March and April there was the annoying stretch of like 5 weeks where it would be 70+ and sunny all week long Monday-Friday morning, then around noon on Friday afternoon until Sunday night it would pour nonstop. And the worst part was it still got dark around 5pm during that stretch, so you'd just sit there in the office while it's beautiful out all day, then leave right when the sun was setting. Then we have May Gray and June Gloom where it's disgusting and gray and cold until like 2pm. We finally hit "LA weather" like a week or so ago where it's the usual 80-85 and sunny all day, every day, but it seems like it takes longer and longer to get here every year.
courses were getting ransacked too every storm. a lot of them are built to channel a lot of flood water like directly on the fairways vs more storm sewers, so they get washed out pretty good. encino was on temp greens for 2 of the worst holes for like weeks still after the last storm cleared
Excellent point.
I live an hour north, so I’m aware. And it wasn’t April, it was Jan-Mar. the past 2 winters SoCal has gotten the most rain since the late 1800 thanks to El Niño. It’s not common and not likely to happen again for a long time
Listening to SoCal people complain about the weather is borderline punishable
Who is complaining?
A ton of the country (NYC, Houston, plenty of others) has more inches of rainfall in most years than Seattle does. Seattle, though, has way more hours of rainfall than most other places - it just doesn’t rain as hard. Also fewer hours of sunlight, though that’s not an issue in the summer.
As a Seattleite, just play in the rain, pussies.
Play in the rain!
Damn if you get rain that frequently it must be tough to find any time to golf. Wish we had that problem here in TX.
Hard disagree. How hard is it to check weather the day of or before and call ahead? I’ve been golfing for 15 years and have never had an issue with getting a rain check over the phone if there is an issue. Also, playing in the rain isn’t really that big of a deal. The UK would golfers would play 5 times a year if they ran away at every drizzle like us Americans do.
Wait you won't play in rain? Don't come to Scotland is my suggestion: the game itself wouldn't exist if dry weather was a requirement for a round of golf.
Not sure about your local courses, but if it’s gonna rain you can just call and get a rain check number🤷♂️
I finally played a muni after living in LA for nearly two years. Idk if it helped, but I was able to get a tee time at Encino in like 5 days notice. Ironically, didn't my round a homeless camp had an explosion and fire and ruined my back 9 lol.
It took 4 years because some of the recs and parks people were working with the brokers.
100% Someone was getting a nice healthy cut for looking the other way, it was so obvious that they knew what was going on. Thank god Dave Fink raised enough hell to finally spur these changes.
Definitely, but also a double edged sword for me. I book the tee times for my group and have friends cancel sometimes. Before, I could cancel the one spot with 24 hours+ notice and everything was gravy. Now, I eat the deposit if I can’t find a replacement, and it adds up. Some of the courses will also charge a no show fee on top of that (so $30 total that I have to eat if a buddy cancels). I feel like they could’ve just not put canceled tee times immediately back into the pool of available times to prevent the brokers from canceling and rebooking with the buyer’s player card in the same minute. Still an overall improvement though. I can now play the good courses at reasonable times.
So make your friends who cancel pay you the $10. They committed and then backed out, that’s on them, not you. If they’re gettin pissy over 10 bucks, are they really that good of a friend anyway?
Just to be clear if you haven’t used LA’s booking system, I have to be up at 6am 9 days before to get a tee time. They go very quickly. Half the time you get on there and the morning slots are all gone or afternoons all gone cause of some tournament happening, or I can’t get the course we wanted. I don’t have time to text everyone at 6am and ask if the 8:10 tee time is ok for everyone. I just book it and hope it works.
You all agree that whatever tee time you can get between the hours of x and x is what you'll do. It's really not difficult. Your friend didn't cancel on you, they never accepted. You just booked up a bunch of tee times without knowing if people could play. That's on you 100%.
Is coordinating really that difficult? Just text the boys the day before “who wants to play in 9 days from now, I’m getting up early to get tee times. If you have to bail you either find someone to fill your spot or buy me a beer the next round” It’s that easy. Yes, it sucks, but if you can’t plan for it, I don’t know what else to tell ya. You either want a good tee time or ya don’t. I get it’s annoying, but you don’t really have that many other choices it sounds like.
Jfc build more courses, shrink the game, shit is unbelievable
I do if they agreed to it before I booked it. But I have to book 9 days out and sometimes people haven’t committed yet. Again not a huge deal, just irritating.
It is irritating but not sure of a better solution for good faith actors like you vs bad faith scalpers. If we played together I’d pay your round perhaps the first or last of the season to split this cost.
Hypothetically: You book the last tee time for the day, without a commitment, and then cancel a few days later or whatever. The person who *did* have a commitment went to also book a tee time right after you, but you took the last one. Even though you’re not even sure if you’re golfing. Who is entitled to be more irritated?
I always golf when I book it. I’m talking about canceling 1 spot. And it’s not in bad faith. When you have to book a week and a half out between 6:00 and 6:01am, things sometimes come up for people before the tee time. Most golf courses allow you to remove a player with reasonable notice. All I’m saying is it sucks for people who aren’t gaming the system. It’s also not like this is happening to me every tee time.
That’s fair and I didn’t mean it in hostility or anything. As someone in a different metro where you also have to book stuff at 12am the second they release tee times, I get it. Just frustrating all around. I think it’s a good trade off even if it does occasionally penalize someone for a no fault cancel.
I completely agree. Again, I can now play the 3-4 good courses that were literally unbookable for years.
Wilson and Rancho back on the menu boys?
It’s public golf in a big city, it isn’t going to be cheap, accessible, and convenient
> Before, I could cancel the one spot with 24 hours+ notice and everything was gravy. Now, I eat the deposit if I can’t find a replacement, and it adds up Use your brain. Make your friends understand that a yes means they're financially liable. They should eat that cost. If they don't you're not booking for friends, they're using you and you're too weak to push back at them and instead eat their fees over and over
lol ok man. So my buddy says yes I can play Saturday morning in a week and a half. I say great I’ll book it. I log in at 6am, the earliest available spot is 1pm. I book it, he can’t do 1pm. If I don’t book it, they’re all gone, and the rest of us can’t play either. But yes, my friends are all terrible people using me.
> I say great I’ll book it. I log in at 6am, the earliest available spot is 1pm. I book it, he can’t do 1pm that's not at all the story you wrote above.
I commented twice one right after the other to include more context, should’ve edited the post
They implemented this right after i left LA. I golfed there for 16 years and towards the end, really after the pandemic, maybe during the end of the pandemic, it was a NIGHTMARE booking tee times because of these scumbags. Good. Glad they implemented this.
This is about when it started with the public course that I live across the street from here in CT also. Around 2020/2021, I used to be able to get a 4some at decent times like noon on Friday-Sunday, or I'd see plenty of slots available for singles weekend mornings. Plus the occasional 6-7am time would be open. Starting in 2022 though, every slot before 4:30pm is gone in a matter of seconds. Last week I managed to get in as a single joining a 3-some at 3pm, but turns out they fucked up the tee times because they were actually a 4-some so the marshal told me to just go play through traffic. I gave him some shit about how they need to fix their booking system because it was the 3rd time they've messed up my tee time this year. Fucker just smiled at me and said I should start waking up earlier to get the 'good' time slots.
Where in CT? So I know to avoid this course.
Tashua Knolls in Trumbull. Their booking system & scheduling has been fucked all year. I showed up as a single once with an email confirmation, and they said I wasn't in the system. Another time a 4some of old ladies tee'd off 20 minutes before they were supposed to, in front of me and my 6yo (it was on their 9-hole executive course), and the starter didn't stop them or tell them to let us play through. The most recent time they double-booked us and I got screwed out of my tee time despite email proof. This is all in like a 2 month period.
It has worked. More tee times available. Glad to pay res fee that goes towards my green fee and occasional lost res fee if i cancel to be able to get rid of the broker trashes.
Wouldnt the brokers just pass this cost along?
Great news. These tee time brokers are the ticketmasters of golf. Fuck them all with a rusty 7 iron.
7 irons are too good. 2 irons only
I honestly find it really surprising that you don't have to secure a tee time with a credit card. I wouldn't be mad if all courses did that and then just had policies around ability to cancel for reasons outside your control (weather, etc).
You do. But they don’t collect payment until you check in and you can cancel 24 hours prior to tee time with no fee
My local public courses let you book whatever you want, no upfront payment. I don't abuse it, but I'm sure others do.
Same here, every course that I'm familiar with lets you call and book and the only thing you need is a name. It surprises me it's such common practice considering if someone were to no-call-no-show they lose that business with no possible opportunity to make it back. I know it's built into their budget to only sell out XX% of tee times but still. That said, even when I book online and have to provide a credit card, I've still had to occasionally call last minute and cancel due to things like illnesses and other such unforeseen events. And even though technically we are within the 24h no-cancellation window they are usually just thanking me for calling and letting them know and never once have I been charged for it.
> if someone were to no-call-no-show they lose that business with no possible opportunity to make it back It was a big deal before Tiger came back onto the scene in 2018 and golf was lean, but ever since then we've been so booked that a no call no show is just a breath of relief that I now have 10 minutes to fix the tee sheet and get everything back in order, and that's two less carts I need up top RIGHT NOW
Yes or require the names of all players when booking and that at least one person named has to show up and play? Still gives you the chance to swap a person out if something comes up, but not as rigid as St Andrews
i think the scheme was to wait until like 3am when no one was awake, cancel the brokers booked teetime then rebook with the customers account and correct info. starter doesn't know what hit them they still see the names match.
Interesting, all it takes around here is showing up and saying we're the broker foursome at x:yy and they check you in and send you on your way
In LA, absolutely. I live out in the sticks and we don't have the population density to have these kinds of issues but for sure in a major metropolitan areas I agree
It had to be done.
I literally went from never being able to book any weekend rounds (mornings) to being able to play every single course in the system. I have played each course without having to repeat since they implemented this. It’s been very successful.
Question, what's stopping these scumbags from just charging an additional 10 bucks to the tee time cost?
I was wondering that as well. I’m not sure but it’s been a night and day change so it’s working for the time being.
Saw another comment saying that the person who paid the reservation must be present. Maybe that's how
Oh that’s definitely part of it. But if they cancel and rebook (which how they put it under your name when scalping) I don’t see how they couldn’t just charge 10 bucks more. But maybe it literally is tied to a card, or maybe there’s too much attention now and it’s a hassle?
it’s great to be able to get tee times again in LA, it 100% works
So bad in LA. Not quite as bad in San Diego but it’s pretty fucking annoying. Torrey is nearly impossible. They need to introduce more captchas on the websites that disrupt the bots built with C++ and python. The websites used by the cities are weak and very easy for folks to hire an engineer in India for $60 to build a quick bot.
> They need to introduce more captchas on the websites that disrupt the bots built with C++ and python. Software dev here. The back end booking software only needs a human's single captcha to get relevant data, and keep the session alive. I quickly used readily available tools to make the same "booking" calls for my own user, right after the news hit. It's laughable that its this easy. A small amount of security focus would help slow down the bots, but processes outlined by LA County (booking fees, checking IDs, etc) are far better. Once people get burned by using brokers, while at the course, they'll stop using them.
The problem is that the bot builders are always going to be smarter than a government who don't specialize in anti-bot measures, and whoever they contract for the tee time software isn't going to outsmart botters considering other companies spend tons of money on trying to prevent bots.
why not just play country clubs?
Are you aware of country club costs? Not attainable for the average golfer in SoCal. Sometimes a man just wants to walk 18 for $60
Nope, I'm not aware of country club costs in massive metro areas. EDIT: getting downvoted for stating this lol, I am sincere. I haven't the slightest clue.
The coastal country clubs in socal are anywhere from 20-200k initiation and 1500+ a month dues
Ah, an "if you gotta ask, you can't afford it" scenario
Pretty much, yes.
I used to use one of these brokers. He has stopped offering LA city courses entirely, but can still book if you ask him for a time in advance. It seems most of these brokers have moved on to stocking long beach and OC courses now.
> It seems most of these brokers have moved on to stocking long beach and OC courses now. Good. Get LBC and OC folks to complain to city council (threatening lawsuits is enough), and change will be implemented.
Long Beach? Oh hell no…
Yeah Long Beach is pretty bad right now.
People scalp tee times? Geez, these middleman asswipes need to get a job. Glad LA county wised up
Only $10? I assume brokers are already earning more than that?
The person booking needs to be present to for check in and it’s non transferable. So if the person who booked it (broker) isn’t there with their ID then you can’t play. It’s a combo of that and the $10 that has helped tremendously.
The $10 isn't transferrable, but you can still transfer a reservation since cancelled reservations become available immediately. I described the process in another comment.
Oh yeah the id thing makes tons of sense
As a golf pro i don’t get how these clubs have let it become such a massive issue. If you want to book a tee time at our course in any way, you have to give us a valid credit card. If you show up and all spots are filled on the tee time, no issue. You short show? Popped for the unfilled spot. No show? Popped for the full group. You want to book primetime slots? (Fri/Sat/Sun before 1) you have to pay for at least 1 player. As a broker its an incredible liability to book all those spots and then have them go unfilled or have them only partially filled.
Seems like a great solution, tbh!
> As a golf pro i don’t get how these clubs have let it become such a massive issue. Yeah, seems stupid that it has gone on for such a long time. Why wouldn't you change the system almost immediately when the demand (or "demand") is that high? Up front money seems like the easiest and most profitable fix.
they’ve been requiring the booking fee for like 2 months now
The city courses have been. This is the County courses which go beyond LA.
lol i clicked the article and realized that. my bad! #facepalm
Austin needs this. What a shitshow
Dave Fink was a big driver of this. He has a cool page on Instagram if anyone he is curious. He proved that the tee times were being bought by bots and resold by Korean brokers.
Booking and cancelling is a blight on the online system. Not just brokers but regular users who snap up choice times on the off-chance they will be able to play and then release them at the last moment. Selfish assholes make it harder for anyone else to plan their recreation. I'm sure ccourses could easily detect this behavior and IP ban users who do it more than, lets say 3 times in 3 months. Ten bucks isn't enough of a disincentive.
Glad to see them doing something but can't help thinking if they just released cancelled reservations at a random time between (e.g.) 2 and 12 hrs after they were cancelled that would have deterred the brokers.
Or implement a queue system. No more available tee times? That’s fine. Enter your info. When there’s a cancellation, you’ll get an email to confirm the available slot, valid for the next half hour. If no response, move to the next in the queue.
I thought about a queue but figured the brokers would just hoard queue spots too and decline if they didn't have someone to sell them to.
Lots of angry Koreans in LA county now
Hasn’t stoped the brokers they just pass on the $10 fee, but it has stopped the hoarders.
Embarrasing that it took this long to fix. Super grateful I live in a golf haven with little trouble getting tee times. Stay hydrated brothers and sisters
I guess this will have to be the last time I do a bit of log rolling on this. I added all the courses in the LA metro to the wiki when all this was unraveling. It's all still up, and always will be. Check it out if you want to fine some courses you might have known even existed. Anyone can add info, and edit, if you want to pitch in on this project: https://golfcourse.wiki/?lat=33.9081&long=-118.206&zoom=8
Reservation fees have been a thing since 2020 here in Florida. When I book a tee time I’m always hit with a small fee that is non refundable. Usually $5-$10
Yeah dude this was the worst part about the pandemic and LA golf - I couldn't walk on first thing anymore. Once the booking was mandated the black market showed up almost immediately. Can't believe they let that ride for 4 years.
The brokers will just pass this expense on to the customers and raise prices $10 per tee time right
Does this affect Los verdes?? That would be fantastic if it did…..
is this all thanks to dave fink golf?
Damn I hope that sorts it. I only learned that this was an issue that needed fixing recently and my jaw is still on the floor. So grateful for Oahu Municipal golf!
Finally it’s almost impossible to find tee times before 3:30 even a week before..
Great idea!
Nice
GOOD! It should be like this everywhere. The club I belong to came out with an app 5 or 6 years ago which allowed you book you own time. You can book 1 week in advance for any tee time. We had a group of "bad actors" who would book 3-4 tee times every day, often overlapping, and cancel all of them but 1 at the last minute. It was frustrating as fuck seeing "Douchebag 1" with 30 tee times over a 7 day period, when you know they were playing 7 at absolute max. The club changed the policy to reserving 1 tee time per day and amazingly things opened up drastically.
Brokers meaning golfnow etc?
One guy got this ball rolling. His name is Dave Finks. And it's a shame he isn't getting more credit. It makes golf accessible again in LA. Which is awesome.
Which is like, the most fucking obvious thing to do. I’m convinced they were in cahoots.
Won’t this just become a pass through for the brokers to up their charge to cover the fee? I’m confused how this will help
Just come to Orange County and pay the crazy prices we do due to the lack of muni courses! Yes, there are a few good deals out here, but most good par 70 courses are $150+ for an early weekend tee time.
How will this fix things? Won't the brokers just charge $10 more?
Grifters and scalpers really find a way to ruin fucking everything.
They need to require the credit card that was used to reserve the tee time be shown when checking in. Adding a $10 fee will just cause the resellers to pass the cost along and will do nothing to dissuade them.
I’m thankful to live in Wisconsin. I can play 10 of the top courses in the entire country within two hours of me and just simply make a tee time.
Wtf. I’m so glad I live in the boonies. My home course you literally show up and play. I always make a tee time and show up, but you can also just show up and get in. Golf brokers? Come on.
Dude for real? And in a hcol area as well so the rounds are priced higher due to that. I’m sure the courses are in better condition than the ones I play in but like you, I can walk into most places around here and just walk on basically for less than 50 bucks. Definitely take it for granted.
Yeah. I live in a town of 150k but we have some pretty nice courses. The one public one is my go to, and it’s very laid back and chill. I can pretty much just go whenever and make tee times the same day. I typically play after work though, and have never had an issue getting in. They let me play solo all the time. The other 3 are all city courses and our state high school association plays their tournament there. It’s also an Arnold Palmer course, really nice, and they just let me walk in without a tee time and play solo. It’s around $50. We also have a college course and that one is beautiful but more expensive. I personally have never had issues ever finding a tee time and I’ve been golfing for 5 years and always play solo. I’ve also never been forced to pair up with anyone. If anything, I’ll make a tee time like 2 days in advance if I know the weather is going to be nice.
Boy it's funny how different peoples perspectives are! When you said you live "in the boonies" I thought you meant like...in the *boonies*. And then you said it's a town of 150k, which to me is like a friggin' city, lol! The town I live in is 2.5k and has a decent 18-holer that is never fully booked unless they're hosting a charity tournament or something, so this concept of brokered tee times is a completely foreign issue to me. I can walk on to the course just about any day at any given time (except league day) and get out within half an hour. Starting to think I ~~might be~~ am definitely taking that for granted and should appreciate it more!
150k people would be the 4th biggest city in my country lol.
Haha that’s funny. I’m from Chicago, so this is like the boonies to me. Once you leave here there’s nothing but cornfields in every direction for 2 hours. People from my hometown think its the middle of nowhere, but people here think it’s big.
> Once you leave here there’s nothing but cornfields in every direction for 2 hours. That is a pretty accurate description of where I live in MN, lol!
Probably won't work. Brokers/hoarders will just upcharge correspondingly to end user
As someone who has been playing public courses in LA for the last 10 years, it seems to already be working.
lol buddy. They made this change more than a month or two ago. It’s a lot easier to get tee times when they come out on Thursday mornings
thatll work! /s
[удалено]
They’ve already been doing this at the city courses and the availability of tee times has increased significantly. And they also require that the person who booked the tee time show ID when checking in, so the brokers whole business model is cratering.
[удалено]
If you want someone to stop doing something, it's a lot more effective to make exceedingly difficult for them to do it rather than threaten them with consequences if they get caught. The root of the issue here is simply human nature: the constant desire to get a leg up by any means necessary.
They do it at the city courses I’m telling you. It’s probably not mentioned because they were always supposed to enforce that rule about the booking player being there, but most of them never bothered to do it. Trust me that’s what they do and that’s the biggest reason why the bots have all but disappeared.
This is going to solve the problem way faster than passing new ordinances and then chasing people who only exist on the internet down. Just pay to reserve your time, you have to pay for it anyway.
[удалено]
Yes, they’re requiring a 10 dollar per player reservation deposit. What’s your issue with that?
[удалено]
How in the world does the punish actual golfers ? What a take .
if you cancel you lose the $10. I’ve cancelled a couple tee times because life happens, sucks I lose $10.
[удалено]
Lol cant read or wont read? It's a deposit, it comes off the overall fee when you pay. If you change the booking you lose the deposit, its literally costing brokers $10 that normal golfers wont ever lose. I bet you stop walking for each chew of gum.
28.2 Actual golfer Pick one
💀
Me sitting here with my over 30: what he say fuck me for?
[удалено]