Golf membership vs Public booking

[elmeroil]

This is a new one to me. A course has a full membership and the public can book up to 6 months in advance but the members can only book 7 days in advance. All of the good slots are gone. This change was made in April and they took the members money in full in January and raised memberships by 50% from last year. This seems criminal. Is this something other courses do?

[Weirfan]

To me that seems counterintuitive. Members should always get priority bookings over the general public.

It's shady at best but I can see why they might do it.
They have member's money upfront already.
Members who play a lot have a low $ cost per round and the course can make more for that tee time spot with rack rate green fee.....especially the most desirable tee times ( this is why many courses eliminated or severely cut back memberships and bumped prices since the Covid demand was so high)

they are obviously trying to maximize revenue by selling off the best and most expensive tee times and forcing members to fill in the less desirable openings.

As members I would unite and speak up to the practice and if it's not modified request a refund. Those were not the conditions in place when you agreed to become members for this season.

At worst they should reserve a few blocks of primo tee times for members each day and only sell them to the GP say a week out.

[elmeroil]

Agreed Weirfan, and many of us did wonder if they are trying to phase out memberships which is fine but it's a very shady way to go about it now that they have everyone's money. I'm waiting for a reply hoping they consider changing it. If they don't, I believe they will have a big problem on their hands as far as the members pushing back.

[Fore Warned]

Agreed Weirfan, and many of us did wonder if they are trying to phase out memberships which is fine but it's a very shady way to go about it now that they have everyone's money. I'm waiting for a reply hoping they consider changing it. If they don't, I believe they will have a big problem on their hands as far as the members pushing back.

Class action if no satisfaction?

[steveooo]

I spoke with a pro at one of my normal courses about the covid boom. He likened it to the tiger boom.
He said that once it fizzles out,like the Tiger boom did , you are gonna wish like hell that you didnt crap all over your members and regulars.
Karma is a ***** .

[cuonthe1t]

I spoke with a pro at one of my normal courses about the covid boom. He likened it to the tiger boom.
He said that once it fizzles out,like the Tiger boom did , you are gonna wish like hell that you didnt crap all over your members and regulars.
Karma is a ***** .

funny you should bring this up as a bunch of us were talking after our round the other week and it was this topic we were discussing and most of the group arrived at the same conclusion

[4wedges]

I spoke with a pro at one of my normal courses about the covid boom. He likened it to the tiger boom.
He said that once it fizzles out,like the Tiger boom did , you are gonna wish like hell that you didnt crap all over your members and regulars.
Karma is a ***** .

The Pro sounds like a very wise man.

[rpangman]

I spoke with a pro at one of my normal courses about the covid boom. He likened it to the tiger boom.
He said that once it fizzles out,like the Tiger boom did , you are gonna wish like hell that you didnt crap all over your members and regulars.
Karma is a ***** .

You are right. Karma is a *****. Hope it comes back to bite them in the ***.

[jimmy3864]

At my course members can book 8 days out and public 7 so members get priority.I’d pushback and if feasible, ask for full refund and look elsewhere. This is total BS on how to treat members who pre-COVID kept them afloat or provided a known cash inflow each year.

[elmeroil]

Time will tell when the covid boom ends...

[elmeroil]

At my course members can book 8 days out and public 7 so members get priority.I’d pushback and if feasible, ask for full refund and look elsewhere. This is total BS on how to treat members who pre-COVID kept them afloat or provided a known cash inflow each year.

I couldn't agree more!

[bogey5]

The response was sadly what I thought. In a nutshell, they are punishing the members because a few members were booking Tee Times and either not showing up or booking as 4 and only showing up as 2. I feel it's a useless argument as we are pretty sure if this fails they will turn it into housing. This will be our last season there sadly but we will play out the year.

It's Tarandowah not Pine Knot, just to clarify as I didn't want to post the name until I heard back and maybe it was a glitch. All good things come to and end, I hope it works out for them but after a decade of playing the course it's time to move on. Public being able to book 6 months in advance and Members 7 days in advance is as garbage as it gets.

I was told that they might tweak it but the damage has been done for me. I was told they may give us a few advance times if we payva deposit. That's as ridiculous as it gets, they have had our money for months that us a deposit and a big one. You treat your members like that and they will leave, plain and simple.

It's no longer where I want to be after this season. We have a rotation of 10 members that are all leaving at the end of this season, I would imagine a pile more will be leaving as well. Rates were raised by a lot and then this, that's it for me.

Nonsense. With a bit of effort they can simply sanction those members that abuse the booking system. It's not a unique problem or solution. They should be able put policies in place to protect the tee sheet from inconsiderate members by restricting booking priveleges if they no show or cancel on short notice too many times. Post it in the Tarandowah thread. The owner is usually keen to jump in and answer questions.

[Mr22putt]

This is a new one to me. A course has a full membership and the public can book up to 6 months in advance but the members can only book 7 days in advance. All of the good slots are gone. This change was made in April and they took the members money in full in January and raised memberships by 50% from last year. This seems criminal. Is this something other courses do?

It's very SIMPLE.
Tarandowah is sending the annual pass members a STRONG message.
They would rather have the more profitable daily fee guests.

[Weirfan]

Nonsense. With a bit of effort they can simply sanction those members that abuse the booking system. It's not a unique problem or solution. They should be able put policies in place to protect the tee sheet from inconsiderate members by restricting booking priveleges if they no show or cancel on short notice too many times. Post it in the Tarandowah thread. The owner is usually keen to jump in and answer questions.

I agree, IMO The excuse they gave is pure Horse Hockey.

it's easy to implement a system for no shows and those members who regularly book more spots than they plan to use. You either speak to those members about their actions and give them a warning and/or you charge their credit card for the spots they overbook.

Understood that this is a business trying to maximize revenues, but to switch gears and pull this stunt on those who signed up as members could well do them more damage.

I've yet to make the journey to play Tarandowah, likely won't after hearing this.

[dmcdam]

I've yet to make the journey to play Tarandowah, likely won't after hearing this.

I'm tempted just because I can book 6 months in advance