Golf Now taking bookings without stipulating the state of the course

[bradleywedge]

i.e.: Offering a tee time on a course which has 4 holes closed and winter tees, yet not declaring this at the booking stage.

Acceptable?

 

[Neilds]

Not acceptable, but to be fair to Golf Now, how are they meant to keep their site up to date? Our course changes most days with what is open or not so very difficult to keep track

 

[bradleywedge]

Ok, maybe should put in another way. Should a course that has 4 holes closed and winter tees be offering tee times on Golf Now?

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Book through the club instead and ensure they get all the money and they can inform more about the current status of the course

 

[chico]

Book through the club instead and ensure they get all the money and they can inform more about the current status of the course

This is always cropping up. Most clubs won't or can't match the deal you get on Golf Now. You could phone the course before you book it to find out the condition.

 

[Neeko1988]

When ever I use golf now and are worried about course status or weather I always call the club or look on the website…

 

[IanM]

As Golf Now has no way/can't be bothered to update course conditions, checking with the clubs in advance seems crucial. In fairness to them, it isn't an easy thing to do. My course updates conditions daily at 7am, so ahead of that, there is no update to have....assuming they automated a feed, or we put times on there...

Maybe this vehicle for getting cheap deals has a level of risk at this time of year?

I don't think it is acceptable, so I wouldn't use them when courses could be closed, on temps or whatever. I just checked round here...decent deal to be had at one course on Tuesday... but what if we get 3 days of rain before?

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I'd put the onus on the club rather than GolfNow. They are putting their course out there for use. If it isn't offering the full course for whatever reason then they should inform Golfnow and make the dates unavailable.

It makes no sense in customer service terms. They get some money but they also have an angry customer who may never come back.

 

[sunshine]

When ever I use golf now and are worried about course status or weather I always call the club or look on the website…

You can't make sensible suggestions like that!

People need someone to blame.

GN is a platform to sell tee times. Perfectly acceptable for them to sell cheap tee times when the course has holes closed, and it's not up to them to monitor course status all day long.
Similarly it's perfectly fine for golf clubs to sell discounted tee times when the course has holes closed.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Check the club website (ours gets update every morning around 7.00am) or call the pro shop and then make a decision to book or not

 

[Crumplezone]

This has always been the case. I find it more annoying that very few clubs publish their winter restrictions anywhere. Whether it's winter greens/tees, whether mats are required or not and trolley restrictions. Even if you message them it's often hard to get a straight answer. I certainly can'e be bothered messaging or calling half a dozen clubs before making my decision where to play. So they lose out on my business.

 

[IanM]

I can hear them sobbing from here!

In all seriousness, I take your point, but if you are a nomad, you'll have a decent idea of who does what locally. So is a bit of checking too bad if you are looking to save money on a tee time?

But, if booking direct with club, there's no excuse for not being fully informed.

 

[Foxholer]

Book through the club instead and ensure they get all the money and they can inform more about the current status of the course

Fine if the club is prepared to match GN's price. But that's never happened in my experience - even though they would, presumably, be receiving more than they'd get from GN!

 

[Lord Tyrion]

Fine if the club is prepared to match GN's price. But that's never happened in my experience - even though they would, presumably, be receiving more than they'd get from GN!

Perhaps GN do secret shopper style checks on clubs that get them into trouble if they match GN prices? I would if I were them. Keeps the club in check.

GN provides a service, a service clubs seem happy to use and as a customer I think it's a pretty darned good service for golfers. As it happens, I tried a few times initially to get clubs to price match but they didn't do it for me either so I gave up trying.

 

[bradleywedge]

To add context to this thread. I received a message from a mate last Monday, to say he had booked this particular course on GN for Friday. I then went straight to the sites website BRS booking page (there they post up to date course conditions, etc). There was no message, so I presumed everything was normal (ie: full course open, no restrictions etc.). I therefore agreed with my mate to put me down to play.

Two days later went back to the BRS booking page and it was then on there about 4 holes being closed. Too late by then as GN do not give refunds.

I had been following this particular course's state of play every week so I knew about these holes being closed, but obviously when the message had been removed from the site briefly I presumed things were back to normal.

Probably could have raised the issue with the club after the round but couldn't be arsed tbh.

I suppose the moral of the story is check with the course first before booking anything through Golf Now

 

[Leftitshort]

How much is the normal Green fee & how much did you pay?

 

[bradleywedge]

Normal visitor fee £25 on the BRS booking site, we paid £23 through GN.

Even now the BRS site has the message up for today, but click on next friday and its not there.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

How much of a bargain is GN. If its £25 on BRS and £23 on GN is the £2 worth the hassle? At least if you booked directly through the club you may have some comeback if there are significant course changes

 

[sunshine]

A thread about £2 ?

 

[Wabinez]

A thread about £2 ?

some people love a moan