Is it acceptable....

You just turn up and wait on the tee at my club so I count myself lucky. They have a board which gives clear dates and times of comps and visiting parties so I know when to avoid going but I've never once had an issue getting on the course.
 
Join one of the swindles. It gets you to meet more members, and become part of the club, rather than an individual who wants to play in the same 4 ball all the time with mates. You might find you actually like it!

Slightly amused that it took 17 responses to get to the obvious (to me at least). In my experience a swindle will take anybody with £2 in their pocket and who wants to join in! Just get the first round in after the game and don't win for a couple of weeks and you'll be fine!
 
Join one of the swindles. It gets you to meet more members, and become part of the club, rather than an individual who wants to play in the same 4 ball all the time with mates. You might find you actually like it!
That's sound advice, Meet some more new members. If you miss a Saturday or 2 then its not going to matter if they book the tee times.
 
Booking sheets are the scourge of modern golf clubs. I would much rather turn up on a Saturday morning, have a coffee in the clubhouse and chat to a few members then wander out to the 1st tee when it's quiet. I've met plenty of nice guys this way and made loads of good friends.

Having to book a tee time 2 weeks in advance should be banned.
 
Booking sheets are the scourge of modern golf clubs. I would much rather turn up on a Saturday morning, have a coffee in the clubhouse and chat to a few members then wander out to the 1st tee when it's quiet. I've met plenty of nice guys this way and made loads of good friends.

Having to book a tee time 2 weeks in advance should be banned.

Main reason I like Filton. No tee booking, turn up an play. It is nice I must admit. I would struggle at a club with tee bookin in operation.
 
I'd suggest you PM Bratty.

He may have a small amount of influence - or at least know the 'best way around the system'.

As Captain, he should definitely have an appreciation of the issue/problem and is likely to be the one of the better ways to get the message across to management.
 
Booking sheets are the scourge of modern golf clubs. I would much rather turn up on a Saturday morning, have a coffee in the clubhouse and chat to a few members then wander out to the 1st tee when it's quiet. I've met plenty of nice guys this way and made loads of good friends.

Having to book a tee time 2 weeks in advance should be banned.

Have to agree with that. I want to play my golf on a Saturday/Sunday morning ideally around 9.00. If that means that I have to get to club early and may have to queue then so be it but tee booking would put me right off especially, as the OP says here, it is hard to get your name down for those prime times.
 
I've played at Westerham many times and have frequently been able to get a decent tee time on a weekend morning by calling up not long before the weekend. I am a corporate member but I don't see how this makes any difference as I can only get on if they have availability.

Also - if you can only play during the morning, are you also trying the other courses in the group?
As part of your membership you have already paid for tee times at Woldingham and Surrey National. And you have playing rights at the Addington (which is always available unless they have a comp).

I'd be interested to know what day of the week you are calling to try to get a tee time.

As a side note, Westerham is a beautiful course with an excellent short game facility. I'd definitely recommend it.
 
For us being able to book in advance was a major part of joining our club. Tee times open at 8.00am a week ahead so we log on at 8.00am and book a time we want. If you're not online you just ring the pro shop. It's different when mens comps are on as obviously the majority of the Saturdays are blocked out until mid afternoon. Can't say we've ever had a problem getting a tee time.

Also, the etiquette is that if there's a free space on a tee time you just put your name down. If people don't want anyone to join them they reserve the other slots so nobody can be added.

Mens comps are different. You can enter 13 days before the comp. Put in what time you want to play and see what time you get when the computer ballot is drawn. HID doesn't care who he plays with and just puts himself down as a single entry rather than in a group. He's met loads of people this way.

Certainly wouldn't have joined if we'd have had to just roll up and see when something was available.
 
I think the problem with their swindle is the cost being £10/12 a round' add this into the 1500 membership and your looking at another £500 a year to play once a week in the swindle. The OP Tried again today to book at tee time for two weeks time, nothing until after 12.

I've suggested the swindle and while this is nice every now and then, surely he should not be FORCED to join the swindle every time he wants a tee slot at weekends. I play our swindle on. Regular basis, but likewise if I know I'm having a bounce game I can normally get a tee slot with no issues as long as I book by Wednesday, if I leave it to Friday it. Can be a struggle... But every now and then is different to every week.
 
I wouldn't want to join a swindle and fork out another £2 every time. If you do that 40 weeks a year for arguments sake that is another £80 on top of the annual fee. Add in a second round on Sunday and that makes if £160 just for the privilege of being able to play at time that suits. Unacceptable in my view.
 
I wouldn't want to join a swindle and fork out another £2 every time. If you do that 40 weeks a year for arguments sake that is another £80 on top of the annual fee. Add in a second round on Sunday and that makes if £160 just for the privilege of being able to play at time that suits. Unacceptable in my view.

This is kinda my view homer, fine every now and then, but the fact is when your swindle is around £10.00 a game, if you do that on Saturday and Sunday just to get a game, it's another grand on your fees. Which in this climate a lot of people can't fork out. You could argue that the bounty would be relative to the entry fee, but either way I don't see why your only chance of a game should be by entering a comp or a swindle, like today if your prepared to book enough in advance(Ie two weeks as was attempted today) that should be more that suitable to be able to secure a respectable pre 12 tee time., Christ if I was to book two weeks in advance unless the tee was reserved for a comp, the only times I couldn't have would be 7:58-8-58 because these are reserved for the roll up on non comp days,
 
I wouldn't want to join a swindle and fork out another £2 every time. If you do that 40 weeks a year for arguments sake that is another £80 on top of the annual fee. Add in a second round on Sunday and that makes if £160 just for the privilege of being able to play at time that suits. Unacceptable in my view.

Obviously it's horses for courses but £2 a head for a swindle sounds perfectly reasonable to me, especially as a lot of them are geared up to ensure the money is spread around by handicapping the previous week's winner or similar.
 
Agreed that amount is over the top for the average member, surely there must be another cheaper swindle?

I don't think there is, my swindle is £8.00 but this give a good spread of a possibilities, 4 nearest the pins, front 9, back 9 and overall. I don't mind entering as on average I nick something normally every other enter so it money just re circulating , but I'm lucky enough not to have a young family of majorly big outgoings each month.

Next year I'm planning on starting a family and when this does happen I may be forced to look at x's such as this ... Would I pay £10 or more to enter a roll up... In a word no.
 
I think the problem with their swindle is the cost being £10/12 a round' add this into the 1500 membership and your looking at another £500 a year to play once a week in the swindle. The OP Tried again today to book at tee time for two weeks time, nothing until after 12.

I've suggested the swindle and while this is nice every now and then, surely he should not be FORCED to join the swindle every time he wants a tee slot at weekends. I play our swindle on. Regular basis, but likewise if I know I'm having a bounce game I can normally get a tee slot with no issues as long as I book by Wednesday, if I leave it to Friday it. Can be a struggle... But every now and then is different to every week.

£10-12 for the swindle :eek:

I wouldn't want to join a swindle and fork out another £2 every time. If you do that 40 weeks a year for arguments sake that is another £80 on top of the annual fee. Add in a second round on Sunday and that makes if £160 just for the privilege of being able to play at time that suits. Unacceptable in my view.

Isn't that what we do every week?
 
The swindle I play in is 7 pounds to enter. The winner gets nothing, other than a massive cut, and the privilege of getting off his bum and fetching all the drinks. The money all gets spent on drinks. 36 players at 7 a pop = 252 behind the bar, plus food, plus more for those who stay on after the pot is spent.
 
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