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Holding Golfers Accountable
The simple act of requiring a credit card at the time of booking is often enough to encourage a golfer to be accountable to their reservation by showing up, or cancelling in advance allowing a golf facility to rebook. Starting in 2019 and again in 2020, we clearly communicated to our customers (on our website, over the phone, in tee time confirmation/reminder emails etc.) that if a group booked but showed as less golfers, they would still be charged for the number of players in the original booking. The potential consequence of being charged for a golfer that did not show puts just enough pressure on the people booking so that they think twice before showing as less golfers without providing notice, or not showing at all.
When we come across an issue of a group showing as less golfers than originally booked, we assess each situation and charge accordingly. With this policy, an entire group not showing is extremely unlikely and in 2020 we only had 12 golf groups no show their tee time and all were charged.
By holding golfers accountable to their booked tee times we reduced our rate of golfers who did not show up to their reservations or "no shows" from 10% of all booked tee times in 2018 to 1.8% in 2020, an increase in revenue of over $14,000 between June and September.
Below is a step by step process for how a golf facility can start holding golfers accountable to their tee time reservations:
- Move tee time bookings online. This puts the ownership of the booking on the golfers themselves and you are not relying on staff to communicate policies, consequences, and other important information that may need to be conveyed when booking a tee time.
- When you switch to primarily online bookings, make sure that your golfers know of this change. Set an automated message on your phones, have staff tell each golfer they speak to on the phone, include it in tee time confirmation emails, include it in your next email newsletter etc.
- If you absolutely cannot move solely to online bookings, make sure that phone bookings are receiving email confirmations with necessary information regarding cancellation policies
- Require a credit card number at the time of booking. We have set up this requirement through the backend of our Club Prophet Systems booking module so that a tee time cannot be booked without a valid credit card number.
- Use a secure online payment solution such as the Moneris Vault. The Moneris Vault allows a golfer to enter their own credit card information online, verifies it, and safely stores the information until the card expires
- At check-in on the day of the tee time, the Golf Shop Attendant is able to charge the card on file in the Moneris Vault for all green fees and any other purchases made such as golf balls, apparel, or power carts. This offers a higher level of customer experience but is also a convenient way to charge a golfer if they do not show up for their tee time at all.
- By holding credit card information and charging on the day of play rather than taking prepayment at the time of booking, we prevent the need to refund golfers when they cancel within acceptable cancellation window.
- TIP: it is possible to manually enter credit card information into the Moneris Vault on behalf of a customer if they wish however, in the case of a credit card charge dispute it is much better to have the customer entering the information themselves online as well as booking their own tee time online.
- Establish a clear cancellation policy and outline the consequences for not cancelling in advance or not showing up to a tee time at all. Currently we have a 24 hour cancellation policy and when golfers no show they receive a no show charge which is equivalent to the cost of their original booking.
- TIP: in the event of a credit card dispute for a no show charge, it is beneficial to have your cancellation policy worded as a no show charge rather than charging for services in which the golfer did not receive (ie. green fees).
- Communicate your cancellation policy and consequences. This is not something to hide or be secretive about--you want golfers to know about your cancellation policy. Post it on the online booking page, put it in the tee time confirmation email, add it into the tee time reminder email. If you don't have confirmation and reminder emails, get them and use them!
- Enforce your cancellation policy consistently. There are definitely some times where you can relax your policies such as a rainy day with a slow tee sheet, or when a foursome shows as three but they have a good excuse. Otherwise, apply your cancellation policy consistently and charge the golfers that should be charged for taking up a tee time that another eager golfer could have had instead.
Negative feedback: We received the most negative feedback on requiring credit cards to book a tee time when we were taking bookings over the phone for a short period of time. As soon as we moved primarily online, we rarely heard any complaints regarding this policy. When we charge no shows, or charge groups that show as less players that they booked for, we had next to no complaints as the golfers were aware of their responsibility for the tee time prior to booking.
If you have further questions regarding these policies and their implementation, feel free to contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.