Your Tee Time Booking Experience
27 MAR 2021
Dear Member,
With a new season just around the corner, our managers and staff are preparing to provide an enjoyable experience while being responsible from a health and safety perspective.
We expect to announce our first series of Club openings tomorrow and we anticipate that demand will be very high on the first day of booking. It’s the perfect time to inform you the policies and procedures for booking tee times and explain the way we code our tee sheets to manage access.
Managing Demand and Access to Tee Times
The extraordinary shift in demand for golf has created some challenges for access to tee times at our Clubs and throughout the Golf industry. Historically, Member Clubs are typically modeled on the basis of 400-450 Members per 18-holes and can accommodate 225-250 rounds per day in the heart of the season. Under normal circumstances, Members would obtain tee times within an hour or two of their preferred time horizon in peak demand times.
In a previous operational update, we announced that we are limiting our Member counts, imposed waiting lists at several locations, reduced access for certain Member categories, further limiting the number of corporate events rounds, restricted guests and Social Members from playing on weekend mornings before 11 a.m., and we plan to open our golf courses at least 30 minutes earlier than usual Monday to Friday. We expect these adjustments will create more opportunity for Members to access more golf this season.
Tee Time Booking System
Our technology partner has implemented a new traffic management tool to better balance the load on the current software during peak booking times. This has been installed and our provider has completed load testing.
To take pressure off of the software, and in the absence of the improved traffic management application, we implemented a staggered approach to the opening time of the reservation system last season, along with a five-day advance booking window. This will continue in 2021 to ensure an optimal booking experience. We’ve made some adjustments to tee sheet coding practices to ensure the process is as equitable as possible. The chart below illustrates the booking window by Club level.
Note that tee times in highest demand times are restricted for Home Club Member priority access throughout all levels of Clubs. The allocation of tee time access restrictions is managed by each Club. For example and greater clarity, Prestige-level Club Members may access the reservation system first each day, but they do not have access to tee times restricted for the Home Club Members of Platinum, Gold or Silver-level Clubs.
The amount of tee time inventory allocated for InterClub Member booking at each Club varies based upon local capacities and the play patterns of Home Club Members. With this staggered approach to opening of the reservation system, a proportional number of InterClub tee times will be allocated and accessible by Members of each Club-level.
Prime Time Home Club Member Only Access Restrictions
To ensure we are doing our best to accommodate demand from Home Club Members at peak demand times, most of our Members Clubs will not permit guests or InterClub Member play at certain times on certain days. This new tee time access restriction will generally be limited to weekend or holiday mornings prior to 11 a.m. This restriction will not apply at Daily Fee Clubs and will be variably implemented at Member Resort Clubs.
When booking into a tee time that has been restricted for only Home Club Member play, Members will be required to insert all Member names that are expected to play in order to complete the reservation. If a Member you select to play in your group is already booked into another tee time (within five hours of the time you are booking), you will not be able to complete the reservation until you resolve the accuracy of your reservation.
Preparation for Using the System
We recommend that you take a moment before the season opens to make sure your Member website login credentials are working. If you are the primary reserver for yourself and your fellow Members for prime time bookings, we recommend that you update your friends list to ensure an optimal booking experience.
We expect that the unprecedented demand for golf will continue for some time. In the meantime, we will do our best to keep everyone safe and on the golf course as much as possible.
Your Home Club Director of Operations is your best resource to discuss the impact of these tee time booking modifications at your Club.
Alternatively, please contact us by email at memberservices@clublink.ca or by phone at 1-800-273-5113.
Sincerely,
John Finlayson
Chief Operating Officer
ClubLink