Why tee times are more available than you think

It is round sign up day, you log in at 6:59 and are ready to go as the clock turns to 7PM.  But, your favorite tee time spot is taken!

How can that be? Does the club just not have enough spots available?  Well, sometimes yes, but mostly no.

Let me explain.

Though once in a while there a week when tee times are at a premium, a lot of the time, our Sweeps Director is reaching out to members to fill empty spots before being forced to return them to the city. 

So then why can’t you get a spot when you logged in right as tee times opened?

Two main reasons.

Everyone cannot play at 8:06 AM

Maybe you want to miss traffic, have a work appointment in the afternoon, or  need to finish the round in time to pick up the kids from school. Totally understandable but it is just not possible for all of us to play during the tee times that are super popular and always on high demand. 

So maybe your preferred tee time is not available, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot find a spot at all during the round. You might need to be a bit more flexible on your timing and you will have a much better chance of getting out with the club each week.

The GG system can make it look like less tee times are available.

The Golf Genius system locks up tee time slots based on reservation type. This can make it appear as if the round is full within a couple of minutes after signups open. 

For example: it’s 7PM on the signup date for an M+3 round. Sandy wants to sign up to play at 8:06. Michelle wants to play with one of her friends, also at 8:06. Laura wants to play at 8:15.

Sandy clicks on the 8:06 time slot a second before Michelle. The system will now hold Sandy’s spot and lock up the other 3 slots for 5 minutes and 15 seconds or until Sandy completes her reservation

To Michelle, and everyone else, it will look as if the 8:06 time is full and longer available.

Since Michelle doesn’t know that the other 3 spots will become available shortly, she quickly picks the 8:15 spot.  

Laura logs in at 7:01 to find the 8:15 time is not available and selects the 8:24 time. .

Now all spots at 8:06, 8:15 and 8:24 are locked up.  

That’s 12 unavailable spots when in reality there are only 4 players signed up and the other 8 spots are unnecessarily locked. 

Something similar happens during the M+1 rounds, however, the number of locked spots is reduced by 2 for each time slot.

The board looked at the sign up activity and found that for most rounds, including the M+3 rounds, members are only signing up themselves. So this issue is affecting individual players more than groups of 2-4 players

So next time you go to sign up and see TBD in your preferred spot, you can:

  •  pick a different time and finish your reservation quickly to release the extra spots to others or
  • take a chance and wait a few minutes, refresh the system, and hope your preferred time becomes available.

To make it easier to sign up during the 7PM rush, the board has made the decision to eliminate M+3 rounds for 2025. Yes, we are aware that there are a couple of groups that would like to play as the same foursome every round, but doing what benefits the majority takes priority.    

If playing with your 3 other favorite golfer is a priority for you, we encourage you to take advantage of the city’s advance reservation system and set up the perfect golf day for you and your golf pals. 

Thank you everyone for your constructive feedback as continue to work so that our members get the most out of their TPWGC membership.