Resident rates

SilverBullets · January 6, 2017

If you were headed to Vegas I gotta guy who can provide quality "reproductions" of utility bills saving non-res golfers millions.

haha it was a very real utility bill... I was in high school/college at the time and my family owned (still owns) a property in northern Michigan.. so no, we never claimed residency in Michigan, but, if it's any consolation, we do pay a lot of property tax lol. And I'm not sure why I'm saying we... I never owned the place, it's my parents. But either way, I would take the utility bill and showed it to them and got 20% or something off my tee time.

Sun Devil · January 8, 2017

AirJammer,

I've played golf all over the USA and there is almost a certainty that there will be a resident/nonresident price difference anywhere you go. As you have been told .... residents here play year-round therefore support these local courses.

Buy a national Troon card and you can get the same Troon rate regardless of your residency at any Troon course. I have the 4some Troon card now.

And most importantly. Us locals may not always say it .... but we do appreciate out-of-state visitors visiting our beautiful state and spending your money here.

airjammer · January 8, 2017

I'm a member of a private club and Troon isn't doesn't own any courses in my area.

I disagree about it's to say thank you for playing to the locals..it is to fill the tee sheet. Resident rates are usually available at courses that aren't the top destinations in a given area. As it has been said about this subject from the locals, not many courses worth $100 to them. You all have an abundance of good courses and can play almost every day therefore you can have that opinion. But courses charge more than that to outsiders because of the large influx of visitors in a relatively small period of time.

Nobody ever answered my question..as a resident where else are you going to go? It is only to pad the bottom line of the golf course nothing more nothing less. If nobody offered resident rates the non upper echelon tier courses wouldn't have full tee sheets or they would have to lower their rates for everyone to attract more golfers or close down which benefits no one.

Yes, I know if I don't like it I don't have to play. I was just trying to save some $$ like everyone else.

DrSchteeve · January 8, 2017

Junior rates? Senior rates? Are those BS?

Local players may be anything from rich to fixed income to no income (students). They may or may not be able to afford golf much, if at all.

Visitors are, by definition, on vacation or a business trip. Either way, surplus income so why not charge them more?

And for filling the tee sheet: last I checked most or all of these courses are for-profit. Yes, they offer some rates to the local population if they can't sell enough high paying slots to visitors. It's called business.

airjammer · January 8, 2017

Senior and junior discounts are fine because generally they don't have the same income potential.

Did you not read the last post? I understand that they can do business the way they feel best but for the locals to say it is just because they play there year around is incorrect.

DrSchteeve · January 8, 2017

Senior and junior discounts are fine because generally they don't have the same income potential.

Did you not read the last post? I understand that they can do business the way they feel best but for the locals to say it is just because they play there year around is incorrect.

So you start a thread saying that the discounts are BS and then criticize those who discuss some of the reasons for them.

golfandfishing · January 8, 2017

OP - do you happen to know of a way that I could use your health insurance without being a Canadian resident? I mean, why should I have to pay for my RX when it's free north of the border?

duffer987 · January 8, 2017

Senior and junior discounts are fine because generally they don't have the same income potential.

Did you not read the last post? I understand that they can do business the way they feel best but for the locals to say it is just because they play there year around is incorrect.

Being just? We're talking about golf course green fees here, not the living conditions of aboriginal people.

Anyways what makes it "unjust" to offer different rates based on the residency of the player?

I've never thought of Bandon Dunes offering Oregon residents a discounted rate as unjust and I've never thought of the Pebble Beach resort offering discounts to members of the Northern California Golf Association as unjust either. There's an angle I am not seeing here.

SilverBullets · January 9, 2017

Senior and junior discounts are fine because generally they don't have the same income potential.

Did you not read the last post? I understand that they can do business the way they feel best but for the locals to say it is just because they play there year around is incorrect.

Wait... why is it incorrect that it's because locals play year round? Is it the only reason? No. Absolutely not. They need to fill the tee sheet. If the tee sheet were full every day they would have no incentive to do it. But it's not. It's almost never full. So they fill the tee sheet by incentivizing the people who can and will make tee times closer to the day they are playing. You know, the ones who aren't traveling here to play golf. The ones who don't have to have a round scheduled weeks in advanced. It's kind of 2 birds with one stone. Those are the same people who are going to play 5, 10, 15, etc. rounds spread throughout the whole year. They are the same people whom are going to monthly/bi weekly/weekly revenue. The ones whom are going to bring revenue when it's 110* out and everything slows down here.

So they try to sell out the course in advance at the rack rate, anything that isn't filled is then opened at a resident rate typically 5-7 days in advance of the tee sheet and try to fill out the tee sheet that way. There are enough people playing golf in phoenix that it generally fills out. I don't understand what is wrong with this concept? Why is it wrong that a company is doing something to try and get repeat customers? Getting new customers is great... but retaining repeat customers while getting new one time customers is the goal.

DrSchteeve · January 9, 2017

Any type of life hack to get the residents rate at az courses without being a resident or playing with one?

I think it's kinda bs that they charge a different rate to different people just because you are out of town.they are a business that wants to attract and keep local customers who will provide steady and supplemental revenues. Now if your tax dollars are specifically going to these course to keep them in good shape then I understand that. They should allow customers who can provide a copy of their last 3 years of tax returns showing donations to the course to have a reduced rate or a new law should be created that sends tax revenues to the golf courses for upkeep.

There. Fixed that for you.