Country Club - Early Weekend Tee Times

[gbut]

All:

 

I am 39 years old with a young family. In order to play consistently I try to play early in the morning on weekends during the summer.

Recently I joined a club and yesterday found out that the 1st tee time offered is 8:00am. I am pretty upset about this. All rationale supports starting times at 7:00 (it gets light plenty early, it gets hot in the summers in OK).

 

I have never heard of this what wanted to poll those who are members of clubs to see if this is normal? I know there will be plenty of people competing for the first couple of times in the heat of the summer which means I will be stuck with 8:30 times or after. This sounds petty (although those with young families will understand) but this may be a deal breaker for me.

 

What is your club's policy on tee times in the summer?

 

Thanks for insight.

 

Greg

[North Butte]

Our club starts tee times at 8am year round. Course is clised until then and while a few of the 8am guys tend to go off 5-10 minutes early, nobody I know of literally plays before the course opens. That would be considered poor behavior.

 

Not sure why the relatively late opening in summer but has been that way for many years.

[Mob]

8:00am is normal for this time of year, but as it gets light earlier, they move it up to 7:30am. The problem with any earlier, is the fact that the crew has to have enough time to cut the greens, clear any debris, place pins, etc. They get there pretty early as is, just to get all this done for the morning tee times.

[dmagalhaes]

My club starts sending people out at 6:45 on weekends and the club down the road doesn't start until 8, all depends on the club operations.

[augustgolf]

FWIW, OP....this might have been a question you asked before joining.

 

Speaking from experience, not every club is interested in starting play early (like before 8 am). This is due to many factors, but if it is the club's policy....it is what it is.

 

Personally, I always liked to start play as the sun rose, but I ran courses where my communications with the superintendent were outstanding, and he understood the necessity of my getting more players through the course, while I understood his needs regarding staffing and time to do certain operations.

 

The club you joined probably doesn't need additional revenues that would be brought in by starting earlier in the day....or, they might be limited by the work that can be done prior to an 8 am start to tee times.

 

Either way....I hope that you can find some middle ground for your situation, but understand, the policies of the club existed prior to your joining, and will probably exist while you continue membership.

 

Good luck!

[Sixcat]

FWIW, OP....this might have been a question you asked before joining.

 

Speaking from experience, not every club is interested in starting play early (like before 8 am). This is due to many factors, but if it is the club's policy....it is what it is.

 

Personally, I always liked to start play as the sun rose, but I ran courses where my communications with the superintendent were outstanding, and he understood the necessity of my getting more players through the course, while I understood his needs regarding staffing and time to do certain operations.

 

The club you joined probably doesn't need additional revenues that would be brought in by starting earlier in the day....or, they might be limited by the work that can be done prior to an 8 am start to tee times.

 

Either way....I hope that you can find some middle ground for your situation, but understand, the policies of the club existed prior to your joining, and will probably exist while you continue membership.

 

Good luck!

 

That was my initial thought when reading the OP. The club doesn't need to begin the day prior to 8am and gives the grounds crew that extra hour or so to get the club into the condition they choose.

 

OP, is your club stock ownership? If so, get involved in the board of directors process and see if you can begin change that way. Otherwise, you know now what questions to ask prior to joining. I have young children as well but choose to play the majority of my rounds in the late afternoons and have for many years. This allows my family to enjoy the club facilities while I am playing golf.

[North Butte]

Speaking for the club to which I belong, we are on a somewhat lean staffing level due to financial constraints. So if we opened at, say, 7:00am we'd either need twice as many course maintenance workers (I'm thinking we have two salaried, one or two full time hourly and a few part time/seasonal laborers) or the members would have to give up having the greens mowed and bunkers groomed every day. I do not think more than one member in twenty would find either of those to be an acceptable trade-off to get dewsweeper tee times.

[gbut]

Hey guys thanks for the reply.

 

I did not ask this question prior to joining because it seemed obvious to me that you would start play early in the heat of the summer. I assumed crews started when it was still dark and started with hole #1 and worked down the line. This is, however my first club so maybe I was just naive.

 

Their is no equity in the club so that wont work. I really only need an earlier 30 to 45 minutes. The other day I got Good Friday off for work and was the first tee time.

I walked it in 2:50 minutes. Its great to get back to the family before everyone gets going for the day.

 

I guess it is what it is but perhaps I can find some compromise with the staff. I was hoping that others who are members of clubs would support my earlier tee time rationale but so far it sounds like 8:00am is fairly standard.

 

Greg

[North Butte]

I've only belonged to three private golf clubs and all within a 40-mile radius so I can't speak generally about much. But one thing I do know, there is absolutely *nothing* you can take for granted about how club's actually operate. In theory you really need to ask about every little thing that's important to you. In practice, no matter how many questions you ask up front there's always one little thing that you find out later and say, "You have GOT to be kidding!" in your best John McEnroe voice...

[augustgolf]

Speaking on behalf of courses that are financially challenged, how and why they choose to staff for tee times, etc, there are always solutions. Let me explain one.

 

One course that I ran, I was great friends with the superintendent, and I was asked specifically to come to this course because of my reputation of being able to bring profitability back to operations that tended to lose money. The super and I used to do our "set-up" for the weekends late in the afternoon on Fridays and Saturdays (we were both single). Set-up included moving the tee markers to their new positions for the day's play, cutting new pin positions, picking-up trash, filling ball-washers, etc. This left only mowing the greens early in the morning, so staffing needs were quite a bit less. Our members and outside play that loved playing early benefited from our management techniques, and our bottom line was always affected in a positive manner.

 

Sure, it was a little more work for me and the super, but this was the business that we chose, and it was the work best suited to our background. We made it fun, trying to see who could do their nine holes quickest, while still doing it correctly, and would meet at the putting green, where we needed to change 9 cups together. If one got to the putting green first, and changed all the cups himself, the other had to buy the beer!

 

We made it fun, the golf course put more people through, made more money, and our reputation was enhanced. Win-win-win!

 

Anyways...humble brag over....there are ways to make room for earlier play, but if the course doesn't want/need it....pushing too hard might make for tense relationships with the existing membership, since you are a new member.

 

Again, OP....good luck! I hope that you find the possible blend for your situation

[ZBUCK]

Are there houses that line the course? Could be a noise ordinance for the grounds crew starting before a certain time.

[augustgolf]

Another perspective that I just remembered. At the private club where I caddied as a kid, there was a +2 handicap that loved to get out early to get his round in, and he always asked me to meet him at the first tee around 6:45, when the "normal" starting times didn't start until 8 am. I guess he cleared it with the pro, as there was never any problem with us interfering with work that was being done to prepare the course, and if there were sprinklers going, we either played through or around them.

 

My suggestion is to tread lightly, and make friends with the pro, the super, etc....there might be some compromise out there.

[North Butte]

On one of my vacation trips a friend arranged for me to play with a member at a lovely English golf club I'd been wanting to play. When I arrived around daybreak I thought it was odd to see the car park completely empty and the clubhouse/pro shop locked up tight. Honestly, I thought I'd mixed up the times or something.

 

Moments later my host arrived. Turns out he was an esteemed older member of the club (older as in older than my parents!) and pretty much had the run of the place to do whatever he liked. There was a member's tournament going on later that day so he'd invited me to play an hour before the course opened. My kind of golfer, he asked if we could go straight to the first tee and we were playing golf within, I'd say, three or four minutes of my pulling into the driveway. By the time we finished, the tournament was getting ready to kick off and he sort of held court in the clubhouse for the rest of the day greeting everyone, wishing them luck and so forth.

 

I know that's a far, far OT story but I agree with friend augustgolf. Once you've been around a while you may find that certain things are possible with a bit of subtlety by making yourself known and liked. It may not even take being a member for 60 years to do it!

[bazinky]

My course's starting tee times vary with the season, with our earliest tee time in the summer starting at 7:30. The rationale is that the Super wants the majority of the course maintenance done before any players tee off. I'd prefer earlier tee times (golf is the one thing I don't mid getting out of bed for), but I've learned to live with it because our pace of play is good, it's not too hard to get an early tee time, and the course condition is impeccable.

 

The Super at my club is a bit of a benovolent dictator when it comes to the course. The members really want to keep him happy because he does a spectacular job with a limited staff/ budget.

[gbut]

Are there houses that line the course? Could be a noise ordinance for the grounds crew starting before a certain time.

No houses on the course

[Ping Zings]

8am is the earliest at our club. I don't mind, since I pay in the afternoons.

[munihack]

ours is 8am this time of year slowly working tis way towards 7 as it gets warmer.

[raynorfan1]

First group off (at the height of summer) is 6:30.

[sabram]

Tee times at my club start at 7 am weather and sunrise permitting. However, it's not uncommon to see a few guys out earlier in Summer.

[pingfool]

joins private club so he can play early

finds out later 1st tee time 8am

posts topic on golfwrx seeking sympathy

 

sound about right?

[Lee Mootz]

This time of year it remains at 0800. Once summer heat hits, it moves to 0700. part of the problem is the maintenance crews being able to see to get the work done. At our club you have to have two members present to sign up for a tee time. There is a group that god off at 0700. Then a gap til 0815 (everyone else likes to eat breakfast first). I go off at 0720 and play two balls.

Lee

[baboya96]

My club maintains 8am tee time during non-peak season and during peak, it moves up to 7:30am. For same reasons everyone has already posted. I knew this prior to joining and at first didn't understand b/c I was used to public courses allowing ppl tee off as early as 6:30 during peak season but having the course 'ready' before my tee time makes it more enjoyable for me.

 

Not sure of your club's expected play time but for me... tee off at 8am at the private course allows me to finish in less than 3 hrs. At public course,, i'd tee off as early as 6:30am but 4 hrs round was always guaranteed, sometimes more. So in the end, i'm finishing around same time but less frustrated b/c i didn't have to wait on ppl on every hole. Also 8am tee time gives me enough time to grab a quick bite before tee off.

[hdr_ric]

Private club member. We go at 730am from memorial day to labor day. 8am otherwise.

 

I haven't ever heard of private clubs starting super early. That is usually something that public courses do as they are on a revenue per tee time model. Private clubs could care less how many rounds are played from a revenue standpoint.

[b.helts]

Private club member. We go at 730am from memorial day to labor day. 8am otherwise.

 

I haven't ever heard of private clubs starting super early. That is usually something that public courses do as they are on a revenue per tee time model. Private clubs could care less how many rounds are played from a revenue standpoint.

 

True to a point. However a private club should also be looking out for the wishes of its members. At the club I worked at when I was still a pro we were in the shop 30 minutes before sunrise. As soon as it was light enough to tee off we had people going. The first three greens were mowed before sunup and we did hold carts off for the first hour so it was less likely for the first groups to catch the mowers.

 

In the dead of summer we'd have people teeing off at 5:50 some mornings. I'm surprised that this 7:30-8:00 first off seems to be the norm. It's an interesting discussion and I appreciate it.

[Soxfan21]

My club has tee times starting at 8:00 in the off season, and tee times start at 7:00 from May through October.

[deadsolid...shank]

I really don't know when times start at our club. A few years back our pro was usually in fairly early, a lot of times I'd stop in before work (in that 7:00 or a little earlier range) and hit a few balls. Since that pro left nobody seems to be around the shop until closer to 8:00. My early morning range sessions don't happen anymore.

 

Just for curiosity sake, I'm going to have to ask about the earliest starting times.

[poppyhillsguy]

First tee time is 7:30am. There are houses that line the course. The greens crew starts at 5am, but can not use leaf blowers, green rollers, and other loud equipment until 6am.

 

It amazes me how many calls my super. gets from home owners complaining about maintenance noise. A beautiful golf course to live on just doesn't appear that way. A lot of work goes into it.

 

OH; the super got a call yesterday about the "nasty fertilizer smell" we use. (Chicken poop makes green grass!)

[krtgolfing]

First tee time is 7:30am. There are houses that line the course. The greens crew starts at 5am, but can not use leaf blowers, green rollers, and other loud equipment until 6am.

 

It amazes me how many calls my super. gets from home owners complaining about maintenance noise. A beautiful golf course to live on just doesn't appear that way. A lot of work goes into it.

 

OH; the super got a call yesterday about the "nasty fertilizer smell" we use. (Chicken poop makes green grass!)

 

Sounds like a bunch of whiny neighbors. Don't live on a freaking golf course if your worried about the noise early in the morning. Would hate to live in that neighborhood. Where I usually play the first tee time is at 730. They occasionally have let me go out around 7 a few times, but that does not happen as often as I would like.

[UCBananaboy]

Depends on the club just like how some public courses have variations in their first tee time as well.

 

As for my Club, we start off at 7:00a and we don't have tee times. It's first-come-first-tee off, which is a policy I love.

 

OP might be SOL, but a word of advice for any other readers who might consider joining private clubs in the future. NEVER assume anything. I've had more than my fair share of head-scratching policies or rules conflicts with my Club that make no sense to any logical person but my Club remained firm on them.

 

@OP - There is likely a process to getting this reviewed via the Board. I'd suggest finding out which members serve on the board and taking it to them. They'll most likely blow you off, but it can't hurt to start a dialogue about it and get an understanding. It's possible that they've never considered it before (and other members are pining for the same change) or that they don't think the demand is there. You could also talk to the course Superintendent or head pro. In my experience, some are pretty cool about things and might make an exception for you provided you just stay out of the maintenance crews' way if you catch them in the AMs.

 

Good luck.

[justasgood]

My course tee times start at 7am. Lean operating $$ and minimal crew. Howevet, over the last year, I have become very close to all the management and workers. I get to the course (2 minutes from my house) around 6:30 and the crew let me go off the back. I walk 9 in 50 minutes. The greens arent cut nor the fairways, no pins. But I work on my iron play and target the green center.

 

I do this everyday during the week. On weekends, I get a tee time or they allow me to join any group of 3 or less.

 

I suggest being a good member, get to know all and treat them well. You never know what they will allow once they really get to know you.