Also, if you aren’t a terrible golfer, is it okay to ask if you are playing solo to be paired with an okay group?
Is that frowned upon?
Our Pro Shop administers 6 courses. The default when booking a tee time is to first ask how many players, what time are you looking for, and do you have a course preference. Then you always try to fill the “gaps.” So if you are a twosome I am going to look for a tee time that already has one or two players in it. But I will look in the general area of your requested preferences. However, if you tell me that you are a good golfer I will look to stick you with others that I know are average or above. Besides hotel guests we also have a country club contingent of many members, so we know the CC members and how they play. On the other hand if you tell me that you or maybe you and your spouse are not great golfers I will look to put you on our most forgiving course and try to find a slot that is empty. It doesn’t mean you won’t eventually get paired up but at least you have a chance of playing alone. If you are in that situation you can always ask when you check in if your tee time is still just you and your partner. If it’s not we will look for another course or time that is empty and move you there. Overall the more info that you give us the easier it is for us to accommodate you.
Oh nice! I spent last week playing a few rounds on vacation and I felt like the comped courses I played felt super annoyed I was there as my condo covered a few free rounds.
Is this the case most the time?
Yes it is. Of the 6 courses that we administer 2 of them do not get much play because they aren’t as appealing as the others. So on the hotel side the reservations people lure you with “free rounds” but only on those 2 courses. When players in that situation call us to book tee times we are always honest about the “free” courses. They are not horrible but we will explain to them why they don’t get as much play. For instance one of those courses is designed for match play. So each hole has a very large area to tee off but there are no colored markers. You can hit your tee shot from anywhere you want in this very large tee off area. Other than that the course is nice and plays just like any other course. But some just can’t hit a tee shot unless they are standing next to a green, white, or blue marker.
How are solos viewed, from courses perspective? I sometimes wonder if we create more trouble with booking or if we’re on the opposite pretty convenient for completing foursomes. I have nobody to play with, usually, as almost nobody I know plays, and the ones that do live pretty far, so I’m booking solo 99% of the time. Booking solo with some of my local courses seems almost impossible outside late afternoon, which I can’t really do often, having young kids.
There is a pecking order for early tee times where I work. Country Club members get priority. But if a single calls and I can add to a 2 or 3 somesome then that single gets one of the preferential tee times. The rules at least where I work are to always fill the holes and try to make foursomes. On the other hand if a single calls several days in advance I am hesitant to put them alone in an empty early tee time. Best way to go for a single is to call the day before or day of play. By then there have to be tee times already booked that are not foursomes and the single should be added rather than pushing them off to an empty slot in the afternoon.