Golf727.com boasts hassle-free tee-time booking and daily specials - all through the Internet.
By BOB HARIG, Times Staff Writer
Published July 7, 2005
As temperatures continue to hover in the 90s, with perspiration matched only by rainfall, local golfers willing to put up with the inconveniences can get some incredible deals at area courses.
That is typically the case for Tampa Bay area golfers in the summertime. Whether it is the Paradise Golf membership program, or the Crown Golf points system or the various discount cards, it is rare for a golfer to pay top dollar at this time of year.
And it keeps getting better.
Now golfers can check a Web site called www.golf727.com to find last-minute deals on tee times at more than a dozen area courses.
"Everybody knows it is the summer in Florida; this is when the golf courses really need the business, when there are great deals," said Jack Lima, who started the Web site in January. "The beauty of the Web site is that courses can alter their price, offer promotions, change from day to day, based on demand."
For the consumer, the process is easy. Register on the Web site, then check it for the tee time and deal you want. Secure the tee time online and pay at the course. The Web site collects credit card information, not as a form of payment, but for protection should someone start snatching up tee times all over the area and not show up.
So golfers get a good deal and courses move some tee times that might otherwise be empty.
"For the computer people I think it's going to be really good," said Greg McClimans, the general manager at Tarpon Woods Golf Club in Palm Harbor. "I'm old school. I like to take tee times off the phone and talk to them. But he sends us times via computer and this is the thing of the future. It makes it easy for people who are sitting on computers all day long. I just wanted to see what it was like. We'll see how it goes."
Lima, a PGA of America golf professional, hooked up with a company based in Oregon called Cypress Golf Solutions, which is doing a similar program in about 50 markets nationwide, all starting with a telephone area code.
"They wanted to get into this market," Lima said. "They had such a unique program. It didn't cost the golfer anything to use it. It didn't cost the golf course anything to belong. We don't dictate to the golf course what they could or could not do, what they can charge."
So what's in it for golf727.com? When you register on their site, they obtain your e-mail address and send weekly offers and specials from the courses that are part of the program. In return for free booking privileges on the site, courses give golf727.com other tee times to use for its specials.
"I take those tee times and e-mail them to the golf727.com database," Lima said. "We price those times to where we think it is fair in the marketplace. I am going to try and sell it to you at a very, very competitive price because that is my chance."
Right now, golf727.com has 14 area courses (they are not restricted to the 727 area code). If you log onto the Web site, you also will find a prominent display of other courses around that state, plus the company's affiliation with courses across the country.
"Is it the wave of the future? I don't know," Westchase general manager Clay Thomas said. "Some places, that is all they do. It's automated, and you can't call the pro shop to make a tee time. It works out well for them. But there is a big learning curve getting used to it. At least in my experience, a lot of people still like personal contact. I would think it's going to be a slow process transitioning over. But I think people are getting used to doing it.
"The reason I wanted to try it is it is a chance to fill some unutilized tee times. We need to be sensitive to our regular members, but this is a way to move some times that might go unused."
