Free tool for course owners and GMs
GolfNow Barter Calculator
What your trade times really cost
Put in the tee times you trade for software or listings and see what they are worth in dollars each year. One foursome a day, 300 days a year, at $55 a golfer is $66,000 of tee times.
Thirty seconds, no sign-up to see your number. From BookMoreTeeTimes.ai, which helps golf courses book more tee times direct.
Price your trade in five answers
Match each one to your agreement. The math runs in your browser, and nothing you enter leaves this page.
Revenue you give up each year
$33,000
- Rounds traded a year
- 1,200
- Value at your rate
- $66,000
4 golfers a day to book direct, at your rate, if you stopped trading.
Most barter agreements run one, two or three a day.
A full foursome is the usual trade.
Count the days you are open.
Green fee with cart, at the rate you would charge.
For comparison, the Book More Tee Times Membership is $3000 to install and $1000 a month, and it runs beside your tee sheet rather than replacing it. More on that below.
What is GolfNow barter?
GolfNow barter is an arrangement where a course pays for GolfNow software, a website or a marketplace listing with tee times instead of cash. The course hands over one or more tee times a day, GolfNow sells them to golfers, usually at a discount, and keeps that revenue. The trade costs you no cash up front, and it is paid in rounds you would otherwise sell yourself.
| Time | Booked through | You get, each |
|---|---|---|
| 7:00 | Your website | $55 |
| 7:10 | Pro shop phone | $55 |
| 7:20 | MarketplaceTrade | $0 to you |
| 7:30 | Your website | $55 |
| 7:40 | Walk-up | $55 |
An example Tuesday morning. The traded time looks like every other booking on your screen, and shows up only in your revenue report.
What course owners told NGCOA
The National Golf Course Owners Association studied tee time barter in 2020, built on its survey of operators.
65%
of courses using online tee time agents told NGCOA their revenue stayed the same or fell (NGCOA, 2020).
Beware of Barter, p. 946%
of operators preferred a fixed monthly fee for their software, against 23% who preferred barter (NGCOA, 2020).
Beware of Barter, p. 5$16,500
of traded times a year, in NGCOA's example, for software a cash vendor quoted at $6,000 (NGCOA, 2020).
Beware of Barter, p. 14NGCOA's own advice, as Golf Inc. reported it: trade tee times only when the results are measurably favorable. The calculator above is where you measure it.
What happened when operators took back the rate
Phoenix courses
70+ courses working their own data with ORCA, Q1 2016 vs Q1 2019
- Revenue per round
- Up 15%
- Website bookings
- Up 49%
- Rounds played
- Up 1.6%
OB Sports
A multi-course portfolio, 2017, the year after ending barter
- Rounds played
- Down 3.2%
- Average rate
- Up 6.4%
- Green fee revenue
- Up 3.0%
Source: NGCOA, Beware of Barter (2020), pp. 43 and 46.
Your four-move playbook
Each move works whether you keep every marketplace listing or trim them.
- 1
Price the trade before you renew it
Pull your barter redemptions from your tee sheet reports for the last twelve months and run them through the calculator above at your real rate. A trade with a dollar figure on it becomes a decision you can make.
- 2
Get a cash quote for the same software
Ask two vendors to price your tee sheet, website and email for a flat monthly fee. NGCOA's own example set $16,500 of traded times against a $6,000 cash quote (NGCOA, 2020). Your numbers decide which side of that line you sit on.
- 3
Invite every marketplace golfer to book with you next time
Capture the contact details of each golfer a third party sends you, then invite the next round to your own website or phone. That is the move the Phoenix courses in NGCOA's case study made before website bookings grew 49% (NGCOA, 2020).
- 4
Set your terms at the table
Fewer traded times, a floor on the discount, full control of your rates across every channel, or a flat fee in place of tee times. OB Sports returned to the GolfNow marketplace on a flat rate per course with no barter rounds (NGCOA, 2020).
Where BookMoreTeeTimes.ai fits
Move 3 is where the revenue comes back, through two doors: your phone and your golfer list. The Book More Tee Times Membership covers both, beside the tee sheet and listings you already have.
Fairway Freddie answers your pro shop line in one ring, knows your rates and policies, and books the golfer straight onto your tee sheet at your price. The Comeback Round reaches the lapsed golfers on your own list by text and email and invites them back to book direct.
Running simulator bays too? The same Membership books bay time, runs your leagues and catches the corporate event calls that come in after hours, alongside Trackman or Foresight. Every bay booked that way is booked with you, at your rate, and it keeps your golfers coming back through the winter. See how SmartSim fills your bays.
Still choosing a tee sheet on cash terms? Start with the five questions that separate tee sheet systems. The Membership is $3000 to install and $1000 a month, set out in full on our pricing page, and every tool for operators lives in the course operator hub.
Take your number to your next renewal
Get your barter report by email, with your figures, the playbook and the questions to ask before you sign again. Ready to talk now? A 15-minute demo shows how many of those rounds your phone and your golfer list can book back at your rate.
Prefer the phone?1-866-757-5422
Frequently asked questions
What is GolfNow barter?
GolfNow barter is an arrangement where a course pays for GolfNow software, a website or a marketplace listing with tee times instead of cash. The course hands over one or more tee times a day, GolfNow sells them to golfers, usually at a discount, and keeps that revenue. The trade costs you no cash up front, and it is paid in rounds you would otherwise sell yourself.
How do I calculate what barter costs my course?
Multiply the tee times you trade each day by the golfers per time and the days you are open. That gives you the rounds traded a year. Multiply by your rate for those times to get their full value, then by the share you would have sold yourself. The calculator on this page runs that math with your numbers.
Is barter always a bad deal?
It depends on your course. NGCOA found that 95% of courses paying for software with barter wanted the option kept, even as most operators in the same study preferred a fixed monthly fee (NGCOA, 2020). A course that fills traded times it would never have sold may come out ahead. A course that sells out its mornings gives up full-rate rounds.
How deep are the discounts on traded tee times?
The consultants NGCOA quotes found 50% to be the most common discount on bartered “hot deal” times, before any flash coupons stack on top (NGCOA, 2020). Those rounds sell below your posted rate, and the revenue goes to the marketplace.
Will I lose rounds if I trade fewer tee times?
Possibly a few, and revenue can still rise. When the OB Sports portfolio ended barter in 2017, rounds fell 3.2% while its average rate rose 6.4% and green fee revenue rose 3.0% (NGCOA, 2020). The rounds you keep sell at your price.
Do I have to leave GolfNow to use BookMoreTeeTimes.ai?
Keep GolfNow if it works for you. The Book More Tee Times Membership runs beside your tee sheet and your marketplace listings. It answers your pro shop phone, books golfers straight onto your tee sheet at your rate, and brings lapsed golfers on your own list back to book direct.
Sources
- [1] National Golf Course Owners Association, “Beware of Barter: The Ins and Outs of Trading Your Tee Times,” January 2020 (PDF, 62 pages).
- [2] Golf Inc., “NGCOA report critical of tee time bartering,” Jack Crittenden, March 5, 2020.
Written by James Pemberton, founder of BookMoreTeeTimes.ai. Figures are quoted from the sources above as published; the calculator and tee sheet example are illustrations for your own numbers.