Growth G&CC

The GolfNow Trap: Take Back Control of Your Club

Jun 05, 2025By Growth G&CC
Growth G&CC

Is GolfNow Helping Your Course or Hurting It?

For many public golf courses, GolfNow seems like an easy solution. Free software. National exposure. More bookings.

But look closer and you’ll see the real cost.

GolfNow doesn’t just help you sell tee times. It controls them. And that control comes at the expense of your revenue, your brand, and your long-term independence.

The result? You fill your tee sheet, but make less money per golfer. You attract more players, but lose pricing power. You gain bookings, but lose the customer relationship.

If you’re serious about maximizing revenue and creating a sustainable business, it’s time to rethink your relationship with GolfNow.

The Real Cost of GolfNow’s Model

GolfNow’s pitch is simple. Give us a few tee times and we’ll give you free software and marketing.

But what you’re really doing is handing over your most valuable asset, your tee times.

GolfNow sells those barter tee times at heavily discounted rates. You lose control of pricing. You lose direct access to the golfer. And you lose margin on every round.

Courses report this pattern again and again:

  • A 40 percent increase in rounds played
  • Only a 20 percent increase in revenue
  • More work
  • More wear and tear
  • Less profit

The Discount Trap

Discounting sounds like a great way to fill your course. But here’s what really happens.

  • Golfers are trained to wait for deals
  • Your loyal customers start booking through GolfNow
  • You lose direct traffic to your site
  • Your brand becomes associated with low prices
  • Eventually, your full-price rounds become harder to sell

This is how pricing power erodes. Slowly, then all at once.

Just Getting More Players Is Not the Goal

A full tee sheet does not equal a healthy business.

When those rounds come through third-party channels at reduced rates, you’re not building loyalty. You’re not increasing per-player spend. And you’re certainly not maximizing profit.

In fact, low-revenue and high-traffic is the worst possible combination. It creates longer rounds, unhappy golfers, and a weakened experience across the board.

Smart golf operations today are focused on quality, not just quantity. They optimize who plays, when they play, and how much they spend while they’re there.

The Math You Can’t Ignore

Let’s say your course does 40,000 rounds per year.
Average green fee is 80 dollars.

When golfers book directly, you keep the full amount and control the experience. Most golfers will also spend more on-site when they book direct.

Average spending per direct golfer:

  • 80 dollars green fee
  • 25 dollars in the restaurant
  • 15 dollars in the pro shop
  • 10 dollars on the range

That’s 130 dollars per golfer.

Now imagine 10,000 of those rounds are booked through GolfNow. They pay 60 dollars for the tee time, and spend less across the facility.

You might earn 90 dollars or less per golfer.

10,000 golfers multiplied by a 40 dollar difference is a 400,000 dollar loss.

Now add the lost margin on F&B, retail, and driving range.

You are looking at 500,000 dollars or more in lost annual revenue.

GolfNow Owns the Golfer. You Don’t.

This might be the biggest long-term risk of all.When a golfer books through GolfNow:

  • You don’t get their email
  • You can’t follow up with them
  • You can’t invite them back
  • You can’t build loyalty

They’re not your customer. They’re GolfNow’s.

If you rely on GolfNow for demand, your business is only as strong as their next promotion

The First Step to Freedom: Drive Traffic to Your Own Website

Here’s the hard truth.

You can’t reduce your dependence on GolfNow if you’re not generating your own online traffic.

This is why many golf courses feel trapped. They remove GolfNow and suddenly realize they never built their own traffic engine.

The good news? This is solvable.

With the right tools and strategy, it’s absolutely possible to drive consistent, high-converting traffic to your site.

What that looks like:

  • Search-optimized content so your course ranks locally
  • Social media campaigns targeting golfers in your region
  • Email and SMS campaigns to re-engage past players
  • A booking experience that works well on mobile and actually converts

Most public golf courses don’t have this in place. That’s exactly where the opportunity lies.

How Growth G&CC Helps You Take Back Control

We specialize in helping public courses transition away from third-party reliance and build a direct revenue engine that lasts

What we do:

  • We rebuild your online presence to drive traffic to your own site
  • We optimize your booking experience so more golfers book directly
  • We implement strategies to shift players from GolfNow to your own platform
  • We help you own your customer data and build loyalty
  • We increase total per-player revenue by improving the golfer journey

In short, we give you the strategy, tools, and execution to take full control of your business again.

Final Thoughts: Are You Ready to Be in Control Again?

GolfNow built its business by taking control away from golf courses. Pricing. Inventory. Data. Relationships.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

There are smarter, more sustainable ways to grow your rounds, increase revenue, and retain your most valuable players.

The first step is to start driving your own demand. The next step is to start keeping your profits.

We help public courses do both.

Let’s have a conversation about how your course can escape the GolfNow trap and start building something better.