Computer Links : Anaheim Firm Books Tee Times So You Don’t Have To
Getting a decent tee time around these parts often requires getting up before 6 a.m., hitting re-dial a bunch of times, then hoping for a break.
But an Orange County firm has designs on revolutionizing the process. They hope to make it as simple as getting an airline ticket or hotel reservation.
The Anaheim-based business--Preferred Tee Times--is linking the golf community and courses via computers or whatever other means possible.
The fledgling operation wants “to be your personal golf secretary,” president Howard Kelly said. “The idea is to identify and book the best available times.”
Of course, it’s a little more involved than that.
The service costs $69 a year but offers several advantages.
The first is technology. There are several computers in the office linked directly to courses across Southern California.
People in the office see the same tee sheet that is on a computer screen in several pro shops, including ones at Tijeras Creek in Rancho Santa Margarita and Los Serranos Golf and Country Club in Chino. Each is considered among the finest places to play in its area.
Tijeras Creek has three stations with screens.
Plans are underway, so that in the coming months people will be able to see the same information on the Internet from their home computers.
“It works really well,” said Bill Donovan Jr., general manager at Tijeras Creek. “We like it. It looks like [this type of system] is going to take off soon.”
Soon enough that American Golf Corp. is reported to be investing $10 million in a similar system to link its courses.
Call answerers in Preferred Tee Times’ office inform golfers of times available at several courses, rather than have the golfer have to call each course.
The company also employs the traditional method of calling courses for its members if there isn’t a computer link.
Another important benefit is that the company has advance booking agreements with several courses enabling members to book times up to 30 days in advance in some cases. The public normally can reserve times only up to seven days in advance.
Members, of which there are about 500, get discounts of various amounts at courses affiliated with Preferred Tee Times.
Examples of the discounts include members playing $60 for times from 9 a.m. to noon at Cypress Golf Club instead of the normal $75. Players save $20 on similar times Friday through Sunday at Cypress.
Members also save 20% on times at Los Serranos before 7:30 a.m. and after 11 a.m. Monday to Thursday. “All we’re doing is something that has been done in the travel industry for years,” said Dave Cochrane, vice president of the company. “We’re set up for golfers but in the long run we also benefit the golf courses.”
Cochrane, a graduate of Troy High School, spent 11 years playing professional baseball and had stints in the majors with the White Sox and the Mariners.
The idea for the service came in 1991 when Kelly was frustrated he couldn’t get a reasonable tee time at an Orange County course. Kelly, a long-time family friend of the Cochranes, discussed the idea with Dave.
A year later, after Cochrane’s playing days ended because of a foot injury, he was seeking another career.
Kelly, who has a mail solicitation business, brought up the idea with Cochrane again. Cochrane also got pitcher Kirk McCaskill of the White Sox and former major leaguers Alvin Davis and Mike Witt to invest.
The software took nearly three years to perfect. Much of the experimenting was done with the starters at the San Clemente golf course, which is as busy as any in Orange County.
Once they had a marketable idea, they presented it to golf courses in the San Diego area, because according to Kelly, “the courses were open to the idea of marketing.”
Aviara, the Four Seasons resort course in Carlsbad, was among the first to get on board. Several other San Diego courses were quick to get in line to be a part of the service.
The need for more players on Orange County’s courses hasn’t been much of a problem because they long have been unable to meet the public’s demand to play.
But the recent Orange-County recession has created enough openings on local courses that course officials are starting to listen to Kelly and Cochrane. But the pair also hope to move into the Los Angeles area.
“We treat our members as if they are private country club members,” Cochrane said. “We strive for that. We need them to make this thing go. The more members we have, the more golf courses we can get to cooperate. We don’t want to be an elite club. We want to be the McDonald’s of tee times.”
