asking for suggestion/advice for golfers who frequently have to pay for Golfnow for their group and having to collect later. Looking for other payment options

[bunta]

Im sure some of you on here have ran into this problem at some point...having to pay for the other golfers in your group with your credit card to secure a teetime on Golfnow (golfnow has ONLINE rates that are sometimes significantly cheaper than the price you would have to pay for a regular teetime)

 

Right now, ive been booking and paying for these teetimes first, and then collecting cash come Sunday. Im trying to figure out a way so i don't have to do that anymore. I just dont want to put that much burden on myself.

 

i dont have a problem collecting the money.. they all pay on sundays. Its just a burden on me having carry all that balance on my card month in month out. 

 

I need suggestions guys...

Dont say Venmo, because it still requires me to pay first with my CC. Prepaid cards is an option, but that still requires me to open an account under my gov name and all that. Im not doing that..

i dont want anything that i would have to provide my name,address,phone# etc.. i dont want to be linked to any credit cards either.

 

Help me figure this out lol

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by bunta

[lookylookitzadam]

Setup an “escrow” account. If you’re always booking just have you buddies pay in advance for the month or whatever. Also, if you’re not comfortable floating it, can someone else do it?

[bunta]

11 minutes ago, lookylookitzadam said:

Setup an “escrow” account. If you’re always booking just have you buddies pay in advance for the month or whatever. Also, if you’re not comfortable floating it, can someone else do it?

 

that sounds all too complicated.. and i'd need to have my name tied to it etc etc. Thats a no. thanks for trying tho.

[Greenie]

I'm curious if someone has a solution too.

 

My advice would be to let someone else make the tee times. I'm guessing that's not going to happen. For what you are asking I doubt there is a way you are not tied to making a payment.

 

I used to be that guy in my group that made all the tee times and I also made some through Golf Now. Wait until someone bails and they feel they don't have to pay. Wait until you pick a day and it rains but the course is still open but the buddies bail because of the weather.

 

Just last week I made a tee time for two and gave my CC to book the time. My friend has someone I don't know that wants to play with us. I said sure but you need to call and add him to our time. My friend calls and changes our time to three. The guy bails 10 mins before we pick him up. The course charges my CC for the no show. I tell my friend he is going to have to pay me for this guys no show. He replies it's on the other guy. He expects me to collect from someone I don't even know. I told my friend he makes me whole or he is never going to play with me again. I'm still waiting.

 

I don't know how you expect to pay for something and not have any information linked to you. Someone suggested I use a virtual credit card. The card number expires in 24 hours. It's still going to be linked to you and the payment is going to be on your account. 

 

[2bGood]

You might be surprised that someone else WANTS to do it. I used to always book and pay upfront for the golf trips and tee times and then I found out a few guys were mildly annoyed that I always did it as I got the "points". When I looked at it, I did realise that on our big golf trips I was getting enough point to pay for my flight some trips. So I offered to the group to rotate who would organise the trips or set things up so guys paid directly more often.

 

That might not help you, but if you suggest that someone else might want to take no the booking duties  to collect points you may have an eager taker. 

[bcjim]

6 hours ago, Greenie said:

I'm curious if someone has a solution too.

 

My advice would be to let someone else make the tee times. I'm guessing that's not going to happen. For what you are asking I doubt there is a way you are not tied to making a payment.

 

I used to be that guy in my group that made all the tee times and I also made some through Golf Now. Wait until someone bails and they feel they don't have to pay. Wait until you pick a day and it rains but the course is still open but the buddies bail because of the weather.

 

Just last week I made a tee time for two and gave my CC to book the time. My friend has someone I don't know that wants to play with us. I said sure but you need to call and add him to our time. My friend calls and changes our time to three. The guy bails 10 mins before we pick him up. The course charges my CC for the no show. I tell my friend he is going to have to pay me for this guys no show. He replies it's on the other guy. He expects me to collect from someone I don't even know. I told my friend he makes me whole or he is never going to play with me again. I'm still waiting.

 

I don't know how you expect to pay for something and not have any information linked to you. Someone suggested I use a virtual credit card. The card number expires in 24 hours. It's still going to be linked to you and the payment is going to be on your account. 

 

Your friend should definitely get you the money from the no show. 

 

As for the op, live with it or start booking normal tee times with the course and everyone pays at the course. Maybe when price goes up,  one of your pals will be more eager to take on booking duties. 

[third-times-a-charm]

[dropkicked]

They can't send you an etransfer at the time of booking?

[Abh159]

I know you said no to venmo, but the only thing that would make sense to me is to just have them venmo you before you book the times.

 

Venmo only takes 2-3 days max to show up in your back account after you transfer it so (assuming you are booking the tee times a few days before you play) you should have those funds in your account by the time you pay your CC statement each month.

 

To be totally honest though.... If I were in your position I'd be happy to be the one booking the times. Sounds like your benefitting from 4X the points every single time 😉

 

[Rosco1216]

How many friends and how many times a month are we talking here? $500-$1000 a month or significantly more? If you have no problem getting the money on Sunday then that’s about as smooth as it can be. Venmo would be easiest though.  As long as you deposit the funds into the account your cc payment comes out of then don’t worry about it. Enjoy the CC points. If it maxes out your card then that’s a different story.  You can easily create another bank account with your bank and add a low limit new card and just deposit their funds into it after every Sunday and transfer your fee from your main account and then autodraft the payment out and not worry about it. 
 

Otherwise, just pay full rate individually. 

Edited May 30, 2023 by Rosco1216

[Roody]

10 hours ago, Greenie said:

Just last week I made a tee time for two and gave my CC to book the time. My friend has someone I don't know that wants to play with us. I said sure but you need to call and add him to our time. My friend calls and changes our time to three. The guy bails 10 mins before we pick him up. The course charges my CC for the no show. I tell my friend he is going to have to pay me for this guys no show. He replies it's on the other guy. He expects me to collect from someone I don't even know. I told my friend he makes me whole or he is never going to play with me again. I'm still waiting.

 

Had a guy do that to me, except it was the morning of a 3 day golf trip. The resort was going to charge me $750 for his absence, and I had to argue with them to finally get them to drop his portion. Absolutely infuriating. 
 

10 hours ago, bunta said:

I need suggestions guys...

Dont say Venmo, because it still requires me to pay first with my CC. Prepaid cards is an option, but that still requires me to open an account under my gov name and all that. Im not doing that..

i dont want anything that i would have to provide my name,address,phone# etc.. i dont want to be linked to any credit cards either.

 

Help me figure this out lol

 

I'm not sure how you do it any other way than a Venmo/PayPal type of solution. I would tell these guys up-front that "look, I'm booking the times on my credit card, and if one of you doesn't show I am stuck eating it. I'm the only one taking risk here at the moment. Therefore you guys need to pay me $$ before I book or you don't get included"

 

[getitdaily]

"Guys, I booked myself for 815am this Sunday. Book yourselves into that slot so we can play".

 

The easy solution is to let men account for themselves. Why does 1 person need to corrale the horses? 

 

Self organize. I don't babysit tee times. You're in or You're out...here's the time we play.

[dfeldss]

If they pay you by the day you play, what's the issue? You could at least pay off that portion of the CC balance then, and you're racking up points. 

 

Could also potentially just open up another CC account and use it solely for booking the tee times

[Greenie]

3 hours ago, Roody said:

Had a guy do that to me, except it was the morning of a 3 day golf trip. The resort was going to charge me $750 for his absence, and I had to argue with them to finally get them to drop his portion. Absolutely infuriating. 
 

 I've had similar things happen over the years.

 

I would gladly let someone else get the points or whatever to set things so I don't have to deal with any issues that may come up.

 

One of the things I've learned is to not involve money with your friends because I've seen money break up a lot of friendships.

 

 

[vietnameeh]

I would be racking the points... 

 

but I also dont have trust issues.. .if there is they can book their own times

[jut111]

You're desire to stay off the grid makes this a tough if not impossible one to crack (not that i necessarily blame you).

 

I'll just add, if you see a good deal on golf now call the course and see if they'll honor it bypassing golf now.  Most courses I've found hate golf now and are more then happy to work with you - might well not even make you pay in advance.  

 

 

[snipzky9]

Isn’t there a way to “invite friends” to the tee time within golf now and once the accept they split the cost? Might be only after booking but before tee time. 
 

Assuming this is for golf now hot deal tee times or are you talking about the convenience fees?

[squishyy]

Pay through Zelle. It will show up directly in your bank account. 

[Ohpoh]

I also book my foursome due to the fact  I have golfpass(no booking fees). Yes I don’t like charging my cc, but I get the credit card points plus the GolfNow points I could use for free rounds. I just pay my cc whenever I have the cash

[ucmike11]

21 hours ago, getitdaily said:

"Guys, I booked myself for 815am this Sunday. Book yourselves into that slot so we can play".

 

The easy solution is to let men account for themselves. Why does 1 person need to corrale the horses? 

 

Self organize. I don't babysit tee times. You're in or You're out...here's the time we play.

 

Totally agree here, I was always the guy booking and organizing tee times.  I realized I was doing ALL of the paying and work.

 

Now, its a quick group chat to see what times work for everyone, and then I book myself for the tee time.  If anyone else wants to join, they can book themselves in, and when the excuses roll in, I am fine playing solo!

[Brooky03]

If collecting isn't expected to be a problem and hasn't been a problem, I'm curious why the credit card balance of... a hundred or two each week? A few hundred?... is an issue.  You put it on the card Tuesday, or whenever during the week, get paid Sunday, deposit the cash Monday, pay the card Tuesday.  No interest, no exorbitant balance.

 

I'd personally just stick with using my card and collecting the cash later.  If that's really a problem, just ask somebody else to do it I guess.

Edited May 31, 2023 by Brooky03

[Brooky03]

While I'm here, what's the deal with not wanting to open any kind of account with your name on it?  Are you DB Cooper?  lol

[jlevitt9]

No offense, OP, but if your friends pay on time, and you can get credit card points, I don’t see the issue here.

 

To be totally honest, if you can’t carry a $1k or so balance on your credit card, when your friends are paying on time, perhaps you should look at a less expensive hobby. 🤷‍♂️ sorry, lol

[Chilidog]

My group uses the Splitwise app and it’s been great. Also really good for using on a golf trip. 

[ode]

Divvy it up by month/rotate.  No way you should have to do it all the time.  And cash for card payments is OK, but then it's not the same as everyone paying there share up front.  I would not want that much cash on me for a myriad of reasons as it will undoubtedly get spent. If you are good in that respect and are able to deposit the cash in your bank account then IMO no worries! Kudos to OP for taking it on ⛳

[dcfball88]

If you’re looking to stay off the grid- (I assume your employer pays you in cash or you run a cash-intensive business)- take some cash, put a disguise on and go into a CVS (or similar store) and buy VISA gift cards. Get yourself a VPN or go to an Internet cafe and make the tee times online there. Then demand everyone pay you back in VISA gift cards. Then store the VISA gift cards in your underground bunker.

[HoosierHacker89]

This is the weirdest thread I’ve seen In a minute. OP already has a credit card so he’s clearly already part of the grid as is. I don’t know what any of this actually accomplishes. 

[gioreeko]

Nothing wrong with Venmo. That's how we do it, works fine. Also, most Golfnow deals only make you pay a small fee to hold the time, and you all pay at the course, unless it's a hot deal.