Golf courses want to fill their tee times up. So they are willing to offer discounted green fees.
With a view of Reliant Stadium and downtown Houston in the background, we caught up with a foursome at Wildcat Golf Club mixing business with pleasure.
"We are having a great time here. It's a little windy but we couldn't ask for a better conditions out on the course," golfer Bob O'Neal said.
The golfers booked the tee time the old-fashioned way, by calling the pro shop.
"This time it was pretty easy just to get somebody on the phone," golfer Jay Smith said.
But what Smith didn't know that he could have actually saved up to 50 percent off his green fee by booking his tee time on a site called EZLinks.com.
"Lost money on the tee time and I am losing it on the tee box today as well," Smith said.
EZLinks works just like making an airline reservation; you search for availability. We found a tee time at Wildcat Golf Club that regularly costs $75 a person on the website for $46. Over at Country Place Golf Club in Pearland, a tee time that would have normally cost $40 was $19 on EZLinks. That's more than half off.
"This system very user friendly, very easy for me to use," Wildcat Golf Club director David Munday said.
Munday sets the rates and calculates the percentage off his green fees depending on how busy the course is week to week.
"It could be 25 percent, it could be 30 percent, depending on the time of year too," Munday said.
Other sites that offer discounted greens fees are golfnow.com and golfteetimes.com.
And if you are looking for other ways to slice your fee in half...
"Look at the day of the week and even the time of the day," Munday said.
You will save at least 30 percent by playing Monday through Thursday.
If you are a senior or a junior, expect to save 25 to 50 percent during the weekdays at most public courses. And finally for golfers who want to get an even better weekday deal, most golf courses offer twilight rates.
"It's just a later time of the day when you might run out of daylight, so you pay a reduced fee and you could save 25, 30 percent," Munday said.
The discounted green fee usually includes a golf cart and a bucket of balls. EZLinks does charge $1.99 processing fee for each player. Other sites don't charge a fee for booking.
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