[charlie49]

The current cold weather may make a planned 18 hole round turn into a 9 hole round because of the cold and wind. This has not been a problem at most of the country clubs. I think they are happy that we try to golf under the conditions. Today at Lopez my wife's group decided the conditions were not pleasant enough to continue and went into the club house. People at the desk said they do not give rain checks! When asked to speak with the pro, he came out of his warm office and initially denied the request. He finally did agree to grant the request. Consider this when making tee times in this cold weather; if you think it may be too cold to play, stay away from Lopez and play some where where you are treated as a country club member.

Charlie

[hdh1470]

Originally Posted by charlie49

The current cold weather may make a planned 18 hole round turn into a 9 hole round because of the cold and wind. This has not been a problem at most of the country clubs. I think they are happy that we try to golf under the conditions. Today at Lopez my wife's group decided the conditions were not pleasant enough to continue and went into the club house. People at the desk said they do not give rain checks! When asked to speak with the pro, he came out of his warm office and initially denied the request. He finally did agree to grant the request. Consider this when making tee times in this cold weather; if you think it may be too cold to play, stay away from Lopez and play some where where you are treated as a country club member.

Charlie

I have never heard of getting a rain check because its to cold.I think most courses would not give you one.I would praise them for that

[golferling]

I live on a golf course. This week, as in the previous week, there has been a sparse gathering of hardy souls to brave the wind and the extremely cold temperatures. This women's group should be commended for giving it "the old college try." COMMON SENSE or the pro shop's register receipts probably reflected the weather conditions this week and last. Today, even with the sun, the temperature at that time of day was in the high 40's, and when the wind came up in late morning, and quite strong, the chill factor was low 40's , upper 30's. As RETIREES, it would not behoove some people for health reasons even to continue. My advice for the "decision making" here would be to get out on the course, out of the office, and check conditions, but, it is a country club..weather marginal at best, there should have been no questions asked, rain check given, as it would have been at Mallory, Cane, etc.

[Talk Host]

Everybody knew what the temperature was before they went out on the course. To decide half way through that it's too cold is not the fault of the golf course.

If you decide half way through a movie that you don't like it, the box office will not refund half of your money.

Now, having said that, this is The Villages. It's very much like a private country club. They know that you will be back. They know that you are a resident here and will spend hundreds, if not thousands of dollars during the coming year. It's best not to **** off your good customers. The refund should be done with a smile even if it's tough to swallow. If you **** me off today, I will not likely be back tomorrow. Why lose hundreds to save $15?

If I'm not mistaken, there was a house cleaning a year or so ago at Lopez because of bad attitude. It could happen again.

[golfnut]

conditions change every day when you golf, when they deteriorate, if a course doesn't want to accomodate your request for a rain check (or cold check, call it what u like), if it were me that would be the last time i played there, you pay your money and take your choice, as a previous poster said, why put potential hundreds of dollars of revenue at stake for one round of play....gn

[Pturner]

My wonderful Mom still plays golf. She can play 18 holes, but sometimes it proves to much for her. In her retirement community (not TV), that is not uncommon. Her country club gladly gives rain checks to seniors who feel they need to stop after nine holes, for whatever reason. There is so much equity in building good relationships with customers, it is a wonder more businesses don't invest in it.

[downeaster]

Originally Posted by charlie49

. Today at Lopez my wife's group decided the conditions were not pleasant enough to continue and went into the club house. People at the desk said they do not give rain checks!

Charlie

There are two sides to this.

Your wife's group decided it was not pleasant enough for them. Evidently the club thought it was pleasant enough for the average player.

It seems to me it would make sense for the clubs to post their rain/cold/frost policies. A simple sign stating "No Cold Checks Today" would have saved a lot of grief in this and similar cases.

I agree with TH. Without a firm set of rules they could have saved a lot of bad, and damaging, publicity by simply returning the money (with a smile).

[golfnut]

it's not about a firm set of rules, rules are open to interpretation, it's about making your customers happy, happy customers keep coming back, unhappy customers go elsewhere and never come back....gn

[mommullr]

I played Glenview with six other couples two Sundays ago. After about seven holes the temperature had dropped about 15 degrees and we decided to stop after nine holes. As we came off the ninth at Tally Ridge the ambasador advised us that they had issued rain checks to all of us. The people in the pro shop couldn't have been nicer. We all proceeded upstairs to the bar and restaurant and spent a nice amount of cash. I bet this didn't happen at Lopez

[golfnut]

not sure why u don't think this could happen at lopez, it is totally dependent on the person in charge at the time, that being said i am happy to see that glenview was so accomodating and i will remember that...gn

[charlie49]

A rain check is not getting your money back, there are no cash refunds. The rain check allows people to play the remainder of their round at another time. We should certainly not have the right to stop on any given day, at any time, and ask for a rain check; there is a nine hole rate available later in the day. Common sense should prevail as someone else had mentioned. We are in a record smashing cold spell in Florida, this should have been considered in administering the rain check policy. The winds picked up in the early afternoon and were gusting over twenty miles per hour, the wind on a cold day is a big factor. Remember too that we are a retirement community, some are on blood thinners and many have varying degrees of arthritis. Other courses seem to to be able to apply common sense instead of the ridgid application of a policy.
Charlie

[Talk Host]

Originally Posted by charlie49

A rain check is not getting your money back, there are no cash refunds.
Charlie

You are absolutely right. That subtle difference escaped me for the moment. That makes it even more incumbent on them to apply the standards of goof customer service.

I guess they see it as, when you come back to cash in the rain check, they lose the 9 or 10 dollars somebody else would pay that time. Small price for them to pay to retain good customer relations.

[ajbrown]

IMO any day that you only get 'charged' a reservation point for canceling, all clubs should offer a rain check policy after nine.

Some central entity determines the weather is bad enough to change the cancellation policy, so piggy back on that for rain checks.

Just my thoughts....