Los Angeles County has followed the city’s lead and is now requiring nonrefundable reservation deposits as it continues to crack down on tee time brokers at its public courses.
Los Angeles city leaders in April responded to complaints from golfers that they were unable to get morning tee times at city-owned golf courses because brokers were buying up and reselling them.
The problem has gotten so bad that a group of golfers filed a lawsuit against the city in March, arguing officials aren’t doing enough to stop black market tee times.
The city adopted a new program that went into effect April 16 that requires a nonrefundable deposit of $10 per player per reserved round, with the goal of preventing brokers from reselling tee times.
On Tuesday, the county Board of Supervisors took similar action at the county’s 20 golf courses, requiring nonrefundable $10 reservation deposits and imposing cancellation fees.
Players who cancel their reservations within 48 hours of the start time or who don’t show up will forfeit their reservation fee and be assessed a $10 per player surcharge, with proceeds going to the county’s junior golf program.
Reservation and cancellation fees will be applied from August 1st.
According to the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation, the county has the largest and busiest public golf course system in the country, with 13 of its 20 courses offering 18 holes of regulation play.
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