Bonneville Golf Course
I’ve never written a “letter to the editor” of a local paper. Tonight will be the first, a submission to the Salt Lake Tribune. Below is my take, and below that the text which will be a shorter version for the letter.
If you paid for a six pack of your favorite beverage and only received five cans, would you be a satisfied customer?
If you went to the movies and the movie theater cut out 15 minutes of the movie, would you be a satisfied customer?
If you paid for a 60 minute massage and the masseuse cut it off at 49 minutes, would you be a satisfied customer?
Salt Lake City Golf Division is doing this same thing to patrons of Bonneville Golf Course. We patrons are paying full retail for 18 full holes of golf, but not getting what we paid for. The course is in the midst of an install of an automatic sprinkling system which has been decades overdue. That’s great. While the course is torn up the players are asked to skip large portions of the course, like the 500 yard par-5 first hole today. In exchange for skipping those parts of the course a temporary hole is setup somewhere else. This temporary hole is obviously a pale excuse for Salt Lake City Golf Division to charge full price since the player is playing 18 holes.
In the spirit of the game it would be good customer service to offer a discount, a free bucket of range balls, or some kind of bounceback rate due to the conditions. Instead, Salt Lake City expects golfers to pay full rack rate, and that’s not sitting well with many. Trust me on that one.
When I mentioned the lack of a discount to the staff in the pro shop (who will remain unnamed to protect their anonymity) they informed me that the asked the city about it. No dice.
When discussing this lack of consideration for the players, one player on the course today told me “they’re doing it because they can.” That is true. While I could choose to go elsewhere, I’m still patronizing Bonneville. I’ve been playing there for decades. But I can’t help these feelings of resentment which have been building over the last several full retail rounds I’ve paid for, getting only 17 holes of golf.
Other courses in this area are very considerate of their players during adverse course conditions. River Oaks posts a discount for roughly one month when they aerate their greens. That’s a course who cares about their customers. Apparently that’s not the case with Salt Lake City Golf Division.
The Letter To The Editor (shorter version in hopes they run it)
If you paid for a six pack of your favorite beverage and only received five cans, would you be a satisfied customer?
As a patron of Bonneville Golf Course for decades–who has paid tens of thousands of dollars in green fees in my lifetime–I can’t help feeling like I’m getting the shaft when paying full retail for a course that is torn up and offering essentially 17 holes worth of golf.
Salt Lake City Golf Division should offer a discount, a free bucket of balls, or a bounceback rate to show their customers that they appreciate their business during installation of their new sprinkler system. Granted the sprinkler system is much needed and decades overdue, but charging full retail for an incomplete product is a shank out of bounds and not in the spirit of the game.
End of rant.
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