I have been making tee times at Mountain Brook through GolfNow.com for summer play for many years. In addition, I've also paid "walk up" rates many times. During the summer months, golf courses in the Phoenix are fairly deserted in the heat of the afternoon.

On July 10th, I booked a tee time for 12:54. I arrived at the course at 12:00 hoping to get out a little earlier. There were exactly 6 cars in the parking lot when I arrived. I was informed that a new course policy for GolfNow golfers prohibited my teeing off earlier that my scheduled tee time. To put this in perspective, every other course I've played this summer allows you to tee off early if the course isn't busy. So, our foursome waited until 12:54. Not one person teed off between the time we got there and our scheduled tee time. When we did tee off, there were now only 5 cars in the parking lot, 2 belonged to our group, and I'm sure 1 or 2 belonged to staff.

This policy is ridiculous during this time of the year. I certainly understand the need to limit leeway in tee times for certain rates, but it wasn't like we scheduled a 12:54 tee time and showed up to play at 9:00 am. Customer service is lacking, and Mountain Brook has demonstrated to me that they do not value my business. I will not be back. There are far too many courses vying for my business this time of year.