Green Fees & Debit/Credit Cards

I turned up at Upminster Golf Club last week.

We went through all the motions then when I got my debit card out to pay the lady told me that it was cash only for green fees.

She said they didn't take debit/credit card for green fees because it had to go through the office.

I was lucky, I only live five miles away so went back the next day to play.

Imagine if you had travelled and then found out about this cash only rule!

When I telephoned the golf club to make certain I could play they never told me about this!

Russ

My club is the same. You can only pay green fees with cash. I think the % for using the pdq machine is too much?

I advise any guests coming up so they don't get caught out.

I can shed a little bit of light into this as I worked in sales for a company that provide PDQ machines.

The problems Golf clubs have is with potential fraud in the sense that when applying for a PDQ machine the company that settle the transactions want to know the ins and outs of a ducks.......

The majority of transactions on a PDQ for green fees will be on a debit card (Charged x pence for a transactions and a % of the size of the transaction for credit cards - Average 2.5%)

At the moment any organisation that take a 'Membership' payment is deemed high risk Golf Clubs, Gyms and other sporting organisation all fall under this category.

2 reasons for this.

On application the club will need to state what their average transaction value would be. ie £30 (Green fee, couple of drinks ect) The minute a member rocks up and wants to join and pay his annual membership or joining fee on a credit card (say £800) alarms bells ring and their account is de-activated as a potential fraudulent transaction.

Secondly - As an example. New member 'John' pays his membership fee (£1000) on his credit card then 2 months later the club goes pop - I believe the banks are liable for this!

To be totally honest I'm surprised we see so many clubs with PDQ machines these days.

Same at Whitby. Pro shop stuff is OK, green fees cash only.

Thanks for the explanation Matt!

You'll find Pro shops are ok if they are a separate entity away from the club itself.

well all i would say is if they don't accept card they need to be looked at by the tax. eg how could you book tee time and pay for it over the phone. something fishy lol going on their

the green fees belong to the golf club, the mars bar sales to the Pro, maybe the reason that cash only is accepted at some pro shops

Linden

Just because someone doesn't take card doesn't mean they don't pay their taxes?

Read your question back. "How could you book a tee time and pay for it over the phone?" Well the simple answer to that is that you couldn't pay for it over the phone?

Rob - Spot on. Also as an individual- -ie Golf pro running a shop - If that person has a bad credit rating they wouldn't be able to get a card machine. Likewise if they was a new business.