Golf operations
Tee Time Lottery Systems: How They Work and Stay Fair
How a tee time lottery works at a private club: request windows, random and weighted draws, group rules, the policy decisions, and keeping the draw fair.
By Tim Lenahan, Founder, Bubs · Updated
A tee time lottery system allocates the times everyone wants, usually weekend mornings, by collecting requests during a window and drawing the results, instead of rewarding whoever is fastest when the sheet opens. Done well, a lottery ends the 7:00 a.m. booking scramble and spreads prime times fairly across the membership. Done badly, it produces the same winners every week and a steady flow of letters to the golf committee. This guide explains how lotteries work, the decisions a club has to make, and how to keep the draw fair and explainable.
Why clubs move from first-come booking to a lottery
With first-come, first-served booking, the sheet opens at a set time and the fastest members take the best times. That creates predictable problems:
- The same members get Saturday at 8:00 every week because they're awake and online at the release.
- Members set alarms, refresh screens and call the shop at the same moment, which overwhelms the staff.
- Members who work, travel or simply don't want to race feel shut out.
- Some members book speculatively and cancel late, leaving the time empty.
A lottery replaces speed with a draw. Everyone who requests during the window has an equal or deliberately weighted chance, and the results are published at a set time.
How a tee time lottery works
Most lotteries follow the same five steps.
- The request window opens. For example, requests for Saturday and Sunday open the previous Sunday and close Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.
- Members submit requests. A request names the organizer, the playing partners, the number of guests, and the preferred times, either ranked individual times or an acceptable range ("any time from 7:30 to 9:00, earlier preferred").
- The window closes and the draw runs. Requests are ordered by the club's method (random, weighted or rotating) and each is given the best available time from its preferences.
- Staff review the results. The golf shop checks for conflicts, special cases and errors before anything is published.
- Results are published and members are notified. Times left over, and times from requests that couldn't be filled, open for regular booking, and unsuccessful members can join a waitlist.
Choosing an allocation method
Pure random
Every request has the same chance every week. It's simple and easy to explain, but streaks happen. A member can lose four weeks in a row by chance alone, and in a small club people notice.
Weighted by history
Members who did worse in recent draws are moved up; members who did well are moved down. The weighting typically considers:
- How many times the member received a preferred time recently
- How good those times were (first choice versus a leftover)
- How many consecutive draws the member was shut out
- Sometimes, the member's class, if the club's bylaws grant certain classes priority
Weighting evens out luck over a season without removing the lottery's fairness in any single week. It's the most common choice at clubs where prime-time demand is well above supply.
Rotation
Members or groups rotate through a priority order that moves each week. It's predictable and easy to audit, but it can be gamed by forming groups strategically, and it's harder to handle members who don't enter every week.
Points systems
Some clubs give each member a points balance that goes down when they win a prime time and up when they miss. It's a form of weighting that members can see and track, which helps with trust but adds bookkeeping.
An example of a weighted draw
As an illustration, suppose a club weights requests using the last four weekends:
| Member | Prime times won in last 4 weekends | Consecutive weekends shut out | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 3 | 0 | Lowest |
| B | 1 | 1 | Middle |
| C | 0 | 3 | Highest |
Member C's request is considered first and gets their top choice if it's available. Member B is next, then A. If A's first two choices have gone, A gets their third choice or, if nothing in their range is left, goes to the waitlist.
The exact weights are a policy choice. What matters is that the method is written down, applied the same way every week, and produces the same result if run twice on the same requests.
Groups, partners and guests
Most requests are for groups, which complicates fairness.
- Whose history counts? Clubs commonly use the average of the group, the organizer's history, or the best-positioned member's history. Using the best-positioned member invites members to recruit a "lucky" partner; averaging is the harder method to game.
- Can a member appear in more than one request? Usually no. A member in two requests is a common source of conflicts and should be caught before the draw.
- Do guests reduce priority? Some clubs limit guests in lottery times on peak days or weight guest-heavy requests lower. Put the rule in the policy.
- Partial groups. Decide whether a threesome request can be filled into a foursome time with a single from the waitlist.
Policy decisions to make before the first draw
| Decision | Common options |
|---|---|
| Which days and times are drawn | Weekend and holiday mornings; sometimes all tee times before a cutoff |
| Request window | Opens 7–10 days ahead; closes 2–4 days before play |
| Publication time | A fixed time, e.g. Wednesday at 8:00 p.m. |
| Number of preferences | 3–5 ranked times, or a time range |
| Allocation method | Random, weighted, rotation, points |
| Group priority rule | Average, organizer, or best-positioned member |
| Guest rules | Guests allowed, limited, or excluded at peak times |
| Member class priority | Equal, or weighted per bylaws |
| Unfilled requests | Waitlist; offered nearest time; released |
| Cancellation rule | Deadline; penalty weighting for late cancels or no-shows |
| Leftover times | Open for regular booking at a set time |
Put these in a one-page policy the golf committee approves and the shop can hand to any member. Our guide to tee time booking policies covers the booking windows and guest rules around the lottery.
Keeping the lottery honest
A lottery only works if members trust it. Several practices help:
- Publish the method. Members don't need the formula, but they should know what is weighted and why.
- Lock the requests at the close. No edits after the window, including by staff, except documented corrections.
- Make the draw repeatable. The same requests and history should always produce the same result. A method that can't be re-run can't be audited.
- Keep a history. Record every request and every outcome. When a member says "I never get a Saturday", the shop should be able to show them their last ten weekends.
- Review before publishing. Staff catch errors and duplicates, but overrides should be rare and logged.
Late cancellations and no-shows
A lottery hands out scarce times, so a member who wins a time and drops it late costs someone else a round. Clubs commonly:
- Set a cancellation deadline, often 24 or 48 hours before the tee time.
- Treat a late cancellation or no-show as a "win" in the weighting, so it counts against the member's next draw.
- Offer the freed time to the waitlist immediately, rather than leaving it empty.
After the draw: waitlists and leftover times
Unsuccessful members should have somewhere to go. A waitlist that notifies members as soon as a matching time opens, for example "any time between 8:00 and 10:00 for a twosome", turns cancellations into rounds. Leftover times should open for regular booking at a published time so members know when to look.
Common complaints and what they mean
| Complaint | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| "The same people always win" | Pure random with small numbers, or a group rule that's being gamed | Weight by history; average group history |
| "I never get my first choice" | Demand far above supply at the peak | Show members their history; widen acceptable ranges; add a crossover start |
| "Staff play favorites" | Overrides after the draw | Lock requests; log overrides; publish the method |
| "Results come out too late to plan" | Late publication time | Publish at a fixed, earlier time |
| "My partners had to enter separately" | No group request | Let one organizer enter the group |
If demand consistently outstrips supply, the lottery is signalling a capacity problem. Tightening tee time intervals, adding a crossover start on peak mornings, or improving pace of play can add times.
How Bubs handles tee time lotteries
In Bubs, members submit ranked requests with their partners during the request window from the club's member app, or the shop enters them. The draw weights members who fared worst in recent draws, runs the same way every time, and lets staff review before the results are published and members are notified. Leftover times open for regular booking, and members who miss out can join a waitlist. See the tee sheet and the glossary entry for tee time lottery.