Pro shop
How to run a driving range booking system
By Caddyio · Updated
Making a range bookable means deciding four things: how many bays you will let people reserve, how long a slot is, what it costs a member versus a visitor, and what you sell alongside it in balls. The gain is not only revenue — it is that you finally know when your range is actually busy, which is the number that tells you whether to floodlight it, staff it differently or put the price up.
- Decide how many bays are bookable You do not have to make all of them reservable. Plenty of clubs hold back a few bays for walk-ups so a member who turns up on spec is never turned away — that is a policy decision, not a technical one.
- Pick a slot length Thirty minutes suits a range: it turns over quickly and matches how long most people actually hit balls. An hour is usually too long and leaves bays idle. Let people book two slots back to back rather than making the base slot longer.
- Price members and visitors separately This is where a range differs from the course. Plenty of clubs give members free range time and charge visitors, others charge everyone a small amount to stop bays being held and not used. Both are defensible; charging nothing to anyone means you will never know demand.
- Build your bucket list Name the buckets you actually sell, with a ball count and a price — small, large, jumbo. Balls are a consumable, so they cost the same for members and visitors. Selling them as part of the booking keeps one basket instead of a booking here and a token there.
- Set opening hours honestly Include floodlit hours if you have them and exclude the times the picker is out. A bay booked while the ball collector is working is a complaint you created yourself.
- Watch the utilisation for a month Which slots fill, which never do, and how far ahead people book. That is the evidence for changing price, hours or bay count — and it is the first honest picture of range demand most clubs ever get.
Frequently asked
- Should members pay to use the driving range?
- It is a genuine choice and clubs go both ways. Free for members and paid for visitors is the most common; a small charge for everyone discourages bays being held and not used. Charging nothing to anybody means you never learn what demand looks like.
- How long should a driving range bay booking be?
- Thirty minutes suits most ranges — it matches how long people actually hit balls and turns bays over quickly. Allow two consecutive slots for anyone who wants an hour rather than making the base slot longer.
- Do we need to make every bay bookable?
- No, and many clubs deliberately do not. Holding back a few bays for walk-ups means a member who turns up unannounced is never turned away.
- How do we sell balls with a bay booking?
- Publish the buckets you sell with a ball count and price, and let the customer add one while booking the bay so it is a single transaction. Balls are a consumable and should cost members and visitors the same.
Caddyio books range bays as capacity — members reserve a bay, not a specific one, exactly as the counter would hand one out — with your slot length, your member and visitor prices, and your buckets of balls added to the same booking. Note it does not talk to your ball dispenser; balls are still collected at the counter.