How Tee Time Booking Platforms Work: GolfNow, TeeOff, Chronogolf, Foreup

When you book a tee time online, you are almost always going through one of four systems: GolfNow, TeeOff, Lightspeed Golf (Chronogolf), or Foreup. Each runs differently, and which one your course uses changes what you see, what you pay, and how easily you can find an opening.

The big picture

There are two kinds of platforms in the booking world:

• Marketplaces — consumer-facing sites that aggregate tee times across thousands of courses. They sell directly to golfers and take a fee per booking. GolfNow and TeeOff fall here.
• Course management software — the back-end system the course runs to manage its tee sheet, POS, members, and bookings. Some have a marketplace bolt-on, some do not. Lightspeed Golf (Chronogolf) and Foreup fall here.

Most courses pick one back-end and may or may not list on consumer marketplaces.

GolfNow

The largest by reach. GolfNow lists more than 9,000 courses worldwide and has more than 3 million users. Owned by NBC Sports Next.

• Booking fees: Per-player platform fee added at checkout — typically a few dollars per golfer. Avoidable with a GolfPass+ membership.
• Hot Deals: Last-minute discounts of up to 80%, sold as prepaid and non-refundable.
• GolfPass+: Subscription that waives booking fees on eligible bookings and includes Tee Time Protection credits (free cancellations).
• Best for: Largest course inventory, deepest last-minute discounts, willingness to commit to the slot.

TeeOff

Same parent company as GolfNow but operates independently with separate inventory and pricing. Lists around 3,000 courses.

• No booking fees on tee times — its main differentiator vs. GolfNow.
• Price guarantee: Promises the lowest available price on covered tee times.
• Deal Caddy and VIP: Discount features that work like GolfNow's Hot Deals.
• Best for: Golfers who hate booking fees and do not want to commit to non-refundable bookings.

Lightspeed Golf (formerly Chronogolf)

A cloud-based course management platform — tee sheet, POS, marketing, and a consumer-facing booking widget. Used by more than 1,300 golf courses, with strong presence at municipal, semi-private, and private clubs.

• Booking experience: When a course uses Lightspeed, you usually book through the course's own website or through chronogolf.com — not through GolfNow. The course controls fees, cancellation rules, and inventory directly.
• Pricing: Generally lower fees than GolfNow because there is no marketplace markup. The price you see is closer to the course's actual rate.
• Coverage: Strong in Canada and at municipal facilities across the US.

If you book a course directly through its own website and it routes you to a chronogolf.com or lightspeedhq.com checkout, that is Lightspeed.

Foreup

A full course management platform — tee sheet, POS, pro shop inventory, F&B, reporting — used by more than 1,700 courses in North America. Built for complex operations.

• Booking experience: Like Lightspeed, courses generally take bookings through their own website, which embeds the Foreup widget.
• Coverage: Semi-private and daily-fee courses with significant pro shop and F&B operations, plus multi-course operators.
• No marketplace: There is no consumer-facing "Foreup.com" you book through — you go through the course's own site.

Which platform should I look at to find a tee time?

Start with the course's own website. If the course offers direct booking, you will get the cleanest pricing (no marketplace markup) and best access. If you cannot find the time you want there, check GolfNow and TeeOff — they may have the same course listed.

Some aggregators (Supreme Golf, GolfPass, Loop Golf) pull listings from multiple platforms and let you compare prices side by side. The same tee time can show up at different totals across platforms once fees are added.

How TeeTimeGo fits

TeeTimeGo is an alerts service, not a booking platform. It watches the tee sheets of courses on supported platforms and notifies you the moment a slot matching your criteria opens up — especially valuable for cancellations in the 24-48 hours before a round. TeeTimeGo currently focuses on courses listed through GolfNow. You set up an alert once and TeeTimeGo monitors continuously so you do not have to.

The bottom line

GolfNow has the largest inventory and biggest discounts but charges booking fees and locks you into prepaid Hot Deals. TeeOff offers fee-free booking but covers fewer courses. Lightspeed (Chronogolf) and Foreup are back-end systems you encounter through individual courses' own websites — usually the cleanest pricing. Check the course's own site first, then cross-shop the marketplaces, and use an alerts service for cancellations.