Golf Plans? Set A Tee Time A Year In Advance Companies Setting Up System To Make Golf Dates By Telephone And On Internet

Golfers who have their lives enough in order to plan ahead - way ahead - soon will be able to make tee times up to a year in advance.

A venture announced Wednesday by Golden Bear Golf Inc., - an arm of the Jack Nicklaus empire - and Ticketmaster Group Inc. will target 7,500 privately owned courses open to the public.

“Just judging by today’s feedback, we’ll probably have several dozen courses lined up when we get running in June or July,” Chris Millard, director of communications for Golden Bear, said on Wednesday.

“We’ve had about 15 calls from operators today,” Millard said. “People who operate either one course or a handful of courses called saying: ‘I want this.”’

The service, which will charge between 10 percent and 15 percent of the greens fee, will enable players to arrange tee times by telephone or through the Internet.

A golf course with a $40 greens fee would require a service charge of from $4 to $6.

The potential revenue from the venture is significant. The National Golf Foundation, an industry group that gathers information on the game, said its figures for 1994 found that $7 billion was spent annually on golf fees - lumping greens fees, cart fees and caddie fees together.

While it did not break out revenue from public course fees, more than 80 percent of all golf in the United States is played on public courses. It’s safe to say that several billion dollars is spent annually on public course greens fees.

The joint venture, called Ticketmaster Golf, will be based in Orlando, Fla., and will use Ticketmaster’s computerized distribution system to enable golfers to make tee times virtually anywhere in the country up to a year in advance.

“At Golden Bear our aim is to deliver the best in products and services to the golfer,” said Dick Bellinger, CEO of Golden Bear Golf. “We’re pleased that this alliance between Golden Bear and Ticketmaster takes tee time reservations to a new level of efficiency.”

Courses that join the service will get the equipment for free from Ticketmaster and will receive a percentage of the fee charged for reservations.

Ticketmaster sells about 60 million tickets a year to hundreds of stadiums, arenas and theaters.

“In the U.S. alone, there are 25 million golfers and over 10,000 public courses,” said Fredic D. Rosen, president and CEO of Ticketmaster. “In partnership with Gold Bear Golf Inc., the leading company in the golf business, Ticketmaster is uniquely well-positioned to bring innovation to this attractive and underserved market.”

A national 800 phone number will be established for the service, and the initial target will be a resort area - like Orlando - and a major urban area, officials of the joint venture said.